Yes it is.
It's the physical size that will eventually beat you.
Small cuts are made on any machine but first you have to be able to fit the part.
New member from Western Australia
- Thread starter musterpilot
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It's the physical size that will eventually beat you.
Small cuts are made on any machine but first you have to be able to fit the part.
musterpilot
Member
I am using Aluminium bright steel brass no project on the board yet
Hi Bluejets, I always caution people using small lathes, as based on my own "inexperience" on small lathes it is very easy to apply cuts larger than the machine stiffness can handle, before anything else happens. Having made long tapered parts - on 2 or 3 small lathes, before I bought a bigger lathe, I didn't really appreciate what I was doing wrong. (Not the "machine's fault"). Then when I enjoyed being able to use the new lathe - with 4 times the power of my old and frail lathes - I realised I could make long tapered parts with heavy cuts! - Because the bed was twisting under the applied torque. I'm only talking a thou or 2 of taper on a few inches of length, but reducing the cuts as I approached "size" definitely straightened the cut/part... If the fault is measurable, it is worthy of note, so I am passing on that experience.
I have an old Unimat SL that will hold a 1inch bar, or manage a 2 inch face (swing). But you can see it distort with a heavy cut/blunt tool! However, it manages 0.004"/0.10mm cuts on brass at 1mm diameter easily and accurately, just not 0.010" cuts on stainless steel at 1" diameter!
But my Chester DB8 VS is a larger workhorse, yet still needs care as it will cut larger than the stiffness of the lathe can manage, without losing a thou of 2 of cut in certain regions! 4" swing x 14" workpiece length.. 1HP (750W) motor, and the variable speed is current limiting, so actually that means torque is limited! - The bed is not stiff enough to resist more torque. (I need to make a strong-back base for it, but the iron castings for the cross-slide, saddle etc. will not be stiffened by a strong-back!).
OLD industrial steel lathe beds were generally stronger than modern "Hobby" lathes! - size for size. But "bigger" frames are "Better" is a worthy rule to follow.
K2
I have an old Unimat SL that will hold a 1inch bar, or manage a 2 inch face (swing). But you can see it distort with a heavy cut/blunt tool! However, it manages 0.004"/0.10mm cuts on brass at 1mm diameter easily and accurately, just not 0.010" cuts on stainless steel at 1" diameter!
But my Chester DB8 VS is a larger workhorse, yet still needs care as it will cut larger than the stiffness of the lathe can manage, without losing a thou of 2 of cut in certain regions! 4" swing x 14" workpiece length.. 1HP (750W) motor, and the variable speed is current limiting, so actually that means torque is limited! - The bed is not stiff enough to resist more torque. (I need to make a strong-back base for it, but the iron castings for the cross-slide, saddle etc. will not be stiffened by a strong-back!).
OLD industrial steel lathe beds were generally stronger than modern "Hobby" lathes! - size for size. But "bigger" frames are "Better" is a worthy rule to follow.
K2
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