Just purchased a Holbrook Minor

samthedog

samthedog

Token Aussie
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Nov 21, 2012
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Well gents, it's official. I just bought myself a Holbrook Minor. She's below:

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It's hopefully going to replace my awesome Chipmaster:

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It's not that the Chippie is bad - it's wonderful. I have just thought that if the step from my Emco Maximat V10 to the Chipmaster was nice, then the Chipmaster to the Holbrook Minor may be equally good.

More info on the Holbrook here:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/holbrook/page5.html

Am I being silly? The Holbrook didn't come with any accessories and cost $2300 USD but I figure I can spend a little on fitting it out and have a keeper. Opinions are welcome.

Paul.

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Wow... !!!! It sure reads like a topnotch lathe, Paul. Even though the Chipmaster is also a good lathe, it looks like the Holbrook is head and shoulders above. Around here, that price would not be out of line for such a fine lathe. Looking forward to more pics when you get it home.

Cheers... :)

Brian
 
Wow Paul-

That looks to be a diamond in the rough, and easily worth much more than you paid...It even looks prettier than the example on Tony's site! You should send pics of it in! He appreciates things like that...

I couldn't read the whole description this morning, but it really looks like a piece of art. Like few other machines, and as Tony Griffith says, it looks like it was designed without dollars (or pounds :) ) in mind.

More pics when you get it home!

Bernie
 
Nice one Paul.
First thing to do is to change the oil in the Kopp gear , only use the special oil recommended for this gear. The old oil will stink so be careful not to spill it, or you will live with the smell for weeks.

Green with envy .
Brian.
 
You are about the luckiest guy I have seen yet!!!! I'd LOVE to have the Holbrook,OR the Chip Master. We don't have many of those fine English lathes floating around in this country.
 
Thanks guys. The lathe is not perfect though - it needs chucks, tailstock tooling and a quick change toolpost / holders.

It also has a noisy variator that may be salvaged or worst case, shot into the sun and replaced with a VFD.

Brian - I spilled the variator oil from my Chipmaster a couple weeks ago. I could not for the life of me understand how someone captured so much flatulence into the fluid.

I am pretty excited to see the condition up close as I have bought the machine based on the owner's description and the photo provided. I am off to the USA for 2 weeks for work and then I will have a chance to get it home.

Paul.
 
Tony Griffith's site warns about problems with the variator,I believe.
 
george wilson said:
Tony Griffith's site warns about problems with the variator,I believe.
Click to expand...

Very true. I actually rang Tony before I decided to buy the lathe and spoke to him about it. He advised that it should not be a problem and said that given the quality and ease of using VFDs today that it would be a fast fix to dump the variator. I ran the price by him and he said that the price vs quality of the machine justified taking the gamble even if the VFD was shot.

Now I have to patiently wait for 2 weeks as I am flying out to Houston this morning. I also potentially sold my Chipmaster last night for a reasonable price that will completely offset the cost of the new lathe with all necessary accessories and still leave me with a good wad of cash in my pocket.

Paul.
 
Fantastic Paul! I would love to see a machine like yours (either one!) in person sometime, as they both seem like purpose-built, as opposed to budget-built machine. In cases like these, there are so many options and design features aren't even appreciated until you really know what you are doing, or become expert with your machine. Wow

Bernie
 
Congratulations :) I agree that $2300 is fairly reasonable for a quality machine like that. And for that you get the obligatory :greenwithenvy:
 
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