Another Lathe Selection Thread

[BobsModels]

I have been at this since the early 70’s ie over 45 years. My first lathe was a brand new Atlas 6” loaded with accessories. It turned out lots of parts. You state you are just thinking about getting into model engineering. You will have untold number of hours of fun building and when the first one runs, make sure someone captures your face with a photo.

After 45 plus years of building steam engines, live steam locomotives, etc let me give you just a little food for thought. Currently I have a very well equipped shop. Like me at the start I am sure your budget is limited. You need to plan for more than just a lathe. If you want to build a gas engine or a small steam engine (I recommend a small steam engine first, a wobbler, built from bar stock not castings). You will likely spend an equal amount of time on a milling machine and lathe in the construction. Yes a lathe can be equipped to do milling but with some pain. I do not want you discouraged by what it takes to mill on a lathe. A nice drill press will also be handy, although depending on the mill if it has a movable quill you could use it (Sherline does not, but there are ways to easily drill on it ie head horizontal).

You will spend about an equal amount of money on tooling as you spend for the mill and lathe. So if purchasing used try and get as much tooling as possible.

You talk about holding strict tolerances; the machinist holds the strict tolerances not the machine. http://www.mermac.com/klunker2.html.

With my Sherline I have made some really small parts to fit together. I mean boring a .094 hole, which is actually large. My granddaughters turned down a part for a Stirling engine on a Sherline .323 Diameter 1” long, with a .008 wall. Just takes practice; they had been building engines for about 10 years. You want to be able to cut steel. One demo at NAMES on a Sherline lathe was chucking up a .750 diameter piece of steel, turning a short section down to , I think .020 or maybe .010, faster than you would think possible and then drilling a .010 or .005 hole in the end, just not sure which OD. Not to sell the Sherline but lots of easy setups.

Just so you know my current high use lathe is 12” Clausing 5904 and I split time between a Bridgeport and Clausing 8530 mill. When parts get below .100 I use a smaller lathe so I can get my nose down and see the part without a 6” or 10” chuck flying around!

One last word of advice, do not delay waiting for the perfect machine. Find a decent one and start making chips. Over time you will upgrade and end up with some really nice machines.

Welcome to one of the most addictive hobbies I know of. After the first one runs you will not be able to wait for the next one.

Bob

 

[Danuzzo]

I am certainly looking forward to getting started. I have a drill press, and am trying to decide on a lathe. I would like to make something very simple and from scrap metal (mostly steel) I have. Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[awake]

A compressed-air wobbler engine would be my recommendation.

 

[RM-MN]

I am certainly looking forward to getting started. I have a drill press, and am trying to decide on a lathe. I would like to make something very simple and from scrap metal (mostly steel) I have. Any suggestions on where to start?

I'd say start at the beginning. What experience do you have with a lathe? Do you have a grinder to make your own lathe bits from tool steel blanks? Although my first though is that you want a big lathe so it can handle big parts, along with that size comes danger. A small lathe will be limited in what it can do but starting small can be safer. You will also by necessity learn how to sharpen your tool bits properly since the lathe won't have the power to cut with a poorly sharpened one. I have a Harbor Freight mini lathe. With that I had to learn about the tool bit sharpness but also learned about the parts of the lathe as it needed to be disassembled to improve the "accuracy" as it was not set up to the best possible accuracy. Once familiar with that, moving to a bigger lathe will be in order as there is limited capability with such a small lathe.

 

[Danuzzo]

I'd say start at the beginning. What experience do you have with a lathe? Do you have a grinder to make your own lathe bits from tool steel blanks? Although my first though is that you want a big lathe so it can handle big parts, along with that size comes danger. A small lathe will be limited in what it can do but starting small can be safer. You will also by necessity learn how to sharpen your tool bits properly since the lathe won't have the power to cut with a poorly sharpened one. I have a Harbor Freight mini lathe. With that I had to learn about the tool bit sharpness but also learned about the parts of the lathe as it needed to be disassembled to improve the "accuracy" as it was not set up to the best possible accuracy. Once familiar with that, moving to a bigger lathe will be in order as there is limited capability with such a small lathe.

I do have some machining experience on a lathe, mill and even surface grinder from many years ago. These were the full size machines in machine shops. I do have a couple of bench grinders with which I sharpen drills and wood lathe tools. I also have a couple of lathe tool bits left over from the day that I sharpened then. Of course, I would be extremely rusty.

