pistonskirt
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- May 9, 2004
- Location
- Plymouth, Devon, England
Responding to Mark & Alistairs posts in the "Ebay FYI" topic.... Thanks chaps, I was reasonably pleased with the price on the S&B 1024VSL, I do agree with your comments regarding George (the dealer / vendor) he has been most obliging & forthcoming in my e-mails & telephone conversations, I am suitably confident that the machine will meet my expectations upon arrival.
Auction description & pic was as follows:
Ex university Smart & Brown Lathe in very good condition had very little use, I can deliver for the cost of diesel and time, With 3 and 4 jaw chucks with inside and outside jaws, Quick change toolpost and 7 tool holders, 24" between centres and 61/4" swing, Speeds from 300-2500 infintly variable, Miniwizard 2 axis DRO, New taper turning attachment, Chuck guard, light and suds, Chuck, live and dead centres for tail stock, Metric and Imperial dials and screw cutting, 40 mm bore, Manuals for lathe and DRO.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/SmartandBrown/SB1024VSL.jpg
My winning bid was £2100 + VAT at £367.50 + delivery at £250, Total £2717.50
I recently chased a very nice sounding CVA 1A up to £2,500 & missed it by 13 seconds at that price, I suspect the winning bidder was using a snipe & it therefore could have gone even higher. The CVA was a bare machine without even a toolpost & on reflection I would probably have been making a rod for my own back to subsequently source the, essential to my intended usage, taper turning attachment let alone the likely cost. CVA's in good condition appear to be very scarce & 3 or 4 machines that I have inquired about at machinery dealers & on Ebay have been pretty rough old things that would almost certainly require major reconditioning, for which I have neither the time nor appetite for the likely cost.
The S&B 1024VSL had been high on my list, particularly after seeing the detail pics of Alistairs superb example & speaking to a few skilled machinists who had used these lathes. I found perhaps 3 or 4 at various machinery dealers all around the £2000 mark but strangely none had the taper turning attachment, I found that the older round head models advertised mostly had the attachment but the later square head VSL's did not, whether this was a standard accessory on the round head that became an extra on the square head I do not know. Another plus point for the S&B is that the manufacturers are still in business supplying parts & service, very helpfull people too, apparently the last new S&B lathes were supplied only 2 years ago. Hopefully the machine & it's performance will meet my expectations when I turn some swarf with it in January (chips are made by the wife in England)
My experience in this purchase does seem to suggest that the price for a good lathe of this type in England has increased considerably in the last year or so, 2 to 3 grand looks to be the mark, whether due to the Ebay effect one can not be sure but a positive aspect might be that less machines will be flogged off to third world countries for peanuts as has previously been the case.
Another little success that I may as well share whilst I'm at it is the Alexander toolroom mill (Deckel FP1 clone) I won off Ebay yesterday. In this case I will be collecting the machine after the new year holiday & am hoping that by removing all it's bolted on appendages & generous application of muscle power we can get it into a Mercedes Sprinter van & therefore save considerably on the cost of machinery movers.
Again, the machine sounds to be in excellent condition & the vendor seems to be a very genuine chap.
Auction description & pic was as follows:
This is a fabulous piece of equipment for the serious model maker or small industrial user. Perfect for home workshop or garage as it is single phase, this is in good working order and has been used for clock making for the last few years. Model: PG1E (20 degree P.A.), serial no. 1271 A multitude of accessories : 5" Jaw Swivel Machine Vice, Verical Milling Head, Horizontal Milling Over - Arm + Arbour, 40 off assorted cutters (gear, angle, radius etc), 22 off Assorted Collets (Imp + Metric), Fixed and Swivelling Universal tables, 2 off Boring Heads, Slotting / Shaping Attachment, Indexing / Dividing Head + Assorted Hole Plates, low voltage lamp, all user guides and catalogues for parts. An absolute gem of a machine, and a piece of equipment that does not come up for sale very often.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/Alexander/alexander01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/Alexander/alexander04.jpg
I had looked at a few Deckel FP1's & thought for some time that, particularly with the universal table, this type of mill could make certain tricky cylinder head machining jobs much easier to set up than on my series 1 Bridgeport. When this machine appeared on Ebay it looked perfect & even the better for being of English manufacture so I was delighted to win the auction. I look forward to figuring out it's intricacies in January.
