Proxxon mini lathe verdict

[Srenner]

I see some people using the proxxon mini lathe and it comes with collets upto 10mm and quite long centre to centre measurement. What's the verdict on that machine? Price is good too for nz dollars.

 

Really just want to make a good taper on my mast and spar sections as the old drill and sandpaper method is a bit hit and miss. Yes it's approximately right but want that added machined quality to it and keep the mast sections straight centre to centre.

 

But it's going to be a hand piece taper and again not a autofeeding or angle feed on this model. Maybe the result won't be that flash. 

 

[Ian B]

I got mine a few years ago second hand on eBay for not a lot of money and found it invaluable the collot is hollow so long sections go through the main body leaving just the end sticking out so there's no flexing or whipping when sanding/filing.

 

Id go for it.  

Edited March 31 by Ian B

[DocRob]

I bought mine for the exact same reason, tapering and shaping masts and yards, which worked perfectly. The only drawback are the plastic collets, which are of a very bad quality, with lots of burr and hardly fitting the diameter, they were made for. As I couldn´t find metal substitutes, I modified mine by drilling them out finely and sanded them carefully to fit.

 

Cheers Rob 

[Srenner]

Can you by a add on tool holder and screw thread feed for this lathe?

[DocRob]

I added the three jaw chuck for larger parts for mine as well as the drill chuck with sliding sleeve for the tailstock, to enhance the possibilities of the lathe.
I haven´t seen an add on tool holder, the included one is not very long, but works well enough for my cases.

 

PROXXON - DB 250

 

Cheers Rob

[bigcreekdad]

I use mine for masts and spars as well. Does a fine job. Used to use a power drill mounted upside down in a vice. It sufficed at the time, but the Proton is better just for the ability of accommodating larger lengths. A good deal for the money IMO. I do agree the collets are pretty cheap.

[wefalck]

Are the collets really made from plastic? I am shocked, as PROXXON has been priding themselves rightly for their metal collets on other machines.

[Gregory]

I don't know what your buying options are in NZ, but you might do as well with something like this:

 

Mini Wood Lathe  $36.99 US

 

 

At little higher cost, but still about half the Proxxon, here is another option.

Mini Wood Lathe $129.99

 

 

These machines will have their detractors, and rightly so, but you will have to go past the $500 price point to move into a category  that might get the approval of our tool aficionados.

I think machines like these will perform as well if not better than the Proxxon.

 

[barkeater]

I have the Proxxon and use the add on 3 jaw chuck like Rob. The pass-through ability is key as it allows for longer stock and helps avoid whipping. The two shown by Gregory don't seem to have this pass-through feature. Overall, I'm well satisfied with it and the money I spent. I've done larger oversize pieces down to 3-4 mm thickness.

Rich

 

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Are the collets really made from plastic? I am shocked, as PROXXON has been priding themselves rightly for their metal collets on other machines.

They are made from plastic, but that would be sufficient, if they were made precisely. They had burrs, leaving marks in the wood on mine and weren´t drilled out like they should be. You initially needed a lot of force inserting a 6 mm wood rod into the 6 mm collet. 

 

57 minutes ago, Gregory said:

I don't know what your buying options are in NZ, but you might do as well with something like this:

I bought my Proxxon lathe for 120 Euros here in Europe, don´t know about the prices abroad.

Like @barkeater mentioned, the pass through ability of the Proxxon is an important feature for shaping masts and yards.

 

Cheers Rob

Edited March 30 by DocRob

[Srenner]

I looked at this Chinese options @Gregory but the centre to centre distance since there is no pass through is around 200mm. The green machine is 300mm. The mast on the billings drakkon boat was 450mm or so from memory tapered. Some spars I would image on 1/48 scale would be wider than 200mm on older ships. 

 

My concern is you spend $495 dollars and get a machine for a certain job but can then possibly step up to a Chinese lathe/milling machine in the 800 range. A milling machine would be great for the hexagonal sections of the masts or the square sections as they go through the mast cap. But can achieve that with a file and sandpaper as well. Machine choices hard...

Edited March 30 by Srenner

[Bob Cleek]

19 hours ago, Srenner said:

Really just want to make a good taper on my mast and spar sections as the old drill and sandpaper method is a bit hit and miss. Yes it's approximately right but want that added machined quality to it and keep the mast sections straight centre to centre.