Unfortunately, right now, I don't have room for a large lathe, not that I think I will ever need one. If I do get heavily involved in the hobby, I may invest in a slightly larger quality bench lathe.

I am looking at the Harbor Freight mini 7x12 as a prospect. Which one do you have, and do you like it?

 

[RM-MN]

i have a 7X14 Harbor Freight lathe. Even that length of bed is limiting with the tailstock which I use a lot. I have mine in my basement where I have a heated space for working in the winter. I also have an older (from about 30 years ago, bought new) 10X24 that I can use in our short summers and make repairs of farm machinery. The 7X14 has taught me a lot about the use of the bigger lathe, mostly about sharpening the lathe bits and tightening everything that can be tightened. For instance, the bigger lathe had lots of backlash on the cross slide when I inherited it. Now it has very little.

One of the things I missed in school when learning about the lathe was how sharp to keep the lathe bits. Now I keep a diamond hone handy to touch up the bits as necessary. I also have a diamond wheel on the bench grinder in case I want to work with a carbide.

 

[awake]

Danuzzo, I will echo RM-MN's concerns about the length of the 7 x 12 machine you are looking at. I have the Grizzly 7 x 14, and it is barely long enough to do some of the things you will want to do. You might look at Little Machine Shop to see if they have an extended-bed version, or consider an 8 x machine with more length.

 

[Bill Lawson]

Jet makes a nice 9-19

 

[Danuzzo]

Jet makes a nice 9-19

Jet has good products. I have 2 of their wood lathes. The one you reference is a little out of my price range for my first metal lathe. Is that what you have. If so, can you tell me a little about it. Thanks.

 

[awake]

From what I can tell, Jet seems to be at the upper end of the quality range for the smaller import lathes; Grizzly would be a close second ... Harbor Freight would be well down the list. But my sense is that you can get a lemon from any of them, and you can get a winner from any of them. And of course, there are half-a-million other "brands" selling essentially the same Sieg designs, which may or may not be made in the same factory!

 

[Danuzzo]

Awake, what kind of tolerances can you hold with you Grizzly? How is the spindle boss/shoulder runout, if any?

 

[awake]

With the particular Grizzly that I have, a 7 x 14, I can hold as tight a tolerance as I want, .0005" or better. I've never measured the runout, but certainly the run out of parts mounted in the chuck is near-zero - which is one reason I use this lathe for second-op, since the 3-jaw chuck on my old TrayTop is well-worn and has a fair bit of runout.

 

[Bill Lawson]

The jet 9-19 was just over my price comfort level. However, it is a long term purchase. There are a few things that I didn’t care for. #1 is that faceplate/4jaw chuck (boat anchor). #2 no tee slot in the compound. I had to modify it to accept a wedge type QC holder.
The 9-19 is not a heavy duty industrial machine, but it is a very nice accurate machine.

 

[Danuzzo]

Thank's, Bill.

 

[mfrick]

Hello to all I have had my new 14 x 40 Grizzly lathe going on three months and I am very happy with it. Its very accurate and very solid. I would purchase again if I need to. The over all fit and finish of the machine is very good. I have done some pretty heavy work on it with zero problems. So overall nice machine and I'm happy.

Mike

 

[Shopgeezer]

I have a simple King 10X22 lathe and as I get in to the hobby and learn more there are a few things I really want. The main thing is electronic speed control. Changing the belts on the King is a long and frustrating job. So I just leave it on a spindle speed of 520 and do everything with that. Way too slow for aluminum and way too fast for reaming. The other thing is an over centre release on the tail stock. On mine you have to tighten a bolt on the base. Drives me to tears when drilling.

As with most smaller lathes the saddle is driven by the lead screw for power feed. Much better to have a separate drive for the power feed. There is a system in which there is s long slot in the lead screw along it’s entire length. This slot is engaged with a gear in the saddle and used to drive power feed without closing the half nuts. Clever design and saves wear on the lead screw. This is the lathe I wish I had now. It has all these features including power cross feed.

https://www.busybeetools.com/products/lathe-10in-x22in-metal-with-digital-readout.html

 

[Danuzzo]

Shopgeezer, the Busy Bee looks like a nice set-up.

 

[Shopgeezer]

So nice they are sold out.

 

[awake]

How about one of these 8.5 x 20 machines:

https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_category.php?category=1271799306

 

[Danuzzo]

That would be a really nice one, awake.