In the market for a lathe and milling machine

[Moering Tool]

But don't know my arse from my elbow when it comes to these things. I have had an interest in them since childhood but life took me in another direction as it usually does for everyone. My dirty habit is watching machining and turning vids on youboob.

I've decided that maybe, at the ripe, old, doddering age of 38, that it's high time I indulged in learning this fascinating craft. It will no doubt also come in useful as I proceed with my ZX build.

I've taken a look at the stuff available for sale locally and most of it is fong kong. I will rather not go there. The good stuff is obviously not meant for the casual budget, but having read reviews of the cheap stuff it's clear that they are more trouble than they are worth and require a lot of tweaking to get acceptable accuracy. In short, they are toys and I don't want a toy that makes you second-guess your efforts when the results are not as expected.

So, that brings me to the other option - used machinery. There seems to be no end of what seems to be bargains. Ferinstance:

http://johannesburg.olx.co.za/lathes-an ... -826053132

This is sort of on the limit of my affordability but obviously there are accessories and whatnot that I will also need. 3-phase power is another show-stopper. Also, I can imagine that this can quickly turn into a nightmare if the machines themselves are really old and earned their keep.

Do any of you old hands have any advice for a jong laaitie?

Thanks in advance!
Riaan

[Waterhond]

Riaan,

I would venture to say that you should not buy from any person on gumtree. Rather go to companies that will provide you with a lot of info and help. Like, for instance,...http://www.thmachinetools.co.za/machine ... ubMenuId=4.

You are right about these places selling supermarket tools and machinery. Stay away.

For 380 V, you could build or buy a rotary converter for instance. My house is only 220, but with a rotary converter I have a large lathe that runs on my house's power without trouble. The lathe even shifts directionally as well, which is usually a problem. And it just plugs into the wall socket.

Sterkte. This is, as you say, a fantastic hobby to enter into. You can even make some money.

Pieter.

[Moering Tool]

Dankie, Pieter, sal bietjie gaan koekeloer.

You see so many of these cheap fong kong hobby lathes on gumtree etc, and it makes you wonder whether they turned out to be white elephant purchases or whether they are so kak the owners gave up trying to make something useful with them.

[Moering Tool]

I have another question.

If you only had the space or cash for either a lathe or a turret mill, which would you choose and why?

[IndianaJones]

What is it that you want to do with the lathe and milling machine?

You need to consider how large a workpiece you will put in the machine, to determine what size you go for. And also, acceptable accuracy, depends on what you are machining.

Don’t class all fong kong machines under the same banner, I know of engineering shops that puts out some great work with old Taiwanese machinery, for instance.

I agree with Waterhond that you should visit places like in his suggestion, refurbished machinery should tick all your boxes, you should be able to make a much better informed decision after inspecting a variety of machines up close. Better still would be, if you had a friend whose machines you can try out. Turning isn’t rocket science, but there are a few things you pick up with experience.

And it is a risk to buy a machine of Gumtree, unless you can test it, it may very well have stripped gears or too much play to be accurate, but then it all depends on the price, machines can be repaired.

Also remember the costs doesn’t stop with the machines, toolbits and holders are expensive.
I can’t say for certain, but I think, if you buy quality machines, you would need to love the hobby, because I have a hard time seeing the amount saved by the average hobbyist doing the work themselves, ever exceeding the cost of the machines.

Just my 2c.

[Moering Tool]

I dont want to turn large things or make money from it. Case in point was refurbishing my weber dcoes. The mating surfaces were buggered and it took plenty of elbow grease with emery paper and a sheet of glass to get them smooth all the while i was thinking, if only I had a mill to flycut them.

That sort of thing. I'm also thinking, custom shiny bits, brake caliper brackets, shims and the like. A mill has always seemed to my like a very versatile thing to have.

[maxman]

You can get very small combination machines like a baby myford for doing small work.

But

The general rule of thumb when buying lathes and mills is: buy the heaviest machine you can get. The actual machined surface are good on the Korean and Chinese machines. Usually the problems with those are the crappy switches and contactor's that give out quickly.

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[Johann Grobler]

I am fortunate to have 3 phase power available in my home Cost is R80 additional per month! You need to have additional power cable and plugs installed to run the 3-phase motors!!

[Maverick]

I have a 400 ton 4 metre chinese bending brake at my factory.
The metal and hydraulic bits are 100% perfect. Switches, panels and contactors have all given up the ghost and needed to be rewired.

[Moering Tool]

I read a thread on practicalmachinist.com, the oke got a cabinet-type 3-axis cnc machine for peanuts because the controller had "hard drive failure".

He loaded it up, installed it at home, went into the controller PC's bios, the HDD was incorrectly configured. He set it up correctly and it booted up fine. Bargain!