Vanda-Lay Micro Lathe

[Cleat]

I have the Landa-Lay micro lathe attachment.  I’m proficient with my 1221 mini lathe and thought the micro lathe might be something I might use.  I configured my Vanda-Lay drill press with the micro lathe attachment, it is not difficult but it takes some time.  I’ve used it a few times and it is a very light duty lathe.  I picked up a cheap set of small lathe tools (I can always use them with my mini lathe) and I used a couple Micromark chisels.  

 

The chuck has a 1/16 inch pin to help align the spindle stock, you need to drill a hole in the stock to be able to slide the stock into the chuck.  The chuck has four nylon thumbscrews to hold the stock in place.  I also drilled a 1/16 inch hole to align the stock with the live center.  The live center fits into a bearing in the tail stock.  

 

I had a couple pieces of ½ inch pine spindles to try, I had to knock off the corners to make the spindle fit in the chuck.  The pieces I used were probably as large as the lathe can handle.  My goal was to see how the system worked and see how the small lathe tools worked,   I also tried to make some barrels for a current build (I got a couple that might work with further processing).  I used the Micromark chisels as turning tools for the smaller piece.

 

It makes a mess:

I used the micro lathe to make some beam supports.  The 31 mm supports were as small as the lathe could handle; I turned one half of each support, removed and reverse the stock to turn the other half.  The turning tools weren’t very sharp, the chisels I tried were sharp and they worked better (made a smooth bead).

 

I had to run the Dremel at a high speed because when you are too aggressive with a turning tool it will slow the rotation speed down (you could stop the Dremel).  With a light touch the system works.  If you don’t mount the stock properly, it will fly off (happened to me twice).  I'll be returning it to the Acra mill drill press configuration which has more uses for me.

 

Edited yesterday at 01:47 AM by Cleat