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Used Lathe advice

KBS

Plastic
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Location
Orkney
Hi

This is my 1st post on here, been a member for a bit and found it a great source of info.
I’m no Machinist but served my time as a Agri Engineer/Blacksmith so have always done a bit of machining. I’ve been in the oil industry working for nearly 15 years now and my work offshore as a Mechy I can spends days on the lathe\mill or go 2 weeks without using it, mostly turning shaft/bushes some threading and general repair work.
I have a workshop at home and do a bit of Engineering to keep my hand in, I have a an old Colchester triumph 2000 at the moment that I cleaned up and works away good. But I’m considering a bigger Lathe as I’ve had to turn away a couple of jobs due to not having enough swing or hollow spindle size.

I’ve even looking at Colchester Masstiff & Mascot’s as I’ve used them in the past but the Colchester’s seem to hold a higher value even for old abused looking ones, I’ve seen you can get a TOS lathe for a lot less money. Has anyone got any experience of them or could give me info on other brands of lathes around this size.

Cheers
Kev
 
Good morning.


Colchester's hold their value, due I suspect to their ease of use & their versatility. Plus, most spares are available.
A lot of individuals do ramp up the prices even on battered old machines, I've seen plenty of over priced old tat for sale.

A friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us, ran a precision engineering business. he had a couple of TOS lathes for rough work, & he swore by them, as opposed to at them.


Cheers.
 
Good morning.


Colchester's hold their value, due I suspect to their ease of use & their versatility. Plus, most spares are available.
A lot of individuals do ramp up the prices even on battered old machines, I've seen plenty of over priced old tat for sale.

A friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us, ran a precision engineering business. he had a couple of TOS lathes for rough work, & he swore by them, as opposed to at them.


Cheers.

the spare parts situation for Tos should be okay as they are still in business and they are one of the few in europe that still produce and sell new manual lathes.
Tos has a representation in the netherlands that will be happy to serve the british market brexit or no brexit.
 
Thanks for the reply’s, I will keep a eye out, there is a machine dealer with used TOS in Motherwell at a ok price so I will maybe have to take a trip south to look as I’m based up North in Scotland so limited and not many machines ever come up for sale local.
 
Has anybody got any dealer Recommendations in the UK/Scotland or ones to avoid.
im not in a hurry as my Triumph 2000 is ok for the jobs i have in at the moment, i was looking at a Tos lathe and a Colchester Mastiff online at Tayside machinery but also read a post on here that they might no be the best dealer, iv seen loads of painted up Colchesters for big money with Terrible paint jobs and beds look like theve been cleaned up with a grinder and wire brush!
 
Good morning.


Colchester's hold their value, due I suspect to their ease of use & their versatility. Plus, most spares are available.
A lot of individuals do ramp up the prices even on battered old machines, I've seen plenty of over priced old tat for sale.

A friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us, ran a precision engineering business. he had a couple of TOS lathes for rough work, & he swore by them, as opposed to at them.


Cheers.

Agreed, and most of the buyers of Colchesters in the UK remember them from college or school, so the name's familiar! A bit like Myford among the model "engineers".
The price of Colchester spares is extortionate though, even if they're available a lot more easily than for a TOS... if you want a spares nightmare, try a Holbrook (it's worth it, though)

Dave H. (the other one)
 
How will you move it to your location? Factor in that cost to your plans. A 16" lathe is not going in the back of a pickup truck or van.
Bill D
 
I have a 3.5T 16ft trailer if it’s no far away but I have priced a haulage company to take a lathe up from England, but I’m probably talking £500 to £800 to get it to my place.
 
I've moved two and a half ton lathe and 2 ton mill on my own, Northampton to Hampshire etc. the secret is a plant trailer with a winch and a drop tail plus rollers and something between them and the lathe cabinet / machine if it's not flat-bottomed. My local trailer place rents them out for £40/day, add a Hilux (£55/day) and you're in business.

Dave H. (the other one)
 
Still looking at Lathes, I am currently looking at TOS Trencin SN500. For the money it looks like a newer better condition machine compared to the Mastiff I am also pricing from the supplier, anybody have any experience of the
Is type of lathe?
 
Do you need inch threads or will metric only work for you? I have no idea how common inch stuff is in Britain. Are things still being made with inch threads for sale new or just as spare parts for older stuff. My Harrison M300 lathe was designed in 1972? as all metric nuts and bolts but inch/metric gear ratios for threading the leadcrew could be chosen either inch or metric native.
Bill D
 
Do you need inch threads or will metric only work for you? I have no idea how common inch stuff is in Britain. Are things still being made with inch threads for sale new or just as spare parts for older stuff. My Harrison M300 lathe was designed in 1972? as all metric nuts and bolts but inch/metric gear ratios for threading the leadcrew could be chosen either inch or metric native.
Bill D
It’s mostly Metric threads I’m dealing with, but that’s not to say something won’t come into my workshop that requires imperial threads.
 
Just thought I would let you know I bought a Tos Trencin SN500, got the machine home on Friday and really happy with it. Just need to level it up and get it bolted down next. B56855BF-1B74-4F07-92C8-BA9161AD2026.jpg
 








 
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