I think all our contributions are being of some use in helping DJH decide. There is no intention of machine wars, we're merely pointing out our own experiences so he can weigh up the pros and cons in his own mind. Having been down both routes in the price bracket DJH is looking at, the old machine has worked out the better than the new one for me that's all.
I don't think we should take things to heart too much in here, it is sort of the purpose of forums like this to have the odd debate as long as it's all valid. It wasn't long ago Chris and I went a bit off topic and started talking about our MGF's and got a slating! But from our experience of owning them we enjoyed them greatly and could recommend them to others as a great fun and nice to drive car at a good price, so you just have to agree to disagree sometimes with no bad feeling. It was the first car I bought when I got a job and it cost £11,000 - 15 times more than my lathe!
A couple of points on your last post DJH.
Another plus is that the new machines will have a warranty so you should have some come back if anything was wrong with them.
The C4 does get good reviews, the only slight issue I see is 100rpm being the slowest speed but as Steve said, depending on what you are doing it might not be an issue. It's really a bit fast for big cast iron loco wheels and the like but it's still do-able. Also, probably a bit fast for threading. I have just seen the new chester price for that and am quite shocked. It’s gone from £625 18 months ago to £1069! It is £896 from Axminster.
The 250V doesn't have power cross feed which isn't a major issue but now I’ve got a lathe with it, I wouldn’t do without it.
The 280V is pretty expensive but probably not a bad price for a new lathe. Did you realize it has 28” between centres though? That is big – Harrison is only 24”!
Here’s another new one to throw into the mix:
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axminster-BV30M-Engineering-Lathe-21668.htmThe Harrison is as you said big and heavy (over ½ a tonne I think!) but that also goes in its favour.
The boxford is actually a very compact machine, more compact and lighter than the Harrison but similar capacity. It has an underdrive motor unit apart from on very early models which helps keep it nice and slimline.
A quick couple of opinions on my milling machine from amadeal. It’s the same as the chester century.
http://www.chesteruk.net/store/century_vs_mill.htm It’s OK because it is designed on sound principals, quite heavy, big motor, taper roller bearings, tapered gib strips etc. But I couldn’t say it is well made. Having said that, I have used it straight out of the box and it’s pretty well set up. The guy who I bought mine with (we got two to get a better deal) has had a new head and table on his. The spindle had excessive play and the table was tapered. The guy was ok to deal with though and he reckons it’s sorted now. I’d hate to think I’d paid £1049 for it though, I got it for £600.
Just don’t assume because you are buying a new bit of kit it will be set up satisfactorily and you can use it straight out of the box, because sometimes they aren’t. But you should be setting up any machine you get anyway. You could just as easily buy a new pile of rubbish, but at least then you could take it back and tell them!
When I am making a big purchase like this, I do exactly what bogs said below on a spreadsheet and give each feature an impotance weighting then look at what scores the highest. It usually works well!
There my 2p worth, hope some of this helps.
Nick
