Lathe

[CLovehitch]

Hello !

I am planning to save up for a mini

Lathe, does any one have any suggestions and also what accessories I should purchase?

I have been practicing on a friend's large lathe to get the feel .

Thanks, Nick

[kurtvd19]

Clovehitch:

I see this is your 19th post so you are sort of new here.  Please do a search about lathes - this topic has been covered many times.  Once you have looked at the various replies about lathes feel free to ask any questions you may still have.

Take care,

Kurt

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I have a an old Unimat miniature lathe.  Since its powered by a Dremel type motor, it is underpowered for metal turning, but with light cuts it does OK on brass or aluminum stock (relatively small in diameter).  Steel is tough on it, but wood cuts 'like butter'.

 

  For our purposes, the most useful accessory is a 3-jaw 'Universal' chuck ... that is, one that operates with all three jaws closing simultaneously so that round stock is automatically 'centered'.  One can then 'spot drill' the end on center (after facing-off the end), followed by drilling (sometimes in steps, depending on stock size).  Since the Unimat is so small, the largest dowel stock that can pass through the head is around 1/4" - suitable for most yards and a good many mast sections - but not all, depending on scale.

 

  You can see how I used my lathe in the Khufu build (see at the bottom of my post) doing a whole bunch of palm-head supports for the canopy.

 

  A somewhat larger and more powerful lathe (that can also take thicker rods) would be preferable ... but only up to a point - we're doing modeling, not machine shop jobbing.

 

  The second accessory to get is a 'live center' with drill chuck for the tail stock.  This will permit support on the end of round stock so you can have a greater length extended from the head stock.  This is limited by the diameter of the material (and the type of material), and the depth of cut - so that deflection is limited.  What I've had to do is work on short extensions of stock (due to deflection and the lack of a live center), then advance the stock to work further down on the piece.

 

  Drilling with the tail stock is done with an ordinary drill bit chuck that screws on the threaded portion of the tail stock - and is not 'live' (so the drill bit will not rotate).

 

  Some time ago, a four-jaw 'independent' chuck was obtained for square and odd sized workpieces - and I was able to do round work by centering a piece of round stock 'reasonable well' (as large as 2" in diameter) within the steps of the jaws (when reversed), THEN truing-up the diameter by cutting the periphery after face-off.  Boring was done with a small bar after drilling. 

 

  A "T" groove table mounted to the cross bar permitted a tool mount to be more easily manipulated and angled than an ordinary tool holder.  These ideas should get you off to a good start.

[TBlack]

Nick,

I have a Unimat SL1000 lathe, which is not made anymore, but is available from time to time on EBAY. Also, I have a Sherline mill which is very well made and the company provides great customer service. I would assume their lathe to be of the same quality. You'll need to think about what kind of cutters you'll need, as well as a dead/live center, self-centering 3 jaw chuck. Maybe nice to have is a DRO setup, and a compound slide.

Tom

[Bob Cleek]

Good precision machine tools, well cared for, should be capable of being handed down for as much as a couple of generations, if not more and be expected to hold their value well in what has otherwise become our disposable culture. 

 

1.   How much money are you planning to save?

2.   How much money can you save between now and when you croak?

3.   What do you want to do with this lathe? (e.g.: maximum workpiece size, primary materials worked, primary type of work anticipated.)

 

Number 3. above will determine which lathe and tooling would best suit your needs.  With this information, I'm sure you'll have folks from every camp able to give you the particulars matching your requirements.

 

Today, there are probably only three options for small lathes useful for modeling:

1.   The Chinese Sieg-made "seven by's" sold everywhere. Get a long bed version. Buy it from a top tier vendor (e.g.: Little Machine Shop, Grizzly) Who you buy it from is important because the Sieg, the Chinese manufacturer, sells the exact same models to retailers, but with varying levels of quality control. You get what you pay for. At the bottom end, you may buy a lathe that will not even run accurately without a total rebuild. 

2.   The Taig mini-lathe, a high-quality precision machine, but somewhat smaller and lighter than the Sieg's.

3.    The Sherline models, like Taig, but perhaps with somewhat greater versatility in terms of available tooling. 

 

There are a few other options out there, but it's important to make sure that tooling is available at a reasonable cost. The now-discontinued and legendary EMCO Unimat SL/DB and Unimat 3 lathes, were amazing modeling mini-lathes which could be, with the attachments, turned into all sorts of machines such as a milling machine, a scroll saw, a table saw, disk sander, and so on. You will see many on eBay and lots of parts availability from "parted out" machines, but many of the machines need to be rebuilt and/or require tooling which is extremely expensive. If someone gives you one in good shape with all the attachments and tooling, grab it. Otherwise, walk the other way. These are seductive little machines, but, sadly, they are no longer made and so any parts or tooling you may ever need will have to be sourced on the recycled parts market at premium prices. (There is a currently produced line of "Unimat" lathes which are not the same thing as the originals at all. Another example of somebody buying the name and slapping it on an inferior product.) Another option may be to acquire a fine watchmaker's lathe. These are often beautiful works of art in and of themselves, but expensive and the tooling is very expensive, so beware. Some of these lathes use odd-ball fastener threadings and you'll pay hell to find tooling that will fit on them. One of the early decisions you will have to make is whether you want a lathe that is scaled in metric or imperial measurements. They go downhill in standardization from there and few tooling parts are interchangeable between the various makes and models.

