How can it be so f******g hard to find a lathe on Ebay??

[King Herald]

I'm absently browsing Ebay to try find a lathe worth buying, but the 'lathe' category has everybody and their dog selling anything lathe related that they can think of. The just stick 'lathe' in the description somewhere and put it there. So now I have to look through 4,908 different items, of which maybe 50 are actually lathes!!!!!!!! The rest is tools, calipers, metal, anything BUt fkin' lathes!!!!!!

If I look in the 'Joiners and lathes' category, within the 'Lathes' category, I get 53 items, of which 50 are NOT fkin' lathes!!!!!

If the Ebay idiots would sort this st out instead of hunting for and deleting 'No Paypal Please' auctions they might be more friggin' successful!!!!!

[jacko460c]

I just tried it, upon typing lathe in the search box I got a pop up list which included : metal lathe, myford, churchill plus others. Metal lathe gave 107 results. Not all lathes but a majority. Gotta refine your search criteria.

[cqueen]

Ive got a micro lathe if your interested?

[King Herald]

jacko460c said:

I just tried it, upon typing lathe in the search box I got a pop up list which included : metal lathe, myford, churchill plus others. Metal lathe gave 107 results. Not all lathes but a majority. Gotta refine your search criteria.

I tried that, but you then end up having to search loads of those suggestions from the pop up list. Basically there is a dedicated lathes-only slot, but nobody uses it properly.

Refining the search simply means you miss lathes that are not put into Ebay properly. So, I need to trawl through 4000 items to look at 100 lathes.

[King Herald]

cqueen said:

Ive got a micro lathe if your interested?

Thanks, but I'm looking for something a little larger, maybe a 6" chuck or bigger. The price seems to go up drastically once you get above a 4" chuck diameter.

[Morningside]

Try
"Lathe -somethingidontwant -somethingelseidontwant"

This tend to narrow things down a bit.

[dfen5]

Why use Ebay for a lathe? There's loads of them about and lots of s/h machine sales, some with them set up. I'm sure you know you don't want one you've got to align or fit new bearings into. Lots of rusty junk about by the way..

[MoggyMuncha]

Hi

I have had a hobby for some 38 yrs that uses lathes...

With Ebay, you get better searches by specifying manufacturers names

There are 3 things to consider when specifying a lathe

1. Centre height - ie the radius of whatever you want to put in the chuck without hitting the lathe bed - generally sets how big the lathe is

2. Power - single phase as in most homes or 3 phase (needed for the heavier lathes)

3. Power feed and power cross-slide or not (hits the price)

4. Bed length - usually 30" on most 'hobby' lathes

These following names are by no means complete - just the ones that are popular.

Emco and peatol make micro lathes - usually about 1-2" centre height and always single phase

Myford and Boxford for 3.5" centre height - mainly single phase but watch out - not always the case.

Raglan and Colchester - 5" centre height and very often 3 phase - but motor conversions are possible - just watch the lights go dim in your house when you switch it on !!

Above this you're getting rather 'industrial' which I know little about.

Myford and Emco are still making lathes new. There are lots of companies importing Far Eastern stuff - not bad quality but never quite as good as the makes named above.

The main companies, based in the UK that import this gear include Warco and Chester.

Personally I have a Myford Super 7 and Raglan 5" lathes

If you need to know more, PM me

Mogs

[The Moose]

If you sort by price (highest to lowest) surely that will put MOST of the lathes at the top of the list??

I know that this will make you miss some of them, but generally the whole product will be more moolah than the parts/accessories??

Or am I wrong??

Good luck on your hunt anyway!!

Cheers

The Moose

[Pigeon]

http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/

[elster]

Have a look on

www.apexauctions.com

That is where you go for proper tool auctions.

[Bombjack]

Look around you. Can you form some kind of rudimentary lathe?

[G_T]

Bombjack said:

Look around you. Can you form some kind of rudimentary lathe?

You mean like; Hamster in wheel, elastic bands, a stick and a drill bit?

[St. Anger]

Here ya go!

http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/

[St. Anger]

Here ya go!

http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/

[Working Class]

The Moose said:

If you sort by price (highest to lowest) surely that will put MOST of the lathes at the top of the list??

I know that this will make you miss some of them, but generally the whole product will be more moolah than the parts/accessories??

Or am I wrong??

Good luck on your hunt anyway!!

Cheers

The Moose

Thats what i do with most my searches on there!

[SirDigbyChicken]

Home and Workshop machinery also have a good selection (www.homeandworkshop.co.uk) I used to browse alot of the above sites before i got my myford - wouldn't want anthing else now

Oh and Arc Euro (www.arceurotrade.co.uk)is very good for little things and CNC milling machine conversions (tried tested and very very happy)

Edited by SirDigbyChicken on Monday 1st June 13:01

[stifler]

King Herald. Are you going to try and make a gearbox for your V8 motorbike? That thing is cool.

[King Herald]

The Moose said:

If you sort by price (highest to lowest) surely that will put MOST of the lathes at the top of the list??

Good point, I'll try that.

MoggyMuncha said:

Hi

I have had a hobby for some 38 yrs that uses lathes...

Thanks for the info.
I'm a centre lathe turner by trade, haven't done that for years though. I really fancy getting something that would be bordering on the 'industrial' size, to swing a brake drum, or a car flywheel for instance. Not sure I'd ever need the size, but it is surprising what you can/will do on a lathe when you have one to hand.

Bombjack said:

Look around you. Can you form some kind of rudimentary lathe?

I've tried fitting a wheel hub into my cordless drill, and screw cutting it by eye with a three square file, but it failed hopelessly.

Thanks for the links folks, I'll try a few of the more professional web sites and auctions. Ebay might not be the best for something like this I guess.

[King Herald]

stifler said:

King Herald. Are you going to try and make a gearbox for your V8 motorbike? That thing is cool.

If I'd had a decent lathe when I was building it it might well have had a different ending.

I stripped it for parts eventually, got too frustrated trying to do all that engineering with fairly minimal tooling.