# axminster M950 now completed



## head clansman (20 Mar 2010)

Hi all 

Got this from e bay , Advertised last week guy lived in Truro, and i live in Weymouth luckily for me he works near exeter and i have friends who live in exeter so we met there and done the deal yesterday .

Just wondering what you guys thought of it for value for money . I bought the complete lathe for £225 

















the above three is what i paid £225 for the following pieces he originally asked for an extra £95- £100

















but when he turned up he had further extra with him as well so luckily i had extra cash on me , he then offered me all the following chisel that you will see and the three item above for a total of £160 making a grand total of £385.

hamlet 






record & Henry Taylor






a set of crown chisel 







A couple of home made attempts on handle the tangs are Robert Sorby.






a set of hamlet chisels 






This is the only damage i could fine , I can't imaging why the gearing indicator plate is bent up and bugled like that? think i need to investigate further inside the head housing , apart from that slight damage i got it all bolted loosely back together at the mo just to get the motor running which it does gears all seam to be OK , so guys honest opinion please


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## MickCheese (20 Mar 2010)

I don't know much about turning but I would have thought the tooling was worth almost what you paid.

Mick


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## cambournepete (20 Mar 2010)

The chuck and tools alone would cost (new) a lot more than the total you paid.
The lathe is quite old, being in the Axminster blue, but looks to be in excellent nick.
Yes, I think you did alright there.


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## head clansman (20 Mar 2010)

hi pete 


on the motor it's says 1996 , the guy i got it from who was a genuine sort of bloke nice to deal with came across as honest , said he was the second owner had it nearly five years and had not used it for nearly two yrs judging from the condition and cleanliness of the lathe and tools i don't think he was telling porkies. hc


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## jimi43 (20 Mar 2010)

Major bargain...as cambournepete said...for just the tooling alone.

So we should be seeing some gems from you soon?

Jim


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## frugal (21 Mar 2010)

Well a new M950 is £457 all on it's own without any chucks or tools, so I would say you have a real bargain.


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## head clansman (21 Mar 2010)

hi all morning 


thanks guys , jimi not for a wee while last time I did any turning was way back when i was about 15 at a school and since then the tooling for turning has changed quite considerable. I think it's best to start all over again from scratch, i can just about remember the basics and thats it , I bought it so i can make all the bits and bobs as i make other things along the way, things that you know no longer exists unless you like plastic and can only buy from people like B/Q and you can only buy it in what lines they sell, basic rubbish. hc


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## kasandrich (21 Mar 2010)

I bought my M950 s/h on ebay, I paid £200, so about right, although mine is the newer white one.

the other bits sound like a very good buy. So over all good IMO.

The only weaknesses are the head bearings (3 in total) and the belt, you can get all 4 for about £30 from Axminster and IMO well worth changing. My Lathe runs smoother and quieter since doing them.


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## laird (21 Mar 2010)

That's not a question, it's a gloat.


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## head clansman (21 Mar 2010)

hi all 

Been in the work shop from early this morning , took the head stock off the lathe and removed cover apart from very light dust quickly hoovered out, and a few drop of oil placed on the return spring shaft on the motor drive, that was it, SERVICED, removed motor cowling again very light dust.

Removed gear lever and face selector plate,then pulled out drive shaft no signs of wear on it so a light drop of oil then replaced, removed the damaged face plate selector indicator, straighten it out, restuck it with spray on glue and resembled it all (why it was bent and buckled like it was the mind boggles), I then lubricated the machine beds with lubricating wax two coats and that was it all done. 

Next after lunch possible a third coat of wax , next to be done is mount the chuck spin it up to clean it then give that a coat or two of wax as well stop any future rust.

Monday get a tub of clear silicone take of the two end panel in the frame work and bed on with silicone jus t to stop the slight vibration it get at times and also see if i can source a small amount of 1/2 " rubber matting to cut four in number feet from to stand the whole thing on just to see if that will cope with any future vibration . hc :wink:


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## head clansman (21 Mar 2010)

hi all 

a question to someone who may know ,the machine thread or what appears to be a thread in the left hand end of the (m4) spindle in the headstock what is it for. Is there a reason for it being there? or is it something that aided the manufacture of the spindle?. any ideas, stumped :? hc


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## head clansman (23 Mar 2010)

hi all 

today finished cleaning up the lathe and all the extras i got with it , it's nearly ready for work, moved it into place, rigged up a overhead light and temporary power supply, tomorrow sort out and reroute the electric supply to it, reroute the speaker cable you see hanging in the pic, removed both end panels in the lower frame work and bedded them on with silicone and re-bolted them with spring washer this time around don't think the chiwanese know what nut and washer are for , that stopped all the vibration i could hear , I also need to source four thick rubber machine solid feet as well, that should do the trick nicely .

Once all that is done the open shelve you see in pic will go, theres plenty of room there to make and place a lockable wall hung unit to take all the lathe chisel and other bit for the lathe but thats another thread later . just a pic showing it in place . hc :wink: :lol: 






Oh yea nearly forgot you can just see the end of the white dust extraction tubing to the left of the lathe which i have to extent just a couple of feet .


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## Paul.J (23 Mar 2010)

Looking good *HC*.


