Cool tool lathe Unimat (moved by admin)

[capnharv2]

Sjors,

 

I'll post some pictures later today. As Tony said, the Unimat 3 is one of the better lathes, but no longer available new. As far as the newest Unimats go, I agree, they aren't worth the trouble or money.

I debated getting a Sherline. I've heard lots of good things about them, and are larger with more capability. I decided to keep the Unimat and add the milling head because

 

a) I was familiar with it

 

The total cash outlay was less (I already had the lathe)

 

c) the overall footprint in my shop is smaller, and I will need to downsize in the near future

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Sjors]

Ok, I understand it.

 

You have the early version and not the plastic one.

I have see the prices of the sherline and (I said it before) I need to go on an infuse when I spend that kind of money on one item.

That's why I go for the proxxon.

 

 

[capnharv2]

I haven't heard a lot about Proxxon lathes, but what I have heard has been positive. Aren't these also sold under the Micro-Mark label too?

[Sjors]

Yes Harvey, that's correct.

I think I go this week to take a look at those machinery and see how they are.

I'll keep you posted!

 

[capnharv2]

Sjors,

 

Here's my U3:

 

 

I weighs about 20 pounds. Mainly Aluminum alloy parts. I believe the only plastic are the drive pulleys and the handwheels (and they make replacement Al handwheel)

 

It's set up for milling some cannon carriages:

 

 

And here's most of the accessories for it:

 

 

I got it about 15 years ago for 50 dollars and an unused Dremel Tool. It came with the standard toolpost, 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks, and a steady rest. Since then, I've had it refurbished, and added the milling post, milling vise, milling table and a compound angle toolpost.

 

That said, I have a lot to learn about using the tools and setting up the machining operations to get what I want. But I'm enjoying myself-and that's the point, isn't it?

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Sjors]

Yes it is Harvey,

 

The most imported thing is enjoy!

That's really nice equipment you've got over there.

And the price is not bad at all!

When i have mine I shall post it.

 

[davec]

I was just reading through the thread, and saw Ian's post a few pages back, where he comments on the Unimat 3 requiring special belts.  The belts are just O-rings.  I bought a bag of 50 in each of the 3 sizes from Amazon - all the belts together cost about the same as the shipping charge.

 

Dave

[capnharv2]

Thanks Crackers. My biggest problem with that setup? My electric drill doesn't work!

 

Harvey

[Sjors]

Nice Lathe Crackers!

 

But i need not only a lathe.

I want to buy a drilling standard with a cross table.

A router….

Circle saw….

And a pocket of money 

 

[cog]

Sjors,

 

You cross out the router. You've got one, how else do you get on the internet ...

[ianmajor]

Dave,

 

Re the belt sizes, the Standard Unimat3/4 belts come in three sizes, 1 for motor to idler, one for idler to headstock pully and a small one for the auto feed mechanism. The non standard belts I was referring to were for the Unimat Millenium issue. This was a nice little lathe (which as its name suggests was produced around the year 2000) which had the standard U3 bed mounted on a metal box. The motor was contained inside the box below the bed. This required a fourth belt size which was much larger than any in the standard set. It was this belt that I had difficulty sourcing and of course would always be the one that broke! 

 

My Millenium U3 had no facility for mounting a milling attachment as shewn in Harvey's photos, the cast plate on the rear of the bed was too small and was not drilled and tapped to take the fitting. The Millenium U3s are metal painted yellow.

 

The U4 that I have had issues with was obtained new about 2 years ago. It too is metal and is painted red. I think the message I am taking from this thread is that the EMCO U3/U4s that are greater than 10 years old are better than the current batch of metal ones.

 

Having had initial problems with my new U4, by carefully shiming the headstock and making one or two other adjustments and correcting machining errors I now have a nice little lathe.

 

I like the look of Harvey's lathe. The motor looks more substantial that the one supplied with mine. I too have a milling attachment but have it mounted on an indexing table - I need this when I am milling locomotive frames so not as applicable to ships.   

 

The interesting comparison is that Harvey's motor mounts on the left of the quill whereas mine mounts on the right - on mine the operating lever has to be on the left which suits me 'cos I am left handed!

 

Thought some photos might be of interest.

 

The first is the EMCO miller which is similar to Harvey's but note the motor is on the right. The small aluminium block on the left of the quill is an optional extra to give measured vertical movement. The index table is from EMCO and is very nice.

 

 

The second picture is my Millenium U3, out of action needing a long belt plus a replacement motor. My intention is to renovate this for one of the grandchildren to use. Notice the large metal base that contains the motor. Apart from the non standard belt this was a very good arrangement with the motor out of the way of the work area. It looks rusty in the picture - it isn't, simply an effect of the lighting. 

 

 

The third is my 2 year old U4. To tackle the badly alligned centres I shimed the headstock and also added an adaptor on the tail stock to allow some horizontal and vertical adjustment. The latter is the cylinder between the tail stock and the chuck. This adaptor also allows a small ammount of deliberate offsetting of the tail stock centre to do taper turning.

 

    

 

Ian M.

Edited March 27, 2013 by ianmajor

[ianmajor]

BTW there is a good article by Eric Tilley in Articles/Downloads in the Ship Model Materials and Tools called Lathe Work 1.

    http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/materials_and_tools/LatheWork1.pdf

 

The first part is a does and don'ts advice. The second part is good summary of various lathes. Well worth a view if anyone is thinking of buying.

 

Ian M.

[tkay11]

Very nice article, Ian. Thanks!

 

Tony

[Sjors]

Thanks Ian,

 

You really know how to make it difficult for me…..      

 

[ianmajor]

Thanks Ian,

 

You really know how to make it difficult for me…..      

 

 

Oh dear......

 

When I was supporting large mainframe computers I found out some of my customers' senior management gave me the nickname of "The Angel of Death" because when ever I arrived in their car parks they knew they had a nasty problem which I was there to tackle. Don't want to get the same handle here!        

 

Perhaps I should create a tools log on how I improve my small lathe.

 

Ian M.

[Barnacle Bill]

BTW there is a good article by Eric Tilley in Articles/Downloads in the Ship Model Materials and Tools called Lathe Work 1.

    http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/materials_and_tools/LatheWork1.pdf

 

The first part is a does and don'ts advice. The second part is good summary of various lathes. Well worth a view if anyone is thinking of buying.

 

Ian M.

 

Blooming Heck , what a blast from the past ! I thought all that stuff had gone up in cyber smoke when we had the big one ! Must get around this site some more and look a bit more. I wrote that some ? years ago and it has brought back memories of the late lamented member "Cut Throat Jake " (Rich) who gave us all so much help at that time in formulating the database (E.T)

Edited March 30, 2013 by Barnacle Bill

[capnharv2]

Ian,

 

I think a thread on how you improve your small lathe would be really helpful. One problem I have with most of the U3 "improvement" books is that many of the accessories and improvements either require a larger lathe/mill, or a precision with hand tools (hacksaws and files) that I may never achieve. But then, that's one reason why I enjoy working with wood more than working with metal.

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Garward]

Yes, there were times and good Unimat which could be modernized...