what are the best mini lathe for building some of the radial airplane engines and others,,,,,i have access to a full machine shop , i just want my own lathe at the house dont have a huge budget........any ideas .... or.recomendations? pros.......cons ,,,,,or ones to stay away from? .....any ideas on the grizzly and the harbor freight?
best mini lathe under 1200
- Thread starter cncjay
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i have the littlemachineshop one. i got it 100 bucks cheaper because it was painted red instead of grey and blue. it has more power then the harbor freight ones and has a few little things that make it nicer. micro mark has a nice one as well.
i spent 1200 for my lathe, a knurlier, 4 jaw chuck, drill chuck, a Qctp, boring bars, carbide insert tooling, live center, mt3 dead center, and some hss.
i spent 1200 for my lathe, a knurlier, 4 jaw chuck, drill chuck, a Qctp, boring bars, carbide insert tooling, live center, mt3 dead center, and some hss.
Tin Falcon
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These have had good to excellent revues.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-x-22-Bench-Top-Metal-Lathe/G0602
Tin
http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-x-22-Bench-Top-Metal-Lathe/G0602
Tin
I've had mixed luck buying from Grizzly, however they are far better to deal with than HF. To be really helpful you need to tell us which lathe you are actually talking about.
For example if you mean the 7x10 or whatever it is, I'd have to say consider the machine very carefully as the distance between centers can be a significant problem depending upon your interests. Depending upon the cash you are willing to lay out for this purchase I would suggest that the 9x20(19) would be the minimal sized lathe to buy. I have the 9x20 and frankly have wished at times for a bigger lathe. The other thing here is that the screw on chuck of some of these lathes is a terrible choice if a CNC conversion is in your future.
So in a nut shel consider carefully just how big that lathes should be! Buying too small can be frustrating but what is too small depends upon your interests.
Frankly I wouldn't jump at a purchase until considering all potential vendors.
this is great advice,,,,,,,im used to working on much bigger lathes...so minimum size is 9x20 i want to build model engines,,,,,,,like some of the radials and larger scale, possible some parts for offroad dune bug......some prototype ideas ,,,,,,etc.......keep the awesome advice coming i really value any and input,,,,,,,,what are thoughts on the combo mill/lathes?
Even a 9x20 might not cut the mustard here, especially if you intend to make off road vehicle parts. Some of your other interests might come up short on a 9x20 also. The need to think about what you intend to do is important but do realize you can always upgrade later when skills improve.
As for combo machines - avoid them like the plaque.
Tin Falcon
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Jay:
you may want to read here if you have not done so already.
Selecting a Lathe
I started this Hobby with an actual mini lathe a grizzly 7 X 10. I also have a long bed south bend 9" a pretty nice hobby lathe old but good about a year ago I picked up a grizzly 9 x 19 not a bad lathe but not a south bend either.
several here have the Grizzly 10 x 22 . this lathe is kind of the line between a hobby lathe and a real lathe. Guys seem to like them especially with a variable speed motor. I realize this is the high limit and possibly beyond your budget.
But somehow it seems you are serious about machining and I think this may be a good fit for you. I have no affiliation to any vendor other than happy customer.
I was trained by the USAF as a Machinist welder. And worked as a civilian machinist . So I have used several different machines.
If you truely want mini the taigs and sherlines are exelent machines but are small.
Tin
you may want to read here if you have not done so already.
Selecting a Lathe
I started this Hobby with an actual mini lathe a grizzly 7 X 10. I also have a long bed south bend 9" a pretty nice hobby lathe old but good about a year ago I picked up a grizzly 9 x 19 not a bad lathe but not a south bend either.
several here have the Grizzly 10 x 22 . this lathe is kind of the line between a hobby lathe and a real lathe. Guys seem to like them especially with a variable speed motor. I realize this is the high limit and possibly beyond your budget.
But somehow it seems you are serious about machining and I think this may be a good fit for you. I have no affiliation to any vendor other than happy customer.
I was trained by the USAF as a Machinist welder. And worked as a civilian machinist . So I have used several different machines.
If you truely want mini the taigs and sherlines are exelent machines but are small.
