Lathe buying advice

[Paul12]

Hello to all,

I am a new member and was hoping to get some advice/comments on the following.

I have a budget of around £750 for a wood turning lathe.
My initial thoughts are for a used older lathe that is a quality made machine.
some of the very well priced used machines I have acquired over the years are:-

Colchester student 1800
Clarkson Cutter grinder Mark 1
Denford viceroy sharp edge
Myford super 7b
Deckel FP1
Startrite Volant bandsaw

All of which are very well engineered machines and have stood the test of time
So the lathes that have caught my eye, are the following:-

Poolewood 28-40
Myford ML8
Myford Mystro
Sorby variable speed
Time cub or Avon
Arundel k600, J4 junior

My days of loading/installing the heavier machines are over now so am not really looking at the Graduate or Wadkin lathes

If there are any lathes that you might think of being of interest, or any lathes on my list you think I should steer clear of , please let me know
If you think I am going the wrong route of buying a used lathe, I would also be interested to hear

Regards,

Paul.

 

[Dalboy]

It may also be useful if you let us know what you want to turn as that is also another factor.

 

[Paul12]

Good point.

Up to 6" diameter on spindle work would be useful
Hobby wise I make wooden clocks so turning of the wooden gear blanks various small shafts etc
I get the odd stair spindle to be reproduced along with newel finials.

 

[dickm]

Have owned two of those you mention, Tyme Avon and (currently) Mystro. The Avon is, IMHO, much underrated provided it's mounted on a solid bench as it's not a heavyweight. Which, of course, might be an advantage in your situation. It's also a non-standard nose thread, which may be limiting. BUT, they seem to go pretty cheap. The Mystro is a heavier beast, with bigger capacity and fitted with a variable speed motor is, again in my opinion, a good'un. It also shares the (again, non-standard) nose thread with the Super 7, which was one of my reasons for buying it. Both Avon and Mystro share the disadvantage that they didn't sell in huge numbers before going out of production and RDG who took over the Myford name don't have the best of reputations regarding spares.
That's my two pennyworth.
Also used to own a small single bar bed Coronet. You'd be surprised what you can do with one of them and they can be dirt cheap.