 

But it's going to be a hand piece taper and again not a autofeeding or angle feed on this model. Maybe the result won't be that flash. 

 

3 hours ago, Srenner said:

My concern is you spend $495 dollars and get a machine for a certain job but can then possibly step up to a Chinese lathe/milling machine in the 800 range. A milling machine would be great for the hexagonal sections of the masts or the square sections as they go through the mast cap. But can achieve that with a file and sandpaper as well. Machine choices hard...

I don't doubt the satisfied testimonials from those who have the mentioned Proxxon woodturning lathe, but to my way of thinking, it's a lot of money to spend on a machine that doesn't do the job any better than a shop-made jig and an electric hand drill.  (Hold your drill in a vise or clamp it to the bench somehow and rig a "pillow block" with a hole in it at the other end clamped to the bench to steady the other end of the stock and prevent whipping.)

 

An accurate taper on any mast or spar is, in my experience, at least, easily achieved by using a plane to "knock the corners off" down to the proper taper and then finish-sanding it round past eight or sixteen sides, depending upon the size of the spar diameter. If one wants to make sure the taper is fair and not "wavy," as one should, the solution is to sand the spar with a long, flat batten with sand paper attached to it. If the batten is kept flat against the stock as it turning, the taper that is developed will be as fair as the face of the flat batten. You will have to do that to turn a spar on these lathes that have been mentioned. There's no way you will be able to turn a fair taper over the length of a spar using a turning tool on a short tool rest.

 

Unless one has a lot more need for a milling machine than to work hexagonal flats on wooden sticks, it's a very expensive way to get that job done.  You don't need a mill and if you have the money to buy a mill, you'd get a lot more use out of a Byrnes table saw for less money. It only takes eight passes on the table saw using the taper jig and a "vee-trough sled" to hold the squared stock on edge to take the last four cuts to form the tapered octagon and you'd be done in no time with accuracy to .001 one the Byrnes saw. Don't forget that, although woodturning lathes have less need for tooling, you can expect to put at least as much money into tooling for a metal working lathe or milling machine as you did into the bare bones machine itself, and that's just to do the basic evolutions possible on the lathe or mill. 

 

Your concern is well-thought out. A woodturning lathe simply spins a stick or block of wood so you can run a cutting tool against it to make shapes.  Neither this Proxxon lathe nor the Chinese offerings pictured will do anything more. They will not cut threads. They cannot be upgraded to cut metal. You can turn wood on a metal cutting ("engine") lathe, but not the other way around. You will spend every bit of $500, and likely closer these days to $800 to purchase a Chinese Sieg "7X" (the longer the better... I think they go up to 7"x14") and the same amount again to get the tooling you'd need to have it do all it can. (You get what you pay for on these. Don't think you're getting a bargain if you see "the same lathe" for a lower price at Harbor Freight or a "flashier" one from MicroMark. They are built to the retailer's specifications and if you buy a cheap one, you are going to have to fettle it yourself to get results anywhere near the accuracy you ought to want. Only buy one from the Little Machine Shop or Grizzly. They stand by theirs.) Sherline and Taig also offer quality machines that will do similar work, albeit on a lighter machine and with less of a selection of after-market (and considerably less expensive) tooling. Those three are your options, the Sieg's being the least costly. You can cut threads on each of them and you can turn wood and metal on all of them. They are far more versatile than a woodturning lathe. If one purchases the Proxxon woodturning lathe or an equivalent, they will have to additionally purchase a separate metal working lathe if and when they want to turn metal or plastics. If they want one, fine. There's nothing wrong with the Proxxon lathe except that it's a lot of money for what little it does and in my opinion that same money would be better spent invested in a more versatile tool.

 

Unless you want to specifically buy a lathe, in which case I'd definitely say money spent on a metal working lathe is money far better spent than money spent on a woodturning lathe, it seems like all you really need in addition to the drill motor or drill press you already have is a flat stick with some sandpaper glued onto it and perhaps a nice little hand plane. 

Edited March 30 by Bob Cleek

[Gregory]

4 hours ago, Srenner said:

..centre to centre distance since there is no pass through is around 200mm.

Your concerns are well founded, but at the price point, it is pretty easy to extend the table on those lathes.

 

When all is said and done, while I was just throwing out some alternatives to the Proxxon machine,  I am personally not concerned with the length limitations.  

