Hey....just retired. Interest in smallish live steam.

[gerritv]

DRO is great for tuning but I was thinking more about threading.

The Asian lathes generally can do both inferial and metric because they come with full sets of gears; the others , as in Myford, Atlas, Southbend depend on having the change gear sets. Too often some or all gears are missing, much like Standard Modern tail stocks
And in reality, as a model builder, how much threading on the lathe is really required that couldn't be done just as well with a die holder?

 

[whydontu]

Without going to crazy expensive or heavy, a 10x22-ish lathe with DRO and @jcdammeyer s ELS. I wish I had known about the ELS years ago.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Without going to crazy expensive or heavy, a 10x22-ish lathe with DRO and @jcdammeyer s ELS. I wish I had known about the ELS years ago.

And the upgrade to my ELS will handle quadrature encoders. I keep getting pulled to other projects. At the moment for work-work I have to assemble and test 150 modules and order some other boards for the same client. But the upgrade to the ELS will plug in place of the 8 bit processor with a 32 bit processor module with a whole bunch more 'features'.

 

[trevj]

There have been a LOT of small Loco's built on Myford lathes over the years, and I am awfully fond of mine.

But I have to admit, folks like Blondihacks and Clickspring, on YouTube, are showing very well, what great work can be done with some pretty inexpensive import machines.

The lathe on your bench is, no matter how worn, or out of whack, still better than a picture of the 'perfect' lathe in a catalog!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Welcome from St Catharines.
You might want to consider joining Hamilton Model Engineering Club, we meet at the Hamilton Steam Museum every 3rd Sunday at 1300. First meeting is Sept 17. A few members build/built live steam engines. Also Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers, who have a track at the museum. They mostly run engines, not so much building them but good exposure for you. One advantage of joining is that many machine tools get sold without ever seeing the light of day on FB Marketplace or Kijiji.

I (and my wife) have moved a King 1022 lathe and an Atlas MF mill downstairs on a 2 wheel dolley. We also moved a 600lb Cincinnatti grinder downstairs, thankfully the new owner moved it out Some disassembly but quite manageable even at +60 years old.

Whatever machines you get, put a DRO on it. Life is too short to start counting graduations on dials at our age. As for metric vs inferial lathes, most are inferial even the Asian ones. And they generally cut both types of threads, although most of your threading will be tap and die, not on the lathe.

I just found out about your club a month or so ago, and next time I'm down that way with some spare time I am going to stop into the museum. I wish I had more time to get involved in some clubs, but barely have enough time to work on my own projects right now.

 

[gerritv]

@Dan Dubeau TSME might be a better fit distance wise? They meet at Downsview Airport. Too far for me but maybe not for you?

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Ya, I'd like to join the TSME, but there's just not a lot of free time these days. Poor excuse I know.

 

[StevSmar]

Welcome from Winnipeg.

After moving my 12x24” (700-900lbs) lathe downstairs in one piece, I’m a firm believer in pulling the tools apart. I did that with my Mill rather than repeating the insanity of the lathe… Plus you’ll become so much more comfortable with your machining tools.

So as long as you’re reasonable, I wouldn’t let a basement shop limit the tools you consider.

 

[Bandit]

Welcome from south of Calgary. Things always go easy down stairs, however if they work after is the best way.