regards
Brian
Auction description & pic was as follows:
Ex university Smart & Brown Lathe in very good condition had very little use, I can deliver for the cost of diesel and time, With 3 and 4 jaw chucks with inside and outside jaws, Quick change toolpost and 7 tool holders, 24" between centres and 61/4" swing, Speeds from 300-2500 infintly variable, Miniwizard 2 axis DRO, New taper turning attachment, Chuck guard, light and suds, Chuck, live and dead centres for tail stock, Metric and Imperial dials and screw cutting, 40 mm bore, Manuals for lathe and DRO.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/SmartandBrown/SB1024VSL.jpg
My winning bid was £2100 + VAT at £367.50 + delivery at £250, Total £2717.50
I recently chased a very nice sounding CVA 1A up to £2,500 & missed it by 13 seconds at that price, I suspect the winning bidder was using a snipe & it therefore could have gone even higher. The CVA was a bare machine without even a toolpost & on reflection I would probably have been making a rod for my own back to subsequently source the, essential to my intended usage, taper turning attachment let alone the likely cost. CVA's in good condition appear to be very scarce & 3 or 4 machines that I have inquired about at machinery dealers & on Ebay have been pretty rough old things that would almost certainly require major reconditioning, for which I have neither the time nor appetite for the likely cost.
The S&B 1024VSL had been high on my list, particularly after seeing the detail pics of Alistairs superb example & speaking to a few skilled machinists who had used these lathes. I found perhaps 3 or 4 at various machinery dealers all around the £2000 mark but strangely none had the taper turning attachment, I found that the older round head models advertised mostly had the attachment but the later square head VSL's did not, whether this was a standard accessory on the round head that became an extra on the square head I do not know. Another plus point for the S&B is that the manufacturers are still in business supplying parts & service, very helpfull people too, apparently the last new S&B lathes were supplied only 2 years ago. Hopefully the machine & it's performance will meet my expectations when I turn some swarf with it in January (chips are made by the wife in England)
My experience in this purchase does seem to suggest that the price for a good lathe of this type in England has increased considerably in the last year or so, 2 to 3 grand looks to be the mark, whether due to the Ebay effect one can not be sure but a positive aspect might be that less machines will be flogged off to third world countries for peanuts as has previously been the case.
Another little success that I may as well share whilst I'm at it is the Alexander toolroom mill (Deckel FP1 clone) I won off Ebay yesterday. In this case I will be collecting the machine after the new year holiday & am hoping that by removing all it's bolted on appendages & generous application of muscle power we can get it into a Mercedes Sprinter van & therefore save considerably on the cost of machinery movers.
Again, the machine sounds to be in excellent condition & the vendor seems to be a very genuine chap.
Auction description & pic was as follows:
This is a fabulous piece of equipment for the serious model maker or small industrial user. Perfect for home workshop or garage as it is single phase, this is in good working order and has been used for clock making for the last few years. Model: PG1E (20 degree P.A.), serial no. 1271 A multitude of accessories : 5" Jaw Swivel Machine Vice, Verical Milling Head, Horizontal Milling Over - Arm + Arbour, 40 off assorted cutters (gear, angle, radius etc), 22 off Assorted Collets (Imp + Metric), Fixed and Swivelling Universal tables, 2 off Boring Heads, Slotting / Shaping Attachment, Indexing / Dividing Head + Assorted Hole Plates, low voltage lamp, all user guides and catalogues for parts. An absolute gem of a machine, and a piece of equipment that does not come up for sale very often.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/Alexander/alexander01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/pistonskirt/Alexander/alexander04.jpg
I had looked at a few Deckel FP1's & thought for some time that, particularly with the universal table, this type of mill could make certain tricky cylinder head machining jobs much easier to set up than on my series 1 Bridgeport. When this machine appeared on Ebay it looked perfect & even the better for being of English manufacture so I was delighted to win the auction. I look forward to figuring out it's intricacies in January.
regards
Brian