New Shop equipment!

[Jacques Reed]

A friend of mine has just offered me her late husband's Qualos 5-1/4" swing lathe. Her twenty-something sons don't want it so I was the next person she thought that would be interested in it.

It looks to be in good condition. Been in the garage over 10 years but not run for over 7 years when he passed away. It has a lot of tools, holders, live centre, tailstock chuck, and a 3 and 4 jaw chuck. It has also been converted to a 1.1 HP single phase motor.

Found this British website that shed a bit of light on the company's history and the lathes. www.lathes.co.uk/qualos/‎

They were made in Melbourne from WW2 to mid fifties. RAAF used a lot of them to train their apprentices and now the company is Mitutoyo Qualos an importer of mainly precision measuring equipment.

Anybody have any experience with them and does anyone have any ballpark figure what they are worth? Guess that is very subjective without a close visual inspection? I want to the right thing by her and pay a fair price for it. Can't find a date of manufacture of this particular one. Is there a stamped plate or stamping somewhere on it with that date? Any info greatly appreciated.

Cheers,