Hello all, Just finished converting the garage and now ready to purchase lathe and milling machnine. Floor area is 17x10ft height 8.6ft Will be building a 4" Little Samson traction engine & 7.1/4" 0-4-0 loco. Anyone have any suggestions please as to what to buy. Went to the Ally Pally Exhibition beginning of the year and looked at Warco/Chester. Will be going to the Warwich Exhibition to make final decision. Am looking at: lathes - BH900 or 1232. I like the possibility of using the 900 belt drive as improvised clutch by raising and lowering the motor? milling - GH-Universal, Super Major? or VMC Would consider a Colchester, but which one? Would love a Bridgeport, but height to roof supports is 2100mm. I converted the up & over door to swing and am suprised at the extra space available. I realised the up & over took up space, but not just how much. GeoffH Norfolk
Geoff Hi, the BH900 is a long bed version of the BH600 and there has been much discussion on this lathe on this forum, if you do a search on BH600 you will see many opinions of this machine. I have one and find it to be an accurate and reliable machine. I have not used the belt as a clutch although it was covered in one of the articles on the machine either in Model Engineer or Model Engineers Workshop. When I did this mod on a Myford I used to have I found it difficult to get a smooth pickup and experienced a lot of belt snatching at the point of drive. I don't think I would make it a deciding factor if I was going to buy a new machine. Although I spent a lot of time looking at the 1232 I eventually chose the BH600 because I like belt drive, it was a very close run thing however and it seems to be a fine machine.
There are of course many secondhand machines in this sort of price range if you know enough about picking a "goodun". The scale you are building means that you will need a fairly large machine (in ME terms) and I'm not sure if a 5" machine like a Bantum/Chipmaster would be large enough so you would be looking a a Student or 2500 type Colchester. The Harrison machines are also well regarded and a 300 might do very nicely. Don't forget that machines of this size are expensive to equip so make sure if you buy secondhand it comes with chucks, steadies etc. One advantage of the new import route is that they are usually supplied with some basic equipment.
Again, if you do a search on this site you will find plenty of information about these machines. The VMC seems well regarded but is a bit limited in size, I had planned to get one but in the end got a Bridgeport which I still need to put together.
Pity as the BRJ stands 2145mm tall and the BR2J2 2255, might be worth seeing if you can position it between supports for a bit extra room but don't forget you need room for a drawbar as well. Although at a push you can swing the head over to remove that if necessary.
Geoff, you need to make sure that you have a good idea of the minimum size machine that will do the necessary for you and maybe let us know what sort of budget you envisage and I'm sure you will get some more specific recommendations.
Hello Keith, Thanks for the info. Just come back from a loco running afternoon at Norwich club, where one of the members is building a 4" Samson. It was only my second visit since joining, so am getting to know the other members. He has invited me round to his place, which will give me a good idea as to what will be needed. He has his model running on air. I would hate to go too small on lathe/mill. My last lather/mill was an Emco V10P and FP2 mill. Very light duty, but very very good quality. It's the quality part that's making me think thrice, but what I saw at Ally Pally reassured me somewhat. I can remember the Taiwanese items in the '70/'80s, with some making me shudder. Regards GeoffH Norfolk- UK not VA
I got my bridgeport clone through an up and over,, had to turn the head 90 degrees, and put it on a pallet truck.. the motor has to go between two rafters.. and I only just have room to change the draw bar.
Dig a pit the size of the base about 6" deep. That will give you height and make it easier to reach the head. Drawbar's aren't a problem as you can tilt the head but how often do you need to change it? You don't get much choice on R8 like you do when using MT3 with oddsock tooling. I personally haven't seen any R8 that's not on 7/16" UNF. Not saying it doesn't exist just that I haven't seen any.
Hi Geoff, Please excuse the blantant advertising, but I have a mini-lathes and milling machines for sale - brand new and good prices. The milling machines I've sold to one or two members of G1MRA (Gauge 1.......................) and all very experienced model makers and engineers - they seemd quite pleased! At the moment I have some on eBay where you can see the specs. and I sell privately too.
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for the lathe, and
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for the milling machine. As you will see, I'm open to offers!
Hugh Hugh Stewart-Smith (harryuk101 - on eBay) member of G!MRA Gauge 1 Model Railway Association - mem.no 3330)
Whilst not Geoff. A 4" gauge Little Sampson hardly rates at gauge 1 and if he's thinking along the correct lines of a BH900 and Bridgeport then these benchtop's are a tad too small.
I have a Colchester roundhead Triumph gap bed for sale two three ja chucks one four jaw face plate , fixed steady and travelling stead .Lathe is in good nick. £550 can send a pic if you want Dick (Near Stamford Lincs
The obvious solution, just too lazy to dig. But . . if it means I get one into the garage, then dig is must be. Come to think of it, it will only need damp proofing after cementing or bricking. Who/where should I be looking to get one? Mill that is not cement or bricks:-)) Knowing JS I could expect all sorts of answers! Geoff
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