Record Lathe

[Rick Fisher]

Hello..

Fella in our area has a Record Lathe, made in England for sale..

I didn't know they made lathes .. Are they any good ?

Made in England should be good, but I owned one of there cars once.. so not sure ..

[Roger Chandler]

some of them are very good. I do not know about the availability of parts, but it might be worth some research on the internet.

[Paul Girouard]

I've got a Record lathe , I like it. No problems all these years. It's a belt drive , I do which it could be run slower , it's a 5 speed pulley drive. Swivel head,

[Ron Rutter]

Rick. I was involved in selling a Record CL348 in Port Alberni recently. I am sure it is a good lathe. It has bushings in the headstock that can be adjusted. The only problem is that there are no longer any dealers in Canada. They did suggest they could ship from England!!

[Rick Fisher]

Thanks for the replies..

I did some reading.. Not a turner.. but always interested.. Gonna pass on this one.

[Richard Kennedy UK]

Hi Rick

I used a CL3 up until last summer (9 years in total) Mine was an English built machine and in terms of its engineering they were good basic machines although not without faults The bearings are adjustable and the system works well You can upgrade to variable speed and this is a good idea as you use a bigger motor which gives more ooomph! In use the records are nice to use the tool rest is comfortable and things slide around as intended. The downsides are the bed bars which I think flex a bit too much being round they are less user friendly for attaching things too like home made steadies. The swivelling headstock is a good feature allowing larger pieces to be turned and overall its a quiet smooth machine. Sadly for record they have over the last few years outsourced their production to the far east which has led to several issues arising over quality The newer machines are not seemingly as well built as the older ones (familiar story) Add into that several reports of slow customer service from the company and, well it seems things have taken a slide in what was once a terrific company things may improve but if you are looking at a newer machine well ponder a while an older machine is maybe more of a better bet but I think now there are probably better lathes about for the money.

Hope this helps any queries just ask!

Richard

[Michael Mills]

If you look at Records products on their web site you will find that Nova (Teknatool) makes two of the lathes which Record list. Just a different label. I don't know about other lathes which they list but I do like their hand tools.

[larry satchwell]

I bought a Record CL3 last summer. I asked the same question on this board and was advised to steer clear of it. Well, curiosity got the better of me so I went to look at it. The guy was asking 250 for it. It had a Super Nova (Teknatool) attached to it. It had a couple of missing parts. One was no problem to fix. I offered $200 for it and considered to myself that I was buying a nice chuck with a lathe attached to it. The part that was missing I didn’t realize was missing until I got it home. It was the thread protector that ejects the spur drive center. This lathe has no through hole for a knock out bar. There is no good way to remove the drive without it. I recently ordered one from England and got it last week. It was less than $40 with shipping. I have used it several times with no problems. Mine is very old but it looked like it had very little use. I was an upgrade from my Ohio Forge so I’m happy with it for now. I agree with what others have said of its short comings.
Satch

[Michelle Rich]

I have used the first mini-lathe that record sent to US it has worked perfectly for 26??yrs. Can't beat that

[Carl Miller]

I just bought a Record rpml300c at a garage sale for $35. It had some surface rust, but otherwise looked like it hadn't been used much. I don't know how old it is. It will only swing 4.5 inches or so. I bought it to use for pens and turned boxes. It should be just fine for that. The thing is built like a tank and though it is only about 2ft long, it weighs over 100 lbs. There was one bearing making noise, so I finally risked a mallet and drift pin and drove the shaft and bearing out. I ordered new bearing and expect them any day with hopes that that will solve the noise problem. It's only 3 speeds and slow speed is not slow enough for chasing threads. I've got a DC motor on the way. The head stock rotates for turning larger pieces, but there is no lock for returning to alignment. The thing is simply made, but beefy. I was leery of it because I own a '56 MGA (the Brits are so proud of their crappy cars). I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm not sure how this one compares with the one you were looking at.