I'm becoming interested in purchasing a small metal working lathe in order to pruduce aluminum and/or but caps and trim rings.
I know Grizzly has one for $500. I've serched @#$%& but it's usually a sellers market and I don't have the experience to even know what to ask the seller.
Any suggestions as to brands, models, or features to look for or stay away from would be appreciated.

I just checked to archives on this topic. Guess I should have done this first. It seems you guys have just about beat the snot out of this topic in the last couple of months. I think I'll just leave it there. Thanks!

For what it is worth, most of the type lathes that you have spoken of are quite similar. I have heard from several that the Grizzly is a good one as they hold their supplier to a bit higher standard than some of the others.

The upside to these type lathes is that you get a lot of features for very little money. The downside is that they are sometimes a little rough around the edges, so to speak.

There are two other types you may wish to consider. First is the Sherline. It is a high quality tool with many accessories available. It usually sells in a basic configuration for around the $500 level. In my opinion, it is a much higher quality tool than the one from Grizzly (or similar) and you will find it to work out of the box with a very high degree of accuracy. The other nice lathe in this class is the Taig. Another great tool with plenty of accessories. It does not feature any sort of power feed nor can it be readily adapted to such (The Sherline can be and they offer a kit to do it). But unless you are cutting threads, this is usually not necessary. Both these lathes are very fine tools in the mini-lathe market and both are American made. It would be rare to buy either one and have any problems or have to perform any major adjustments.

The uside to the Sherline and Taig is that they are very high quality tools. The downside is that they do not have as many included features as the imports.

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You can purchase larger used lathes for a very very cheap price because the CNC is quickly replacing them.

There are @#$%& that sell these type of machines but I can't be specific.

The news paper here in Houston has adds for them.

What's the CNC?

CNC = Computer Numeric Control

So, for a lathe, it would mean the computer controls all cutting operations. Thus, if you are good with a CAD (CAD = Computer Aided Drafting) program... if you can draw it, you can make it. So a custom sized reelseat would be no sweat.

Computer Numerical Control. Most of the hand work involved in machining a part is no longer required. You set the computer to the supplied specs and the computer controls the movement of the cutting parts. It's not necesarilly better than doing it by hand but is much faster.

Most of the older American made lathes that cannot be retrofitted with CNC equipment are being sold at bargain prices. The only problem is that these are very HEAVY machines and might be a bit on the big side for a small rod shop. But the value is there. For the record I looked at a Grizzly 9 inch lathe the other day and it is just under $1,000. Not bad. But then a 9" South Bend is just over $13,000!!! Find yourself an older South Bend 9" for a thousand bucks and you have a fine machine at a bargain price.

If I had the money I would buy a Sherline for rod and model work. I have seen them and they are sweet.

Tom and Stephen,

If you choose to go with the Sherline or Taig, or any other small lathe, you might want to take into account the size of the bore through the headstock. Some larger rods will not fit. I -think- the Sherline is only bored at 3/8", and that makes turning cork grips on even medium sized rods very tricky.

Other than that, I agree that these are fine machines. Just be sure that they will do what you want before you sink several hundred dollars in them.

HTH,
Harry

That's a good point and I admit I wasn't even considering it being used for turning grips on a rod.

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