Mini Lathes

In the spirit of the Harbor Freight thread, I was at the local Tractor
Supply Co today and came across their version of the 7 x 12" mini-lathe.
Apparently, they are discontinuing the item as it was on sale for $388.
Plenty of places carry similiar lathes, the backstory being that all of them
are supposedly made at the same factory in China. The best deal I've found
other than the one at TSC is at toolsnow.com and is $399 plus about $60 in
shipping... Harbor Freight lists theirs at $499.

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and
handyman find for a little lathe like this?

My personal opinion is that anything smaller than 9x20 is too often
too small to be worth the bother. And even 9x20 is small enough that
it too often takes heroics to wrap it around a reasonably-sized piece
of work.

Virtually all of the Chinese 9x20s sold by Enco, Grizzly, Harbor
Freight, etc. have a headstock bore of just under 7/8", which is
maddening when you want to turn a long piece of 7/8" or 1" stock.

That said, that little machine has saved my butt too many times for me
to count, and these days I don't know how I'd get along without it.
I've made all sorts of ball bearing carriers, pins, bushings, sockets,
etc. And I can't count the number of times I've chucked up something
or other and just took off a few thou to true it up or make it move
more smoothly.

Right now I'm contemplating getting the next size up, sonething like a
12x36...

Thanks, Bob K.

On Aug 15, 6:06 pm, "Kyle Boatright" wrote:

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sized all of the parts for my propeller hub and coaxial dynamo mount
to be fabricated on a 'baby lathe.' (ie, having a 3" swing)

The fact is, until you've had a lathe to work with you really won't
appreciate how useful it can be.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote in message
...
On Aug 15, 6:06 pm, "Kyle Boatright" wrote:

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sized all of the parts for my propeller hub and coaxial dynamo mount
to be fabricated on a 'baby lathe.' (ie, having a 3" swing)

The fact is, until you've had a lathe to work with you really won't
appreciate how useful it can be.

-R.S.Hoover

Yes I had a small Select lathe that did 98% of the latheing that I needed in
the construction of my helicopter and a myriad of other things that needed
turning that I found around the house. BUT I found the need for a larger
thru hole in the chuck. My downfall!! I now have a 16"x40" Victor lathe
and the cost of the tooling almost exceeded the cost of the lathe. Oh did I
mention the 3phase requirement? Yea verily, if you can get by without a
lathe by taking your work to someone who has one and is already in the
addicted condition, you are ahead. BTW I'm not a machinist and probably
couldn't qualify for an aprrenticeship, but I now can't live without my
lathe and its digital readout.

Stu

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:06:35 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:

In the spirit of the Harbor Freight thread, I was at the local Tractor
Supply Co today and came across their version of the 7 x 12" mini-lathe.
Apparently, they are discontinuing the item as it was on sale for $388.
Plenty of places carry similiar lathes, the backstory being that all of them
are supposedly made at the same factory in China. The best deal I've found
other than the one at TSC is at toolsnow.com and is $399 plus about $60 in
shipping... Harbor Freight lists theirs at $499.

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?


I'm highly amused by that last question. there is a hundred years of
really talented model engineering and model engineering magazines out
there. havent you heard of any of that? :-) :-)

guys have built on lathes around that size entire miniature aircraft
engines like the Rolls Royce Merlin, Gypsy Minor, Bentley Rotary.
all fully functional and running.

have a look at www.modelenginebuilder.com

guys have also done proper aircraft conversions of veedub engines on
lathes around that size.

My own lathe is a 4 1/2" x 36" Hercus which is a dead copy of the
Southbend.
on it I have machined up a bunch of fittings for a KR2.
made replacement parts for a cherokee's controls.
made replacement bushes for a cherokee.
made the tailwheel swivel and tailspring for my tailwind.
skimmed aircraft brake rotors.
made replacement nylon bushes.
made replacement bead blasting nozzles.
made a fitted presser washer that sealed up my gascolator bowl
properly.
made the machined parts of my carby heat box.
made bushes to locate my wheel bearings without slop.
made a replacement frangible drive for my dry vacuum pump.
made a replacement control arm for my carby heat.
....and lots of other things.

when my mates plastic cessna knobs all shattered he was stuffed
because they couldnt be sourced anywhere. his cessna now sports a set
of matching aluminium knobs that will never deteriorate in the sun.

on our club tractors no one could get gear changes right. I turned up
some very comfortable gear knobs that have the gear pattern engraved
on the top. they are in aluminium and have seen about 7 years
continuous use without problem.

....your question was funny :-)
how have you ever lived without one?
Stealth Pilot

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:06:35 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:

In the spirit of the Harbor Freight thread, I was at the local Tractor
Supply Co today and came across their version of the 7 x 12" mini-lathe.
Apparently, they are discontinuing the item as it was on sale for $388.
Plenty of places carry similiar lathes, the backstory being that all of them
are supposedly made at the same factory in China. The best deal I've found
other than the one at TSC is at toolsnow.com and is $399 plus about $60 in
shipping... Harbor Freight lists theirs at $499.

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?