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## SVB (23 Mar 2010)

head clansman":1gu5l9za said:


> hi all
> 
> a question to someone who may know ,the machine thread or what appears to be a thread in the left hand end of the (m4) spindle in the headstock what is it for. Is there a reason for it being there? or is it something that aided the manufacture of the spindle?. any ideas, stumped :? hc



Hi HC. The lathe would have been supplied with a threaded and plain diameter pin. I think (from memory) there are 12 'dimples' in the headstock spindle that these pins will locate in and allow you to lock the spindle. This is useful if adding detail to items or you can rig up all sorts of jigs to further enhance your work based on this ability. From memory, the plain diameter pin was a bit lose, fine for a quick mark up, but the threaded pin was very positive.

As an aside, see how you get on with the florescent light above. I think the tube is protected from the photo but not sure it would survive a direct hit but mainly be aware of the strobe effect where the work piece when lit from this type of light can appear stationary when it is actually rotating.

Either way, great buy and I am sure it will give you a lot of fun.

S


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## head clansman (23 Mar 2010)

hi 

thanks for reminding me about the lighting affect i had read that before and forgotten about it, i think it best to try a little xperiment hc


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## kasandrich (23 Mar 2010)

I was a bit confused by your description of the thread, but if you mean the one down the centre of the spindle visible through the hole in the end of the lathe.

That is for the hand wheel. It can just be made out in this picture.

But you are not missing much, with the hand wheel fitted you cannot stick a knock out down the spindle to remove something from the taper.


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## head clansman (23 Mar 2010)

hi richard 

err um what picture , i'm not seeing one , yes it's inside the left hand end of the hollow spindle what appears to be a thread , hand wheel what is it used for ? need to see pics of one . hc


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## kasandrich (23 Mar 2010)

forgot the pic !

Its not very clear in the M950 pic, but it is the equivalent of the chrome hand wheel on the left hand end of this pic of the AWSL

It is purely so that you can rotate the chuck by hand when the lathe is off. But you can do that with your hand on the chuck. There could be an argument that it adds balance.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/images/products/700176_l.jpg


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## head clansman (24 Mar 2010)

hi richard 

yea i see your argument on the balance point . hc


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## head clansman (24 Mar 2010)

hi all 


last pic, wiring all done and tested now completed , thanks for all the comments and encouragement along the way hope you enjoyed the thread as much as i enjoyed doing a quick refurb to the lathe getting it all back togeather again, hopefully i might get around to doing my first little test piece this week end , after that make a wall hung cupboard to hang all chisel and bits and bob in which will help tidy up things a bit as well hc :lol: 





now lets see which end of the chisel did i use about 45 yrs ago um um :-k um ? :wink: :lol: :lol:


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## jimi43 (24 Mar 2010)

Only one observation HC...and this is purely by experience....

Rotating machinery and fluorescent lights don't mix IMHO.

I get a better working light without tint or strobing with either incandescent bulbs...like an anglepoise...or what I have now which is the older fashioned halogens...

Just my 2p

Jim


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## head clansman (24 Mar 2010)

hi jimi 

yea it was pointed out earlier in the thread thanks . hc


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## jimi43 (24 Mar 2010)

head clansman":365q8mwy said:


> hi jimi
> 
> yea it was pointed out earlier in the thread thanks . hc



Oops...sorry mate...me bad!

I must learn to read the WHOLE thread before I comment....

Oh well....at least you are convinced now.  

Jim


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## head clansman (24 Mar 2010)

hi jimi 

thats not a problem mate , whilst i got your attention post us a pic of your light please , :? the old grey matter running a bit slow tonight . hc :lol:


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## jimi43 (24 Mar 2010)

The one over my wood lathe was this one:







But I am in the process of moving it temporarily to my ML1 until I can get another one to put back over the Taylor.

The benefit of this lamp which I picked up at a bootfair is that it runs fairly cool and can be focussed using the SPOT/FLOOD knob:






It also has barn doors and some filters...none of which I use but the diffuser if I don't want shadows:






Once light I was pretty impressed with has the same halogen bulb and comes from IKEA...about the only thing that I have found that works well from the said emporium:






It's great for clamping temporarily where you need lighting instantly.

Over the tablesaw and bandsaw and soon to be over my sliding chop...are a strip of simple halogen low voltage lights which take the bigger MR16/GU10 20/50 bulbs:






Instead of the little transformers which power one or two units...I have a huge 12VDC transformer and run a 12VDC feed to the strips to power about six lamps.

They are simple units and all from bootfairs for a couple of quid. The lamps themselves can be quite expensive to buy in B&Q etc...so I get them at bootfairs too. There are usually loads at next to nothing as people upgrade to eco lighting and LED.

I tried an LED equivalent in a GU10 mount and it simply was not bright enough....ok for mood lighting but not for serious clear illumination work.

Hope this helps...get yerself down to the nearest bootfair...you can get some serious bargains!

One day I found this lady with almost a whole electrical warehouse in the back of her estate car and on her tables....apparently she had found her electrician husband cheating on her so she took ALL of his stock out of the garage and was selling it all for 10p...20p...that sort of figure out of spite!

I bought most of her stall! :twisted: 

Jim


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## Blister (25 Mar 2010)

HC 

Looks like a good deal to me :wink:


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## head clansman (25 Mar 2010)

hi jimi 

thanks blister, point taken jimi , was a bit weary last night to many things going on at one time, down here . hc


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