 

In most cases, the tooling to complete the average range of the basic machinist's work on any given lathe can easily run as much again as the base purchase price of the lathe and that applies only to lathes that are currently in production. Once a particular lathe is no longer produced, its lifespan is limited to the first essential part that breaks and cannot be replaced. Well, not exactly. Any part can be reproduced, but it can easily become more costly to do so than to unload the machine and start anew, but that could mean abandoning thousands of dollars invested in proprietary tooling collected over the life of the dead machine.

 

Buy the best you can possibly afford and then some. (It may be necessary to jettison excess expenses, e.g. pets, wives, children, though not necessarily in any particular order. Be brave. Be strong. Be ruthless.)

 

Buy the largest you can possibly afford and/or for which you have room in your shop. There will always come a day when you find yourself with a job too big for your lathe. Better later than sooner.

 

Often, the best option is to buy a used lathe, but if, and only if, it's a model with easily sourced and reasonably priced parts and tooling which hasn't been ruined by misuse or worn out. (A used lathe should always be examined by a knowledgeable person before purchasing.) It may pay to read the local obituaries. If you can find a machinist's widow who wants to get the garage cleaned out, you may find the Holy Grail!

 

 

[Jaager]

Thru the lens of Time,

 

A lathe and a mill are probably Yacht type acquisitions.

i.e. for a yacht,  if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

 

For the two machines, the corollary is -  especially if woodworking only,   instead of or along with metal working:

if you have to ask, you really do not need it yet.

[mtaylor]

I've found I don't use my lathe all that much complared to tools like my mill, jig saw, and mini-table saw.   However, I would recommend once or even before you buy to go here: https://www.littlemachineshop.com/Products/product_new.php and go to the "Learning Center" tab.  And also here:  https://www.mini-lathe.com/mini_lathe/introduction/introduction.htm     It will give some serious knowledge on the care and feeding of these machines.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I bought a Sherline with the extended bed and no CNC in August and love it

 

For my purposes is is perfect

[druxey]

Surely there are easier - and less expensive - ways of sharpening a pencil, hmmm?

[dvm27]

50 minutes ago, druxey said:

Surely there are easier - and less expensive - ways of sharpening a pencil, hmmm?

Yes, you can do that for .0006 cents cheaper on the Sherline mill.

[Twokidsnosleep]

5 hours ago, dvm27 said:

Yes, you can do that for .0006 cents cheaper on the Sherline mill.

The joke was with my wife as to why I NEEDED a little lathe..as a pencil sharpener so I did that as my first project

 

It is a fun, handy little sucker though and I have made a couple useful tools

The Sherline is handy for softer metals like brass and aluminum. Steel, not so much but it can

Th

 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Twokidsnosleep
Better pic

[Landlubber Mike]

First question is do you want to turn metal?  Big differences between metal and wood lathes.  You can turn wood on a metal lathe but really not vice versa.

 

Second, depends on how much you want to spend.  Lathe accessories with chucks, collets, centers, etc. really add up over time.

 

If you are looking for a nice little wood lathe for ship modeling, I think it's hard to beat the Proxxon DB250.  Works great on things like turning masts.  I had one before I decided to upgrade to a metal lathe for more functionality.  

 

That's when I sold the Proxxon for a Sherline with extended bed and digital readout.  Sherlines are built like tanks and will last forever.  Also, if you ever see yourself possibly getting a mill, their lathe accessories can be used on their mill and vice versa.  Sherline is a big price jump up from the Proxxon though.

[NavyShooter]

Function will define form.

 

Size will define cost.

 

Are you turning wood?  Are you turning metal?  How big an item?  

 

I've owned a Unimat, Taig, and a Sherline over the years.  I upgraded to a used Southbend 10K, and have moved since then to an import 10x30 Lathe that didn't have the 'issues' that an old high school shop class beater lathe has in terms of wear and abuse.

 

If all you're turning is cannons and bushings from brass, then a Taig or a Sherline will do you OK.

 

If you're planning to build something large (bigger than about 1/2"), made of steel, or plan to do anything that's threaded, then you need bigger than that.

 

There is a lot of info about the import 7x14 lathes that are out there - they're cheap, and you get what you pay for in terms of quality.  You'll find yourself working on upgrading/fixing the lathe more than you do building parts on the lathe.  

 

In the end, I dumped about $1500 into bits and pieces for my Sherline.  I had the milling attachment, the extended bed, and so on.  It was still only barely capable in terms of what I wanted to do.

 

I now have a 10x30 Precision Matthews lathe, and it's capable of doing everything I've tossed at it so far.  Cost me about $4K (Canadian) landed to my door with all the import fees/taxes/etc, and it was well equipped - both 3 and 4 jaw chucks included. 

 

For $1500, you can get a Grizzly 8x16" lathe - 8" x 16" Variable-Speed Benchtop Lathe at Grizzly.com

 

That's less than $200 more than the biggest Sherline mini lathe, with a heck of a lot more capability. 

 

To be honest, if you've got the space for a Sherline, you've got the space for the Grizzly, and it's a heck of a lot more machine. 

 

NS
 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, NavyShooter said:

For $1500, you can get a Grizzly 8x16" lathe - 8" x 16" Variable-Speed Benchtop Lathe at Grizzly.com

That's less than $200 more than the biggest Sherline mini lathe, with a heck of a lot more capability. 

To be honest, if you've got the space for a Sherline, you've got the space for the Grizzly, and it's a heck of a lot more machine. 

There's much wisdom, experience, and good advice in what NavyShooter has posted.

 

Buy the best you can. The most expensive tool is always the one you have to buy twice.