i am in the market for a mini lathe and am considering harbor freights 8"x10". tired of grizzly stuff. anyone have the unimat or ????? i want to turn reel seats, make screws and make parts as needed in the shop. any help is appreciated. thanks

Jim,

I had one of those for a while, it was "ok" but just didn't have the precision and smoothness I needed for seats and such. I used it a while and it worked, but it wasnt what was really needed. I eventually threw it in the trash and bought the Rikon-best thing I done!

DR

ok, i think you are talking about a wood lathe. i am looking for a mini metal lathe to compliment my wood lathe.

Jim,

Take a look at the Penn State Industries TurnCrafter Pro. Thats what I bought, only wish I had gotten the variable speed model. But a variable speed option is available now which I will be getting to convert it. I also got the Nova Midi chuck with spigott jaws and it does everything I need it to do. Disregard then Jim, I can't help there.

Bill in WV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2007 09:44PM by William Bartlett.

Sorry Jim.....just came in from work worn out and didn't read it too well. I've seen them several times and the price is good enough, but I've never seen one working.

DR

This what I use and could not be happier. Bought it under the suggestion of Mr. Kirkman.
Does everything I need
[www.hobby-lobby.com]

comes with 1/4 chuck I would suggest buying an additional 3/8 chuck for using larger drill bits



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2007 10:25PM by Steve Gardner.

Half the parts on that Taig Mini is on my Custom Power Wrapper it looks like.

Jim if you can go to the 8" x 12" PRECISION MINI LATHE it is bigger and better built, better quality.

See someone saying a wood lathe. Forget that if you are talking turing things like screws. The Harbor Freight 8*12 is decent. Have one myself. It is identical to the Lathemaster, except in color and price. But Lathemaster has the goodies you want, where Harbor Frieght has little. Wait for a Harbor Freight sale on it, or a % off coupon. And if you are lucky enough to live near a Harbor Freight store, order it there and so save a good amount on shipping. Also get the 4 jaw chuck, follow rest, and steady rest from Harbor Freight. You have to order those from their customer service. but the price is very good. Forget the chip guard. It's cheap, but they aren't very useful..
Then look over Lathemaster and LittleMachineShop for the other goodies. The 8*14 Lathemaster is the same as the 8*12 Harbor Freight, so Lathemaster is a good place to get parts and accessories. Their quick change tool post is a nice for for example, and milled a little lower to fit the late better.

The 8*12/14 is the cheapest quality lathe, in my opinion. Not exactly portable, but that weight is nice when you are spinning stuff. Do not confuse with the cheap 7*12 lathes out there. Those at 1/3 the weight, plastic in places it shouldn't be, and pretty near junk.

Grizzly has a 10*22 that's very nice, but at near 2X the price of the 8*12/14

After growing up in a machine shop there isn't a one of the mini lathes I would use for a boat anchor let alone try to make anything serious with it.

All of them are made in the same factory in China. Harbor freight, Grizzly, Central Machinery, Enco, etc, etc. are all basically the same machine with each company's own choice of paint color and trimmings. Very much like the Chevy Blazer and GMC Jimmy. All of them are made of inferior cast material. All of them need to have hours of work put into them to bring them up to par (even though they are marketed as "Precision lathes")

In order to make them precision lathes you have to lap in the ways, up grade the lead screws to bring the backlash to an acceptable level, tune the spindles (sometimes upgrade the head bearings), etc, etc, to make them a precision lathe. THis is such a job that an actual after market industry has grown up around upgrading these little lathes and the tuning and upgrading of these lathes has become an actual hobby in and of itself.

IF you want a good small lathe there is no cheap way out.

In my opinion your best bet is to get a good used American or English made lathe. Ones I would recommend would be

Atlas 618
Craftsman Dunlap
Craftsman 101 or 109
Myford
South bend 9" bench lathe
Logan bench lathe
Sheldon bench lathe

even used any of these will out last a dozen of the cheapy Chinese imports. all of these will have ground hardened ways. and will be a lot more capable lathe. You could actually make your won reel seat hardware winding checks ect. on any of these.

WHile it is true you can get by with one fo the cheapy lathes I think after using it a while you would wish you had something a little bigger that would allow you to do actualy metal working. You could do things like turn reel seat barrels and short handles on one of the mini lathes but you won't be able to do much more than that with it unless you sink a lot of work and money in upgrade parts into it. At that point you should have just bought a better lathe to begin with.

There is a company in LA named lathemaster that is suposed have already done all the upgrading and work but they are a lot more expensive and you still have the inferior materials issue.

