Thinking of purchasing mill/Lathe

[larsinist]

Hey

I am thinking to purchase a mill/Lathe,the model i want is a Proxxon PD 400...http://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/24400.php .i will use it to make some small parts, and i will mostly use it to produce stirling engine parts, but i want to be sure that i buy the right one, for what i am supposed to use it for, so please give me some feedback, what you think of that mill/lathe..should i buy another one??

Regards:Lars

[Ian S C]

Lars, The PD 400 looks quite nice in the catalogue ( not that that always means much). I have a 2010 catalogue, and the English price is 2059.50 Pounds Sterling, where as the Sieg Super C6-550 Hi Torque lathe from Arceurotrade In England is 1182 Pounds Sterling, and the Sieg Super C3 is 595 Pounds, either of those two would be just as good I feel, but then again I don't know about what you can buy in Norway.
Ian S C

[larsinist]

Thank you for reply ian s c ..i can purchase any machine in my country/Norway.i will have a look on the Sieg Super C6-550 Hi Torque lathe
Regards:Lars

[Ian S C]

Lers, it's worthlooking around, it took me 6 months or so looking at different lathes. Get the biggest you can afford, or have room for, you can make little things on a big lathe, but it is difficult to make big things on a small lathe, and once you have a lathe, all your mates will want you to turn up all sorts of things (don't forget to charge them for the job, it helps pay for tools). I would recommend that you do not get a combined lathe/mill, get the lathe, then later get a small vertical milling machine, preferably one with a square column, similar to the Sieg, The Sieg Super X3 looks like a good choice.
Ian S C

[Triangle.Stirling]

Hi Lars,

Cool that you want to purchase a lathe! I'm sure you can make really nice engines when you have it.
I'm busy with my engineering course, and worked for the first time with a lathe last week. It is really fun!

I had a look at the Proxxon, the quality seems to be really good. Here in the Netherlands it is € 1900,-
In the Netherlands we have a company that sells Chinese lathes, that go for prices around € 1000,-
They are really cheap, and for most people good enough. I hear positive things about them, however, it is Chinese, so they're not the best.

Just what Ian says, don't buy too small, i'm sure that when you have the lathe, you have to make parts for your snowmobile, and the snowmobiles of your friends quite often.

Good luck with looking for a lathe, we'll hear what you're after!

[Chriske]

Hi,
Like Ian says : get the biggest you can afford, or have room for. You wont regret it.
I would consider buying a rotary table/tailstock and the Super X3 has a extra long table available to. It all depends on what your planing to do with it.

[larsinist]

Thank you all for input, i will use it to make stirling parts, and snowmobile parts, mainly,..i want to build a steel piston to my next stirling engine, and it would be so good with a mill/lathe, cause i allways need some parts, and i also got some weird ideas about some other engines..

Thanks again dudes

Lars

[Triangle.Stirling]

Hi Lars,

Good luck, and please don't forget to show your lathe when you've bought one!

Regards,

Krijn