Model Engineers’ Workshop – July 2019

18 http://www.model-engineer.co.uk Model Engineers’ Workshop

One Man and

His Lathe

Introduction
I was introduced to model engineering at
school in the 1960s, like many others, and
built my fi rst model there, a Stuart Turner
No. 9 horizontal steam engine. I’ve had a
home workshop ever since, sometimes well
equipped, sometimes not, depending on
circumstances. My output hasn’t been great,
several stationary steam engines, a Juliet
0-4-0 loco, a Wallis and Stevens ‘Simplicity’
roller to the Plastow design, a Tasker tractor
in 4” scale, a horizontal gas engine to an
old Stuart design, but with castings from
my own patterns, a Dore Westbury milling
machine, and fi nally a hand operated planing
machine of my own design, again using
castings from my own patterns.

For some years my lathe was a 5” Raglan

Little John dating from 1954, which gave

excellent service, but about fi ve years

ago, I decided that I wanted to upgrade

to something a little more modern, and

slightly larger if possible. The Raglan

had a variable speed system based on

two opposing expanding pulleys, so that

speed could be changed on the move. A

little tricky to set up initially, but once set,

gave very little trouble. I really liked this

arrangement, and my preference was for

the replacement to have a similar system.

I wasn’t a great fan of electronic variable

speed control, using a DC motor, following

unhappy experiences with a Chinese mini

lathe, when I managed to burn out 3 motors

due to extended use of low speed causing

the motor to overheat. I looked at several

new off erings from regular advertisers in

this magazine and ruled them out either

because of the electronic speed control,

or the amount of fi ddly belt changing

involved. Having studied the excellent

http://www.lathes.co.uk website, I considered the

fabled Myford 280, which ruled itself out,

partially because none ever seem to come

up for sale, and also because, judging by the

prices asked for the smaller Myford 254, I

couldn’t have aff orded one anyway. A more

modern Raglan 5” would have fi tted the bill,

but I couldn’t fi nd a decent one at the time,

and the same went for a Boxford 280.

Richard Wilson and his Denford 280 Synchro lathe

1

The Denford 280 Synchro lathe as bought.