My 2 cents on small lathes,

Ray




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2007 08:28AM by Ray Cover.

Yeah,, I thought about some of those used options you mentioned as well. Accessories on them can be pricy. Was looking at a used Atlas in mint condition, with all the toys,,,, over $2000. From all indications, the HF 8*12 is the Pathemaster 8*14. They really are the same, even if the dimensions seem to say otherwise. The ways are hardened and scraped as well. Could wish for a true DB variable speed motor, but otherwise I'm darn happy with it.

first of all, i really appreciate all the infor. you guys have taken the time to impart. with my budget i guess i am going to have to go cheap for the time being. DAVE- are you sure the HF is the same as the LATHMASTER or is that an opinion. for the price diff. i would expect a lot more from the LM but i guess not? i found a site where a guy does a lot of gun work on his HF but like you said, he had to really tweak it.

DAVE-ur right. i just looked at pic/specs of the HF and LATHMASTER and i can't tell any dif.. at all. specs are are a tiny bit diff, but its the same machine. why is the LM so much more expensive?

Sherline 4000 with the long bed,,,, can't beat it.
[www.tabletopmachineshop.com];

The difference between the Lathemaster and that HF is that the LM is suppopsed to have the bed ways, cross ways and compound slide already lapped in (this potentially could be a couple days work doing it yourself). They are supposed to have better lead screws with less backlash, upgraded bearings in the head, etc.

That is why they are more expensive. All that work you would have to do to the mini machine to make it really usable is supposed to have already been done to the LM.

You should be able to find a good used Atlas 618 or craftsman 109 ready to put to work for around $800 - $1,000 probably less. You don't need a mint machine with one of those. As long as the ways are clean and the spindle bearings are running true your in business. You can give it a paint job if the paint is worn out. Spare parts are also easy to find with those two lathes. You may have to look around but they are out there

Ray



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2007 08:26AM by Ray Cover.

Mr Cover;
Really good imput even though I'm not looking for one I apprecaite the time you took to respond in such depth.
What do you think about the Taig micro I mentioned above?

Ray I enjoyed reading your feedback on lathe qualities and would like to know how you feel about the old Craftsman 12" wood lathes model 113.228162 with Copy Crafter attachments?

I just bought one in excelent condition for 75.00 bucks but need to pickup two Jacobs chucks which turn out to be more expensive than the lathe itself. Should I invest the money in this
old lathe or opt for a more professional machine? I'm new to both rod building and wood turning but an old hand at furniture making and woodwork.

Thanks in advance

Bob

Taig and sheerlines are good lathes. THey are well made and from what I have seen good quality and if you are working as a hobbiest they are fine.

The only drawback they have is their size. They are small and fragile. Their is a general rule of thumb in the machine world. Mass=stability and you can't have precision without stability. At least not on a practical scale.

Here is what I mean by that.

The taig and sheerline are precision machines on the scale they are built for.

Some of us guys were talking at a knife show one time and one of my friends who had a sheerline was bragging about how good of a machine it was. He made the comment ," I can take .005 in a pass on mild steel before I get any chatter or pull down on the machine" My friend David and I stood there smiling and neither of us had the heart to tell him we could take almost 1/8" in a pass on mild steel with our machines and still have a precision cut.

David had a 10x36 atlas at that time and I have a 11x36 sheldon tool room lathe.

Here is my point. I can make a set of titanium reel seat hardware from bar stock on my lathe in about 2 hours depending on the design of the parts. On a tiag or sheerline that 2 hour job turns into a 10 - 12 hour job. Not because the taig and sheerline are not well made but because they lack the sheer mass to be able to take realistic amounts of metal off in a pass. Instead of being able to cut parts I would have to nibble away at parts.

Ray

Robert,

I am a metal shop guy.

I'm sorry but I don't know a lot about the old wood lathes because I have not had much experience with those outside of high school shop class years ago.
I turn all my wood and cork rod parts on my tool room lathe with the speed cranked up.

Ray

Both the Taig and Sherline lathes are made in the U.S.A. Both are high quality products from which a knowledgeable machinist can do wonderful work with.

Some of the very old Craftsman lathes were quite good, both those for wood and metal. Atlas made some, King Seeley made the others.

Many companies are getting rid of their high quality U.S. made lathes and milling machines if they are not CNC compatible. They often let them go for a song, but they are large and heavy (good for the machine and the work produced, but not so good for the guy trying to move it to his basement.)

.................