Sincere Lathe

[david pierce]

I looked at the Sincere page on Ebay lats night and noticed that the price has increased considerably. I paid $450.00 for mine several years ago and it included the cross slide and collet drilling tailstock.

[arutha]

I am watching a set of 26 collets from Sincere and the price changes every day but that is just down to the exchange rate, even so there has been a £6.00 difference so I will wait a little while longer and see what happens

[david pierce]

Paul,
Make sure the threads on the collets are going to work in your machine. I purchased many items from Sincere and have found them nice to deal with.
david

[arutha]

Thanks for the heads up David but that wont be a problem, I can always make a new drawbar
Going by the price of a used set of collets I think I might just as well buy a new set. Some of the used ones I have seen have not been treated very well and you never know what you are going to get until they arrive. I just wish they did 6mm collets too.
Paul.

[david pierce]

Paul,
I have both a Sincere and a Bergeon lathe. They are very similar in size, feel, power and accuracy. Both are very nice machines. I think if you ever got your hands on one you would never let it out of your sight.
david

[arutha]

Hi David,
I will only be buying the collets at the moment but if my old Wolf Jahn ever wears out I would definitely consider a Sincere lathe. Going by what you and Bob have said about them I think I would be stupid not to.
Paul.

[david pierce]

If you look at Ebay item 14187046432 you can see a traditional 10mm double pedistal clockmaker lathe. This size catigory is also known as an instrument lathe which I view as the next step up in size from the watchmaker lathe. While instrument lathes offer extreme precision, they are expensive and are more precise than necessary for clock work. Derbyshire Lathes use Bardon ball bearings and have a spindle runout measured in millionths of an inch . The cost of the bearings alone in a Derbyshire headstock excede the cost of a Sherline or Taig lathe. A Taig lathe costs much less than a Levin or Derbyshire but is more than adaquate to make clock parts.

[arutha]

Hi David,
my in-between lathe is Vario-lux http://www.lathes.co.uk/minilor/
It is a hobbyist lathe but has the important mill attachment and covers anything too big for my watchmakers lathe. It handles most things well, takes the ER type collets and is as accurate as I need it to be.
For my bigger jobs, when I finally get it set up, I will have a Holbrook lathe (I was very lucky and got given this one). I have the C8 but without the electronic control post you see in the picture with the blue lathe http://www.lathes.co.uk/holbrookB8/
That was a heavy bit of kit to get up 3 flights of stairs!
I did get offered a Lorch 10mm lathe a while back but it needed far too much work doing to it, nice lathe but like the Pultra etc, the parts and accessories are expensive and hard to come by.
The next thing on my list is an American Watch Tool Co. WW pattern 8mm lathe, comes with crosslide, 4 and 3 jaw chucks and a face plate but without collets, the guy who is selling it to me wants next to nothing for it so it will be a real bargain.
Paul.

[david pierce]

Paul,
Those are some nice looking machines. The Holbroke looks like a very high end lathe which should offer plenty of chatter free cutting power, strength and high precision. It is a beautiful looking lathe. The American Tool And Watch Company is where Fred Derbyshire worked prior to starting the Derbyshire Company in 1911.
david

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