New Lathe

[brurobas]

Good afternoon,

The end of the year approaches and that means the time of investing in new workshop equipment is also approaching

I am going to buy a lathe just for stem work and i would love to have your opinions on which of these two small lathes is more suitable to do a better job:

CHESTER COBRA LATHE

Centre Height 70mm
Maximum Swing 140mm
Distance Between Centres 250mm
Width Of Bed 70mm
Longitudinal Travel 200mm
Spindle Bore 9mm
Spindle Taper MT2
Number of Speeds Variable
Range Of Speeds 100-2000rpm
Metric Threads - Metric Machine 0.5-1.25mm
Imperial Threads - Imperial Machine 16-24TPI
ailstock Taper MT1
Tailstock Quill Travel 25mm
Cross Slide Travel 60mm
Motor 150w
Weight - Lathe 35Kgs

http://www.chestermachinetools.com/cobr ... 3964-p.asp

Axminster SIEG C0 Metal Turning Lathe

Centre Height 55mm
Cross Slide Travel 50mm
Distance Between Centres 125mm
Feed Speed N/A
Height Over Cross Slide 58mm
Leadscrew Pitch N/A
Max Diameter Over Bed 100mm
Model SEIG C0
Nett Weight 13kg
Overall L X W X H 440 x 270 x 210mm
Power 150W
Rating Hobby
Spindle Bore 10mm
Spindle Speed 100-3,850rpm
Taper Headstock No (Straight bore)
Taper Tailstock No (Straight bore)

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-si ... ning-lathe

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,

Bruno Robalo

[Charl]

I'm no lathe expert (I'm sure somebody will pitch in), but I'll go for the 1st one. The distance between centers of the Axminster is very small. Seeing that you're just gonna use it for stemwork, the Cobra seems OK. I like to work with the rod going through the spindle, so on the Cobra, for me the spindle bore will be too small. It also allows you to create more workspace between the centers.
Hmm, looking at it again, I don't think I'll take either of them.

[caskwith]

I have a Sieg CO and a Proxxon which is very similar to the Chester. Out of the two the chester is most suited to stem works but personally I don't think either are really adequate for the task.

[Jon Yoo Suk]

Neither is really suitable as the spindle bore is to small, for accurate drilling you need the work right in the chuck with only a couple of mm sticking out, due to the lightweight nature of these lathes bed twist, and poor milling of the bed will cause problems. drilling a straight hole becomes very difficult even with peck drilling.