Quote:
Originally Posted by torana68
you'd need to check carefully for wear and find out what threads it can cut, what tooling if any comes with it. A Hercus 260 would be pretty good if you can find one, ask around ,there is probably a second hand machinery business somewhere near you.
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I agree with Roger, a Hercus 260 series would be a good choice and they are predominantly metric and relatively cheap. I see one comment that Hercus's are very heavy, well, that may be so but metal lathes are, it is not as if you are moving them around, I don't think there is a grab and go metal lathe? perhaps an Emco Unimat would be considered one though
. Myfords are a superb lathe for serious amateurs as they have a number of excellent accessories designed for the modeller but are quite light in construction. They are mostly imperial and this generally wouldn't suit younger people.
It is pretty hard to explain to people what a metal lathe is capable of if they are not mechanically minded or if they have never used one and wish to pursue modelling. After nearly fifty years of using lathes and mills for my steam engine and telescope restoration hobbies their use comes naturally. A lot of the time you spend thinking and planning various projects and yet the machining operations can be relatively short. I have four metal lathes, mills, drills, a couple of wood lathes and various other specialty machines to keep me sane.
My latest lathe acquisition is an Austrian Emco Maximat Super 11 metal lathe which is considered to be one of the best serious modellers lathe ever made (along with Myfords). It is a shame they are no longer made. To put things in perspective, the Super 11 as shown with the milling attachment and cabinet cost me the equivalent of a very good used Tak TOA-130. I have attached a pic of the Super 11 from one of my Emco brochures.