Tin
thats is by far the best advice so far,,,,yes your right, im definitely going to increase my budget.......deep down......i truly want to own my own prototype machine shop small,,one off........job shop at most.....no serious production stuff,,,,,no 10000 bushing knocker runs,,,or dowel pins......its like can can sit ther e all day and run canned cylcle,,,button pressing......thats not me,,,,,,,nor is the blanchard grinder.....yes ......awesome finish,,,,,but the boredom no mental,stimulating factor isnt for me. yes it fairly simple to draw a quick program in mastercam and post it to a machine.....do a few edits, and run the machine up to 8-10k rpm...but i like moving levers....dialing in on my own and even turning the crossfeed by hand,,,i just like being active.
Tin Falcon
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You will need some tooling budget but tooling a lathe is not bad compared to the mill.
A quick change tool post a hand full of cutters a couple boring bars alive center and a drill chuck for the tail stock and you are pretty well set.
Of course if you add a collet chuck and collet set and a taper attachment good indexable tooling and boring bars you probably can spend as much on tools as you spend on the lathe but no need to start out.
Tin
A quick change tool post a hand full of cutters a couple boring bars alive center and a drill chuck for the tail stock and you are pretty well set.
Of course if you add a collet chuck and collet set and a taper attachment good indexable tooling and boring bars you probably can spend as much on tools as you spend on the lathe but no need to start out.
Tin
Considering what you posted below I'm pretty certain a 9x20 is too much of a hobby lathe for you. If your ultimate goal is to start a business I'd suggest looking at used equipment to purchase a lathe of reasonable size. I just have a hard time equating bench top machines with starting up a business as you describe.
Yeah I understand but would you want to turn down work due to the lack of a CNC machine? By the way I'm not saying that this lathe needs to be a CNC machine, that would be a mistake for the type of shop you want to set up. What I'm saying is that don't discount a CNC machine in the future, it is very limiting to be so fixed on one way of doing things. Some things are just so easy with a proper CNC machine that you will find a huge amount of time saved with a CNC toolroom lathe.
One other thing, get keyed into auctions and seek out machinery that way. Every once in a while somebody walks away with a deal that is hard to beleive.
Nothing wrong with that in fact I can identify with the boredom and lack of stimulation issue. However don't discount CNC hardware in your shop, CNC isn't always about massive production runs. Even if it is a large production run a CNC machine can generate income for you while you find stimulation elsewhere. Beyond that programming the machines is a stimulation in and of itself.
Yeah I understand but would you want to turn down work due to the lack of a CNC machine? By the way I'm not saying that this lathe needs to be a CNC machine, that would be a mistake for the type of shop you want to set up. What I'm saying is that don't discount a CNC machine in the future, it is very limiting to be so fixed on one way of doing things. Some things are just so easy with a proper CNC machine that you will find a huge amount of time saved with a CNC toolroom lathe.
One other thing, get keyed into auctions and seek out machinery that way. Every once in a while somebody walks away with a deal that is hard to beleive.
For a small shop I would not even think twice about a good used American lathe. The key is it has to be as least as accurate as a new import or else its going to give you all sorts of trouble you don't need, unless you will be doing work with a relatively low accuracy. But it doesn't sound like that's your case.
Something to think about is a turret lathe with a threading gear box, can do anything a center lathe can do plus have the advantages of a turret lathe. But they don't usually have a very long between center distance so make sure it is long enough for what you want to do.
Cheers,
John.
Something to think about is a turret lathe with a threading gear box, can do anything a center lathe can do plus have the advantages of a turret lathe. But they don't usually have a very long between center distance so make sure it is long enough for what you want to do.
Cheers,
John.
yes very good points,,,,,,,i think alot of peoples ''hobby'' goal would be to bring in a little extra cash,,,,,,,,,,,,what are you thoughts of ways to pick up jobs from individuals or machine shops that are overbooked and cant get to the work?
I can only speak for myself but I certainly wouldn't care to make my life more complicated than it is now. That is the reason I am into this hobby for the purpose for having fun and sometimes stress relieve. The other thing is when you get a small odd job more often than not the amount of money you make is not worth the responsibility or stress of " where is my part", been there done that! Unless there is good money involved I would recomend against it.
Edit.
Looking over my post it seems like I'm not consistent. Let me clarify, one thing is to have a small shop that makes money and whole another ball of wax trying to make do in a hobby shop.
My two cents,
John.
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