New lathe

[TA09]

Hello

Well I have sold my Myford Ml8. The tailstock was too woobly for my use, but I had great fun restoring the old girl. Now I am looking for a new lathe. Since I will make tampers and tobacco pipes and that sort I have enough with a 12" swing. But I want a lathe that will last the rest of my lifetime. And I am not that keen on these electronic variable speed stuff, but it seems most high grade lathes do have them these days.
Found Record Power Cl3 lathe, but how is it quality wise? Not too sure about these rods as bed. Any thoughts about what to choose?

 

[SVB]

For a lifetime lathe i’d be looking for cast-iron in your place. Especially as you may have some off centre balance issues as you turn pipes and the like. For me I’d be looking for a used Vicmarc 175 swivel head lathe (or bigger if budget will run to it) which are awesome. You are also will not have a bad option with some of the bigger jet or Axminster plus equivalent lathes.

disclaimer - I’m not a big fan of the RP twin bed bad lathes having had problems with leaky bearings, crappy banjo locking arrangement needing spanner (cam lock are more recent I believe) and light weight needing additional weighting to get reasonable performance. That said, they’ve sold 1000’s of them at a competitive price point so many clearly have a different experience.

simon

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The best description of the CLs is agricultural.

 

[minilathe22]

You could restore an older cast iron lathe like a Viceroy, Union Graduate, or smaller Busgreen Wadkin.

 

[TA09]

Not alot of used lathes around my part so buying new is the best option. After done alot of research on the Record power cl3 lathe I think it will be off the list. Have been looking on the Vicmarcs and they are very nicely made, but they do come with a hefty price too. Could order just the Vl200 without the motor or electronics from Australia. It was just under 3000 Australian dollars, but I dont know. For now I have the Record Power 250 which is okay, but nothing more.
Any ideas?

 

[Jacob]

The best description of the CLs is agricultural.

Yep that's the word! I dumped mine as fast as poss. I had a Hegner briefly but that was pretty clunky too.
Now got an Arundel J4 Senior which is really excellent and was only £100 on ebay, but they are rare.

 

[Sachakins]

If new, the record power coronet Herald should fit your bill. Small foot point, nice piece of kit. Got mine about 9 months back, been great little beast, everything from rings right up to 18" bowls. I went for it because of cast iron bed, previous record power had bed bars, which became a problem as timber got bigger. The variable speed has been a massive bonus, I wouldn't underestimate it's uses.

 

[TRITON]

The best description of the CLs is agricultural.

Yeah, and those 'rods' are 2 handed lift jobs. Pretty heavyweight.
Course cant compare to a solid cast bed, but ive had a cl3 and theyre going nowhere.

 

[pryere]

Have you had a look at what the Hope brothers have to offer?
https://hopewoodturning.co.uk/lathes/ks-lathes/?p=1
For a "lifetime" lathe I would want -
1. Swivel head for outrig work.
2. At least 3hp.
3. All the other bells & whistles.

Also consider Rikon, Jet and Nova.

Good luck.

 

[scooby]

Have you had a look at what the Hope brothers have to offer?
https://hopewoodturning.co.uk/lathes/ks-lathes/?p=1
For a "lifetime" lathe I would want -
1. Swivel head for outrig work.
2. At least 3hp.
3. All the other bells & whistles.

Also consider Rikon, Jet and Nova.

Good luck.

I've had a KS from Simon Hope for a while and its been great. I got the Midi 350, which looks very similar (apart from colour) to the Axminster AT350. It doesn't possess requirements 1 and 2 unfortunately.