Lathe

[Don Quixote]

Is this product any good, or can someone recommend a good one for less than $600?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072JBP61N?psc=1

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Why would you buy a wood lathe?

A metal lathe would be much more versatile.

[Don Quixote]

I take it a metal lathe would do wood a well? What can you suggest?

[Dziadeczek]

With a metal lathe you can turn soft metals (brass, copper, aluminum and perhaps even soft steel) as well as wood, but with a wood lathe you can only turn wood.

Good quality lathe (Sherline, Proxxon, Taig) doesn't come cheaply, though... On the other hand, it is an investment for life...

[kurtvd19]

If you want a lathe for model building this is not what you want. 

 

Do a search here on MSW for TAIG Lathe and Sherline Lathe there are also some others used for our hobby.  There are several topics about picking out a lathe - check them out.  Then if you have questions about a specific one for your use ask and you will get answers/opinions.

[Don Quixote]

What size should I consider for turning square pcs. into round masts? Probably never use it on metal, but nice to know I can if the opportunity arises.

[BikerMart]

For what it's worth, I recently got a Proxxon DB250. I have used it for both tapering masts and turning round masts from square stock. I wish that I had bought one of these years ago!

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

22 minutes ago, Clueless said:

What can you suggest?

 

Before we can suggest something, you need to know what you will be turning.

Instead to suggest you 1 brand of lathe, I would prefer to suggest to you a book about Metal lathe.

Also compare different brands to see which one could suit your needs.

 

Good reading

[wefalck]

An old rule is to buy a lathe with double the capacity (length between centres, swing) you think you'll need

 

The main difference between a wood lathe and and a metal lathe is that on the latter the tool-bit is controlled by a cross-slide, while on the former it is guided by hand only. This means that only with a metal lathe you can produce objects with a well-defined geometry and dimension (unless you are really proficient in using hand-turning tools).

 

Metal lathes also offer better and more varied options for holding parts to be machined. Apart from the common three- and four-jaw chucks, most small lathes also offer the option of using so-called collets, which are a more precise and safer option for small parts.

 

Before buying any lathe, it would be probably advisable to read through a textbook on machining for modellers.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

8 minutes ago, Clueless said:

What size should I consider for turning square pcs. into round masts? Probably never use it on metal,

 

You do not need a lathe, you need a block plane.

[wefalck]

... one can argue about that.

[mtaylor]

I have the large bed MicroMark version of what I think is actually a Sieg.  I turn stuck up to about 15".  

 

Little Machine Shop's Sieg is <$1000  Micromark is double that.  Top of the line is Sherline or Taig.

 

Be warned.... the lathe is only the first step.  The tooling can hit your bankbook pretty hard.  Don't ask how I know. .   Also, one thing I found is that any power tool such as lathes and mills take a bit of time to set up correctly.

 

And some reading... These are how to do type things and good info.

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Default.htm 

https://www.littlemachineshop.com/   Go to the "Learning Center" there's two topics on Lathes.

 

There are other ways of doing masts which is what Gaetan is recommending.  Look in the Masting, Rigging, Sails area. Most methods just use a hand plane and jig.  Cheaper and somewhat safter than a lathe.

 

[Roger Pellett]

I agree, Research and learn first.  As a means of comparison, a basic Sherline Lathe starts at $624, plus shipping from CA.  You should probably figure another $300-400 for accessories needed for any serious work.

 

The block plane comment referred to shaping of wooden spars by tapering square stock, planing 8 sided, then sanding round.  A good way to make wooden spars.

 

Roger

[Keith Black]

 And then there's the electric drill lathe which you probably already own. 

[VTHokiEE]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

textbook on machining for modellers.

Do you have any recommendations on this? Anytime I consider a lathe I spin out of control on what if’s.

[Jack12477]

1 hour ago, Clueless said:

What size should I consider for turning square pcs. into round masts? Probably never use it on metal, but nice to know I can if the opportunity arises.

You could try this Guy's method using a chisel and electric drill

[Dziadeczek]

1 hour ago, VTHokiEE said:

Do you have any recommendations on this? Anytime I consider a lathe I spin out of control on what if’s.

"The Home Machinist's Handbook" by Doug Briney  and

"Tabletop Machining" by Joe Martin

Both are talking mostly about the Sherline, but general principles are the same for all.

[Jaager]

The Amazon product:  a sucker bet, a complete waste of money,  likely to cause near infinite frustration.

 

As for a metal lathe - or a mill -  experience and observation about the value to you should you pull either of those triggers is that:

If you have to ask, then you very likely do not need one.

 

Doing a reference chase on books about miniature lathes and mills should serve you well.  No one book is likely to provide the complete answer and the mixture, filtration and synthesis of more than one to guide your decision is to your advantage.

[Don Quixote]

Good grief, this is a lot more difficult than I imagined. I just wanna make masts and spars.

[Patrick Matthews]

I vote for the block plane.
Turn a square into an octagon, lean into it a bit to make the taper, and so on until it's round and tapered enough. Goes quickly. Finish with sanding or scrapers.

 

[wefalck]

Joe Martin's book indeed is quite good, but is more or less written as a manual for Sherline machines (both lathes and milling machines). It should be easy to get in North America.

 

In the UK there is a long tradition in writing such books, going back to the early 20th century. I found the older ones particularly useful, as they typically refer to simple techniques. It is difficult to name titles, but for instance this specialised on-line bookseller has a good selection in his catalogue: https://www.camdenmin.co.uk/collections/engineering-practice-skills. One may be able to get one or the other title in North America.

 

As 'Clueless' was specifically referring to making masts and spars, there is a problem with many small metal lathes in the sense that their width between centres may be too small to handle such long parts. I gather one cannot have it all.

 

For this kind of work perhaps the small Proxxon wood-lathe is a better and cheaper option (with the limitations of a wood-lathe, of course):

 

https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27020.php

 

 

They offer also an extension bed that doubles the capacity to 500 mm between centres.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by wefalck

[Rik Thistle]

Welfalck,

 

What a great selection of books on that website ... https://www.camdenmin.co.uk/

 

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

Richard

 

 

 

[Dziadeczek]

I recently turned all yards for my "Frenchie" on my Sherline lathe (long bed type). With the exception of a few shortest ones, all others were too long to do it from one square piece of wood. So I had to do them in sections (three), two 'arms' and one center octagonal piece. Afterwards I glued them together with round pegs (flutted dowels) and Titebond glue into predrilled holes. The joints are invisible.

Edited December 15, 2021 by Dziadeczek

[Roger Pellett]

Another inexpensive overlooked power tool for producing tapered blanks for spars is a bench mounted disc sander.  Rip a square billet, Mark the taper on each of the four sides, sand off excess material with the disc sander.  You now have a square billet with the correct taper.

 

If you have a model makers table saw the same tapered square billet can be produced with a homemade taper jig made from scrap wood.

 

The tapered billet is the hard part.  From there you can plane it octagon           ( count the plane strokes for each corner)  and sand it round or use just about any kind of lathe.

 

Having began modeling when a growing family was my first priority I understand that a fully equipped machine shop is not in everyone’s budget.  Fortunately there is more than one way to get a good result.

Edited December 15, 2021 by Roger Pellett