After convincing myself I really should get a lathe the hunt was on. I spent a lot of time looking at mini lathes and trying to decide if I needed CNC or not. I bid on a few small lathes but other people obviously thought they were worth more than I did so they are now proud owners and I was left still looking. Threading is a prerequisite for me as I don’t see much point in a lathe that doesn’t have this facility, at least for me. As time flew by I was leaning more towards CNC as ideas flew about in my imagination.

After missing out on several CNC items, some complete and others in various states of repair impatience finally got the better of me. I decided I would put a silly bid on the next suitable candidate on Ebay. A wee while later a Boxford160 came up. It seemed to have a decent history and was within travelling distance so I did as I promised. One silly bid later and I only just won the auction – ouch, didn’t think it would be that expensive. Never mind, it’s mine to collect. Off to get it from a very nice and helpful seller who demonstrated it running but could not give me any more information. It fitted in the boot of my car and was soon on the bench next to the mill. My overwhelming impression was – it’s not very big! Again, my research had let me down and it was considerably smaller in the flesh than in the photos, damn……

This poor little lathe sat there for a month and was never even turned on. I then decided I needed something bigger and that meant more money. So, the Boxford 160 went back on Ebay and sold for £50 less than I paid for it, result. £1 commission and cash on collection minimised my losses and it was back to searching on Ebay and the Internet generally. Time passed and there was little of interest. Craigslist had some adverts for potentially suitable candidates but after contacting the sellers I can only surmise they were scams. In general they wanted either the whole sum or a deposit up front before even seeing the machine and couldn’t provide other photos. They also did not want cash on collection, very odd. Even two months later those same adverts are still there so definitely buyer beware.

Anyway, finally a Boxford 250PC appeared on Ebay. It looked ideal, well, all except for the price. It was a complete machine with internal and external jaws but no computer or software. This latter point didn’t bother me as I looked forward to the Mach3 upgrade experience. I sat on the fence for a couple of weeks and then bit the bullet and pressed buy it now. Whilst arranging collection I found out the seller also had a Boxford 300 VMC (vertical machining centre) for sale. I hired a Luton van with a tail lift, built a couple of dollys to put the machines on and off we went.

This was a momentous day starting about 7am when I collected the van. The journey was no trouble and the machines looked good on inspection. Loading was interesting……. The VMC went on the sturdier dolly without a problem but things went badly wrong when the lathe dropped onto the last minute dolly. Firstly, the dolly flexed worryingly as the fork lift lowered the machine onto it. We then listened as the tail lift struggled to raise it to the van bed level. It was on the maximum load limit but should have been ok however, in reality it failed to get level stopping about half an inch short. No problem we thought, a good shove and it will roll in no problems. You know that saying about plans and mice and men, well, it happened to us. It moved about an inch before there was a very loud bang as one of the wheels exploded and fired bearings all over the place. It took another hour to get it loaded and we had to use the fork lift, a pallet truck and some sweat. Great, tie it all down and we’ll be off. Did you know that Luton van sides are made of paper, at least when you try and strap a ton of machinery to them! I drove the 220 mile journey home so delicately I wouldn’t have spilt a full cup of water set on the dash. Of course we still had to unload the machines and return the rental truck. Plan B clicked in and I won an auction on the way home for a pallet truck. We got home, swapped vehicles and collected the pallet truck and proceeded to unload the van. There was no drama, just some creative thinking and a lot of care to avoid injuries. No room for errors with something weighing half a ton and three feet in the air. After all though a bit of an anti climax really and the machines were all put away and the van returned and we were heading to bed at about 2:30 am. A long day for sure.

A week or two later I had built a new dolly to replace the one that was not up to the job. Here is a picture of it nearing completion and before I added the wheels. I constructed it from some wood Wickes had on offer (and was reasonably straight). It is not quite 3 inches by 2 inches in size. I glued each plank to the others securing with screws and straps. After allowing it to dry and before attaching the next plank I removed the screws and reused them on the next plank etc. The only remaining screws are into the reinforcing bearers as can be seen. These are not glued as the machines will sit on the floor at the end of the day and I may want to reuse the rest for something.

This is a time lapse video of me changing over the dolly I used to collect the lathe. Originally I made two dollys, one from an old table top with 4 of 320kg rated wheels and this one with 8 of 80kg rated wheels. The reason I used 8 smaller wheels was a lack of preparation and the fact I didn’t realise until the day before there was the opportunity to buy both a 250PC lathe and a 300 VMC mill. I couldn’t get more of the original wheels hence this decision. It ended up costing me about a hundred pounds to fix although I did get it home so chalk one up to experience. Nothing like balancing 1/2 ton of machine and a pallet truck on a trolley jack and a couple of piles of wood. Never mind, it worked rather well in the end.

X5

The ‘new’ VMC300 aquisition. Bought off eBay it found its way home on a trailer. I have learnt a lot from past experience and careful use of the winch, a high lift pallet truck and a couple of friends made short work of getting it safely to my garage. I then bit the bullet and bought a set of skates to move the machines around in the garage. Wow, these are amazing and on a par with the pallet truck but are better in confined spaces.