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Originally Posted by kevingambrell Hi richard,
I do see your point, this all stems from the posts by the chap that was thinking about buying a small lathe. I got the feeling it was a new field for him.
Coming from a background in machines and suds its second nature or most of it is but to some just wanting to turn out a decent tank gun barrel or a set of cannons a lathe is a usefull addition. That said many of the RC car guys could save a fortune if they could chuck up a lump of 2011.
On a semi seriouse not I think every model maker should make atleast one live steam. I bet many would never go back to plastic kits.
I know of no other thing in life (well maybe one) that gives as much pleasure as steaming your first engine after making every part including nuts and bolts. |
Was this aimed at my post?
I've used lathes for a few years in Education but do not own my own lathe.
I was questioning the quality of these small chinese lathes as I've used mainly boxford student lathes and Boxford CNC lathes in the past and some larger Harrison gap bed lathes. The build quality of these machines is obviously high as they are industrial machines with an industrial price tag. A new Myford Super 7 retails for approx £20,000.
I was debating the quality of these lathes as I've seen posts regarding changing the bearings in the headstock, grinding the cross slides and comments regarding setting up the tailstock as on one example the user mentioned that none of the surfaces were actually machined true.
As the accuracy and finish of the part is going to rely heavily on the build quality of the machine that was my primary concern.
I've had bad experiences using chinese import equipment such as small bench drills, one example had so much slop in the spindle when a 4mm drill bit was inserted you could move the chuck approx 4mm from side to side. I've also experienced the phenomena of shafts being machined to be triangular so they wobble up and down as they rotate but have a uniform diameter when you put a vernmier on them.
I've also tried to put a spanner on a part to make an adjustment where the fitting just softens and shears off as soon as you even try to snug it up with a spanner.
It's obviously a compromise between price and the performance you can expect to get from the machine.