Love of lathes.

[Yorkie]

A couple of years ago there was a really attractive small Bench-top Lathe on ebay. It was beautifully polished, a real work of art.
Alan

A chap contacted me a few months back as he'd learnt that I had a little Lorch lathe. He sent me a couple of pics of his, for which he has a host of accessories. Pristine condition, and you'd think from the pics, and from its indoor location that it never gets used, but in fact it does. I may have posted the pics before - if so, sorry about that. The 'bench' that it's one was made for him by a neighbour who is a retired cabinet-maker who has obviously not lost his skills.

The one I have, which came to me as bits rusty in a box and stayed like that ignored under the bench for five years or so till Colin tipped me off about what it was, only has a few traces of black paint on it, so whether it ever was painted, I know not. The most useful feature is the ability to use collets in the headstock (with the chuck removed) and in the tailstock. This makes for accurate concentric drilling when making such things as spindle couplers, or when tapping threads in little items. I was very lucky in that it came with a set of collets, which aren't easy to come by, and consequently are very expensive when found.