 

I find it's better ( for me ) to break up long spars and masts into shorter pieces, then put them back together.

 

An example from my Resolution.  I use a laser for the rough shape, which I turn with the drill and sand paper method.

 

 

FWIW

Edited March 30 by Gregory

[jpalmer1970]

16 hours ago, barkeater said:

I have the Proxxon and use the add on 3 jaw chuck like Rob. The pass-through ability is key as it allows for longer stock and helps avoid whipping.

There is also a 450mm extension bed for the Proxxon DB250 which I have found to come in handy from time to time.

[rtropp]

For me, the proxxon worked well for shaping masks and spars. It’s not a metal forming lathe, your getting a wood lathe for light use. The key that got me going was the process I ended up using to get some degree of accuracy. 
1. Measure points along mast or spar from, hopefully, the 1-1 plans
2. Transfer to dowel. 
3. Mounted on the lathe, cut small “rings” to the measured depth for each location where Thickness changes. 
4. Use the cuts to control depth of sanding/filing on dowel

5.I use mostly sand paper on blocks of wood or small files to shape the mast or spar on the lathe. (Easier to control than chisels). 
6. Once you have the series of cuts on the dowel it becomes almost like connect the dots. 
 

 A tip from another member on using shrink tube (like in electronics use) led me to buy a small box of them. Anyway, I slide the grip end of the dowel into the three jaw chuck and use the shrink tube to help protect the wood. 
hope this helps. 
R

Edited March 31 by rtropp

[barkeater]

Just to be clear, I have the Proxxon db250 which online goes for $230-270 with one add for $97, although with that price I would be quite skeptical. I forgot how much I paid but it was well worth it in time spent and the decreased wear on my wrists given the dozen or so yards I did as well as the ornamental balustrades on my current model. 

Rich

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

3 minutes ago, barkeater said:

Just to be clear, I have the Proxxon db250 which online goes for $230-270 with one add for $97, although with that price I would be quite skeptical. I forgot how much I paid but it was well worth it in time spent and the decreased wear on my wrists given the dozen or so yards I did as well as the ornamental balustrades on my current model. 

Rich

  There have been scams on the internet where known products  are pictured, but with a 'lowball' price - sometimes as low as a tenth of what the item normally sells.  It is advisable to research the product first, know the value then deal with a reputable source.  ...  Of course, a modeler selling-off stuff can often offer good condition used equipment or kits at a substantial discount.  But other than that, it it seems 'too good to be true' - it likely isn't.

[targa4403]

9 hours ago, jpalmer1970 said:

There is also a 450mm extension bed for the Proxxon DB250 which I have found to come in handy from time to time.

Apparently the use of this part to extend the lathe bed it not recommended by the manufacturer.  I don't know the reason why.  Maybe it will affect the performance of the motor?  I don't know.  I just saw this on the internet.  Have you had any  issues with the bed extension?

Edited March 31 by targa4403

[Gregory]

Has anyone ever used this Mantua 'lathe' ?

 

 

It has the pass through feature.  Looks simple and cheap..

[jpalmer1970]

12 hours ago, targa4403 said:

Apparently the use of this part to extend the lathe bed it not recommended by the manufacturer.  I don't know the reason why.  Maybe it will affect the performance of the motor?  I don't know.  I just saw this on the internet.  Have you had any  issues with the bed extension?

I haven't found any problems so far. I have only used it to extend the length by a few centimetres rather than the whole 450mm though. If you are working on a longer spar or mast it is nice to have the whole length you need to work on available outside the collet to avoid any marring. It also helps ensure the collection isn't holding a tapered piece of the spar which could bring about wobble.

[Belco]

hello

I hope to arrive in time with the help.
A few years ago my wife gave me the DB250 lathe that I complemented with the three jaw chuck and the drill chuck.
The lathe has allowed work with masts and other tasks.
Years ago I built a chess set with vaporized beech wood with 30 x 100 millimeter pieces (I've been looking for a working prototype but it's lost in the infinity of my small warehouse).
I have also made cannons like the one in the photo in aluminum, this is the first one made, I have been able to make them smaller and have even made one 120 mm long for an artillery post that I gave away and of course wooden cannons that are conveniently painted almost perfect.
I consider it to be a good purchase and the result is worth the expense.

 

Regards

 

Belco