Lathe Question

[ChrisLBren]

Hi Group,

 

I purchased an Emco Unimat 3 with an extra motor and milling attachment a few years ago from a fellow member and never set it up.  Last year I purchased a Taig Mill and love it - its sturdy and powerful with a long bed.  It was ready right out of the box without any modifications and has been used extensively on my Le Gros Ventre build.

 

I am considering selling the Unimat on ebay and buying a new metal lathe - not only for ship building but also to turn wooden pens for clients.  I am leaning towards another Taig  However I am curious about the Sherline as I have heard its a terrific lathe.  I am new at wood and metal turning so want one thats a good intro model I can grow with.

 

Thanks for any opinions here.

[kurtvd19]

I started with the Taig lathe with many accessories including the milling tool.  It did everything I wanted to do including pens.  I had a chance to purchase a slightly used long bed Sherline lathe and jumped at the opportunity.  I have to say that Sherline has more accessories than Taig but I am not a machinist and both lathes are capable of doing much more than I will ever be capable of doing.  I have come to the conclusion that the Taig was perfectly good enough for me and I didn't really gain anything by purchasing the Sherline lathe until I late had a chance to pick up a very slightly used Sherline mill.  The ease of switching from turning to milling having both Sherline machines far out weighs the conversion from turning to milling with the Taig lathe with its milling tool.  A big difference in price to add the Sherline mill but I am very happy I did it.

There are times I wish I had stuck the Taig lathe in the corner because some things I found were easier to do with the Taig but I got my entire investment in the Taig back when I sold it so overall selling it to a club member worked out for both of us.

[Duck]

I'll second Kurt on the Taig lathe.

[ChrisLBren]

Thanks guys - I can get a nice Taig lathe for my purposes around 700 with the power feed function and same collets the Mill uses.  I also really want to find a good DRO for my Taig Mill.  Thats the one advantage Sherline has over the Taig by offering that option as an install in my opinion.  

[Landlubber Mike]

I really like my Sherline lathe.  The DRO is a fantastic add-on.

[Daniel Kimmer]

I have both the sherline lathe and the mill and love them.  A friend of mine has the Taig and we often argued which is best. We reached the consensus you would never go wrong with purchasing either. We both tried the others mill and lathe and agreed they were both very well designed and worked great.  His Mill was larger that the Sherlines but I could pick mine up and move it where I wanted (35 pounds compared to the Taig weighing in at over a 100 lbs)) The Taig mill was larger and could handle larger items compared to my Sherline.  I found I wanted the ability to move mine if needed (on and off the work bench). I also found a lot more accessories for the Sherline mill and lathe than what the Taig had available.  I think the Taig mill could handle larger items and harder metals that the Sherline but for model making the Sherline works great.

[davec]

I started with a unimat 3, which is an awesome lathe.  I used it a lot when I first got it.  I still have it, but rarely use it.  Like a lot of others who have responded, I bought a used sherline mill on ebay. I added a used sherline lathe because I had some projects where I needed a longer distance between centers and because it is easier to add a duplicator (not sure it is even possible to add one to the unimat 3 as there doesn't seem to be a way to disengage the cross slide).    I've accumulated a lot of sherline tools, so leave the mill and lathe set up and used them 99% of the time.  The unimat sits on a shelf.  It may get used if I ever need to do anything small with metric measurements.  I will keep it because it was a gift and has a lot of sentimental value.  I can't speak to the Taig.  I looked at it when I was deciding which tools to buy, but had the opportunity to borrow sherline accessories if I needed them, which is what drove the final decision.  The Sherline is small enough that it is easy to move.  I only work in brass and wood and only make parts for 1/48 ships, so I don't need anything larger.  

Edited April 27 by davec

[Roger Pellett]

I have a Sherline Lathe with a milling column.  It is a well made machine. I am glad that I bought it.  The milling column fitted with Sherline’s sensitive drilling attachment is by far the best way to drill small holes with wire sized drills.  Sherline seems to have learned from the old Lionel electric train company as they also sell an endless variety of accessories.

 

Sherline lathes have one feature that I don’t like.  The usual way to turn a taper is by offsetting the tail stock, and then turning the part between centers.  The Sherline tail stock cannot be offset.  Sherline overcomes this problem by advising users to rotate the headstock.  In normal usage, the headstock is rigidly keyed to to the lathe’s bed with a spline.  With the headstock rotated, the spline must be removed and the headstock/bed joint relies on friction alone.  I have found that this is not sufficient to accept the side forces from taper turning. Sherline does offer an accessory cross slide that will supposedly turn tapers.

 

Roger

[ChrisLBren]

I will probably buy the Taig with the Power feed and long bed to compliment the Taig Mill.  I  While Sherline has more accessories, Taigs tools are just more robust and solid in my opinion and can be customized with after market parts. 

[ChrisLBren]

Still struggling with this decision.  I personally believe the Taig Mill is better than the Sherline - our late friend Jim B steered me that direction.  Im not sure about the lathe though.  The Taig Lathe is half of the price of the Sherline however the Sherline gets better reviews online and has DRO.  Hard call - I did sell my Proxxon MF70, Preac Saw, and Unimat to help pay for this purchase.  The other route I could go is buy a wood lathe and the Taig for metal work which could be less than the price of the Sherline.  

[Geoff_F]

On 5/14/2024 at 3:48 PM, ChrisLBren said:

Still struggling with this decision.  I personally believe the Taig Mill is better than the Sherline - our late friend Jim B steered me that direction.  Im not sure about the lathe though.  The Taig Lathe is half of the price of the Sherline however the Sherline gets better reviews online and has DRO.  Hard call - I did sell my Proxxon MF70, Preac Saw, and Unimat to help pay for this purchase.  The other route I could go is buy a wood lathe and the Taig for metal work which could be less than the price of the Sherline.  

 

Taig is sturdier than Sherline and has the great advantage of having a rack feed. Having to twiddle a fine-pitch leadscrew gets old very quickly. I do not see this mentioned much but it having owned small lathes with a fixed leadscrew  I can say it is not a system that lends itself to ease of use. DRO on a lathe is not so much of a boon as it is on a mill but if needed a simple DRO can be made to fit the Taig.

 

Although looking a bit goofy and Heath Robinson, the Taig is an extremely well designed lathe with great rigidity and cheap enough to buy plenty of tooling with the money saved.

[Alan Cabrera]

What’s the runout of the Unimat?  (Do I sound like I know what I’m talking about? 🙃)