# Micromark lathe / mill combo



## mogogear (Dec 15, 2008)

So I Am selling my Unimat SL and going to go to a Chinese 7x12... so I of course cruise Craigslist and ebay...

So I find this Micromark...older combo unit..I think hey this is pretty cool, not a lot of tooling at all , but it is in my town ...it is a little larger than my Unimat...it does have a very , small kind-of-a-mill....so maybe.

 Then I look at the watts on the the two motors and they are 150w - EACH... big deal... Seems if they were 300w each - I might consider this more...Am I daft? missing something or what?

Thanks for your :

Reinforcement
Arrows
knowledge


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140289154223


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## bentprop (Dec 15, 2008)

The combo units are a poor compromise at best.As a lathe,it's cramped,and as a mill it lacks rigidity.Unless the combo has at least a 20" bed,save your pennies,and buy a separate lathe and maybe a vertical slide,until you can afford a mill-drill.I know, a vertical slide is not very rigid either,but with the weight of a larger lathe,you should be able to manage light cuts.And as you've found out ,powerwise the combo isn't much cop either.Having said that,some owners swear by their combo's.my0.02.


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## Tin Falcon (Dec 15, 2008)

It comes to getting the biggest and best yo can afford and have room for. I have never used a combo. I am not a fan of them. you have to decide what is best for you Kluge here loves his tiny shoe box size lathes others here own and are great fans of the Monarch EE. 
A 150W motor does seem a little small 
Tin


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## Kermit (Dec 15, 2008)

The micromark unit is all aluminum. Everything is aluminum.

7x12's have a huge following and I almost went that route, but a trip to Harborfreight in person to physically see the unit convinced me to go with a slightly larger unit. I chose the 9by series but was going to get the 8by at first. (seeing is believing, thanks HF)

The money is usually on doing the opposite of anything I say,
Kermit

 :


Hope that helps ;D


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## hitandmissman (Dec 15, 2008)

I have an older smithy combo, the AT300. Nice but I don't think I would buy another combo. The mill is too limited on table travel and never buy a combo with a round mill column. I also own a newer micro-mark mill with metal gears. Nice unit but limited to light cuts. That said I do like the micro-mark it does what I need it to do. Micro-marks new machines would work fine for you if you do smaller models and such and don't have room for larger machines.


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## mogogear (Dec 15, 2008)

Thanks all that responded--- The conformation of what I thought was great- Iwas only tempted by the lure of picking it up locally or I never even would have considered it...

I only do little stuff and i will do a lot more "tire kicking " before I buy.. that's the fun part...spend the money slowly.....at least that is what i tell myself;D


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## Kludge (Dec 15, 2008)

Tin Falcon  said:
			
		

> Kluge here loves his tiny shoe box size lathes others here own and are great fans of the Monarch EE.



Actually, Kludge is looking at adding a 6xSomething (AA109 or the like) but they're a bit out of my price league unless I can get a super good deal ... like free plus shipping.  But, yes, in general I love my itty bitty machines. 

Mogogear, I don't know how much space you have but that's a good starting point as to how much machine you can bring in. I know you're familiar with how the SL works as a lathe OR a mill (usually not both at the same time, though there are exceptions) but, within design limitations, it's better than the combos I've looked at. If you're space limited, the better choice is as Bentprop said, a vertical slide so you can use the lathe as a horizontal mill. It's even more so cooler if you have a compound cross slide to attach it to.



> A 150W motor does seem a little small



Seriously small! That's a good balance for a Unimat or a watchmaker's lathe but (I think I did my math right) that's around .2 horsepower (before losses) which is kind of wimpy. Even a treadmill motor does better than that!

Hmmm ... selling off the SL ... maybe I should find out if you've got tooling I don't beforehand. ;D

BEst regards,

Kludge


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## mklotz (Dec 15, 2008)

I started off with a Unimat SL. I thought about selling it when I got my full-sized lathe. In retrospect, I'm very glad that I didn't sell it.

I build small models and the Unimat is the perfect tool for spinning that 1/32" endmill or #80 drill. I've tarted it up with DIs on all three axes and some other conveniences and it's now a committed miniature milling machine. Not used often but invaluable when it is.

Unless you need the money or are planning to build only large stuff, think twice about keeping the Unimat.


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## mogogear (Dec 15, 2008)

Kludge,

It came fully tooled!! But I am selling it with only part of the basics and selling others on ebay --I need to replenish my hobby fund don't you know.

The SL is fitted with a slow speed set up, a power feed, 3 and 4 jaw, face plate & dogs, drill chuck for the TS, live and dead centers, tommy bars, milling column and brackets, steady rest, box,sander collet, new bright orange belts, manual ..

The items I am going to sell are an indexing fixture( 48 tooth), milling table, another steady rest, a head riser plate ( to gain more capacity )and a milling vise. All original and all in original boxes..Pretty much unused as I can tell..


Mklotz- I love the little machine- it is probably worth more to someone else and my steambpat projects are needing more funding. So I can probably sell it, but a 7x12 and still have a $100 or so to help me buy more goodies..

I am still just learning and playng around with the lathe..

Thanks gentlemen


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