Author Topic: Indian (asian} lathe.  (Read 4256 times)

Offline bigman1

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Indian (asian} lathe.
« on: November 08, 2017, 05:04:32 PM »
I have been toying with the idea of buying an Indian flat belt medium centre lathe,yes they still make them from a 100 years ago.
The indian firms can supply any style flat belt,gear head,cnc,even giant machines,and the prices are amazingly cheap.The reason i would go for flat belt apart from price is that i don't need high speed,all i need is a solid machine with a spindle that can pass 2"shafting. Do any of you guy's now anyone who has bought from India? Cheers.Ronnie.

Offline Jo

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2017, 03:11:26 AM »
The reason the prices are cheaper than anyone else is the quality of the steel they are made of.

Jo
So many engines to build and yet so little time.

Offline bigman1

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2017, 05:23:13 PM »
Hi Jo,
I doubt the low price of Indian machine tools is the quality of the metal,the Indian steel industry is the third largest in the world.
I think the answer in general is the low income of the average indian person.If you visit a website like India mart you will see that the quality looks impressive.I am only looking for feedback from somone who has purchased a tool from them.Thanks.Ronnie.

Offline AdeV

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2017, 02:22:58 AM »
Hi Ronnie,

I don't personally know anyone who's bought an Indian lathe, but I do know people who've bought Indian-made clones of old British Lister engines (the Lister CS model, predominantly, but also versions of an old Blackstone engine). There's one of two ways it'll go....

...IF you can find an Indian company who deals regularly with "the west" (usually the US) via a particular importer, you might find that that importer has worked with the Indian company to bring quality to an acceptable level (acceptable, that is, to Western customers). If you find such an Indian company, then you can almost certainly buy from them with a reasonable expectation of getting a workable product, which should require a minimum of fettling.

If, however, you just go to "any old Indian company" - especially the very cheap ones - then expect to have to take your freshly imported lathe completely to pieces before you use it. You will be looking to clean out casting sand from gearboxes first of all. You will probably need to replace all the bearings with ones that aren't QC rejects. Make sure you go around any castings very carefully with a small magnet, Indian companies will cheerfully fill huge voids with automotive filler, rather than casting parts properly in the first place. Once you're satisfied that all of the parts are OK, you'll probably want to make sure the ways are level and parallel - just because the ways LOOK scraped, doesn't mean they were done with a straight edge. Finally, re-assemble, checking everything as you go for parallelism & straightness and you should end up with a good lathe that will last for years.

Note: That's based on the experience of numerous people (mostly Americans) who used to import "Listeroid" engines from India, prior to the EPA banning such imports. Even now, they can (and do) get around it by importing a "compressor" which looks remarkably like a complete CS engine.... although most now go to the one company that has proven to build decent motors - which, like I said, was the result of many years of effort by a US importer to get their quality up to snuff.

Now... it's quite possible that the lathe market is different, so I commend you & wish you luck on your search for people who have successfully imported such machines. Do you have a link/links to the kind of lathe you're interested in? I'd be happy to ask over on listerengine.com if any of them have or know someone who has imported such a machine.

PS: Chinese stuff is much improved these days (and I'm only a tiny bit biased when I say that....), don't necessarily write them off. Although the shipping is murder, and if you're importing to the EU, be ready for problems with CE marks (mind you, that goes for the Indians too).
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline Jo

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2017, 03:17:13 AM »
Hi Jo,
I doubt the low price of Indian machine tools is the quality of the metal,the Indian steel industry is the third largest in the world.

This is based on the fact that the lathe chucks they sell over here wear out very quickly as they are not made of the correct metal.

At work where we make airframes we mistakenly brought some metal that was made in India - when we tested it it did not match the specifications claimed. We had already used some.... cost a fortune to correct, but better than an aircraft falling out of the sky.

You pays your money - you make your choice.

Jo
So many engines to build and yet so little time.

Offline Fergus OMore

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2017, 05:09:57 PM »

Forgive my natural curiosity but I am wondering what the saving/benefit is from acquiring  an Indian lathe to say the equivalent old British lathe?

Regards
N

In caelum indicum primus

Offline bigman1

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2017, 05:36:54 PM »
I had originally been aiming at the Chinese market but prices have risen quite a lot,plus the range of speeds and feeds etc.on Chinese machines compared to british ones is poor.I will give an example I have an Atlas clone (Sphere) 10"swing with 16 speeds from 29 rpm to 2000.plus it will screw from 4 tpi up.To get such a selection on Chinese machine you have to go way up the size scale.The range on the Indian machines is remarkable to get a lathe from old school flat belt to top range cnc ,who else does that?
I have considered a British lathe that will pass at least 2" through the spindle but all the bargains i have seen are in England,i am based in Scotland,so the haulage distance is considerable.A new Asian lathe would be picked up at Grangemouth docks about 40 miles away.Kind thanks to all for the replies.Ronnie.

Offline Mike E.

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Re: Indian (asian} lathe.
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2017, 08:03:30 PM »
Google Nobilla Machine Tools Ltd. in the UK. They rebuild industrial lathes, and are possibly a good source for what you require.
Mike

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