The right lathe

[Ian Williams]

I moved up from a Myford ML7 to a Boxford Industrial 10, both great lathes but I have found the Boxford is a much more capable machine when it comes to machining all but the smallest Austin parts. I also upgraded my Mill from a Dore Westbury to a geared head modern Asian built Hafco branded machine. ( I would like something better but it was free when a local college needed their workshops cleared! ) The Dore Westbury was quite versatile but not that rigid so somewhat limiting in term's of size of cut, although I have skimmed cylinder heads, blocks opened out combustion chambers to take big valves and numerous other jobs on it. I guess both my old machines were really designed for building model engineering projects not machining car parts. I guess the point is, if space and funds are limited you can do a lot on equipment like this provided you have patience, they do take a lot of care and setting up to have accuracy though.