I'm highly amused by that last question. there is a hundred years of
really talented model engineering and model engineering magazines out
there. havent you heard of any of that? :-) :-)

guys have built on lathes around that size entire miniature aircraft
engines like the Rolls Royce Merlin, Gypsy Minor, Bentley Rotary.
all fully functional and running.

have a look at www.modelenginebuilder.com

guys have also done proper aircraft conversions of veedub engines on
lathes around that size.

My own lathe is a 4 1/2" x 36" Hercus which is a dead copy of the
Southbend.
on it I have machined up a bunch of fittings for a KR2.
made replacement parts for a cherokee's controls.
made replacement bushes for a cherokee.
made the tailwheel swivel and tailspring for my tailwind.
skimmed aircraft brake rotors.
made replacement nylon bushes.
made replacement bead blasting nozzles.
made a fitted presser washer that sealed up my gascolator bowl
properly.
made the machined parts of my carby heat box.
made bushes to locate my wheel bearings without slop.
made a replacement frangible drive for my dry vacuum pump.
made a replacement control arm for my carby heat.
...and lots of other things.

when my mates plastic cessna knobs all shattered he was stuffed
because they couldnt be sourced anywhere. his cessna now sports a set
of matching aluminium knobs that will never deteriorate in the sun.

on our club tractors no one could get gear changes right. I turned up
some very comfortable gear knobs that have the gear pattern engraved
on the top. they are in aluminium and have seen about 7 years
continuous use without problem.

...your question was funny :-)
how have you ever lived without one?
Stealth Pilot



I have a Central Machinery 7" x 10" I bought from Harbour Freight.
HF's support is beyond hopeless, but www.littlemachineshop.com provides
excellent support for it and my MicroMark mill.

I make steam engines as a hobby, OK, so I run them on compressed air,
but what the heck. I'm currently making my first live steam locomotive.

As others have said there are limitations. 98% of the work I do can
be accomplished on the lathe. The major limitation is I need a longer
bed at times. Little Machine Shop sells a kit to replace it with a 14"
bed and I'm going to get one next month.

Also, as others have said, you will be hooked big time. There are
slightly bigger mini lathes you can buy that will operate on house
current. Much bigger and you go to 230 vac/ 1 or 3 phase.

You'd be surprised how many widgets like bushings you have been
buying you can now make for a fraction of the price.

By the time you decide you NEED to go bigger you will have a few
hundred accessories and tools for your lathe. You will also have a few
hundred pounds of raw stock and a list of companies like Speedy Metals
who sell small lots at reasonable prices.

As an aside I recommend you don't get one of those combination
mill/lathes.

How to frustrate yourself: learn to use a 4 jaw independent chuck,
spend hours setting the old way, up then invest $90 in a laser
center/edge finder and beat yourself up for not buying one earlier.

I have my mill and lathes on rolling cabinets to save space.

Good luck and welcome to the world of metalworking addiction.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:06:35 -0400, Kyle Boatright wrote:

In the spirit of the Harbor Freight thread, I was at the local Tractor
Supply Co today and came across their version of the 7 x 12" mini-lathe.
Apparently, they are discontinuing the item as it was on sale for $388.
Plenty of places carry similiar lathes, the backstory being that all of
them are supposedly made at the same factory in China. The best deal I've
found other than the one at TSC is at toolsnow.com and is $399 plus about
$60 in shipping... Harbor Freight lists theirs at $499.

Thoughts? What creative uses can a homebuilder and handyman find for a
little lathe like this?

I got one of the Smithy units years ago when they used to have a booth
at Sun-N-Fun. I'm not sure what their lowest price unit is these
days, but I would expect it's more than the HF unit. The Smith is not
a bad unit and was a good fit for me, as a novice using a lathe or mill.
I've made a lot of parts with it. Now that I have some time under my belt
with a lathe and mill, I'd like to move up to a higher quality, larger
machine one day.

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX

"Joe Chisolm" wrote

I got one of the Smithy units years ago when they used to have a booth
at Sun-N-Fun. I'm not sure what their lowest price unit is these
days, but I would expect it's more than the HF unit. The Smith is not
a bad unit and was a good fit for me, as a novice using a lathe or mill.
I've made a lot of parts with it. Now that I have some time under my belt
with a lathe and mill, I'd like to move up to a higher quality, larger
machine one day.

Clever manufacturers of those many lathes! You're hooked! ;-)

Just like the progression of drugs. You keep needing stronger and stronger
stuff!

You got hooked with a mini lathe, now you have to move up to the heroine of
the tool world, a bigger and badder gear engine lathe!

I'm not going there. I know I would quickly be hooked! g
--
Jim in NC

On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:51:16 -0400, Morgans wrote:


"Joe Chisolm" wrote

I got one of the Smithy units years ago when they used to have a booth
at Sun-N-Fun. I'm not sure what their lowest price unit is these days,
but I would expect it's more than the HF unit. The Smith is not a bad
unit and was a good fit for me, as a novice using a lathe or mill. I've
made a lot of parts with it. Now that I have some time under my belt
with a lathe and mill, I'd like to move up to a higher quality, larger
machine one day.

Clever manufacturers of those many lathes! You're hooked! ;-)

Just like the progression of drugs. You keep needing stronger and
stronger stuff!

You got hooked with a mini lathe, now you have to move up to the heroine
of the tool world, a bigger and badder gear engine lathe!

I'm not going there. I know I would quickly be hooked! g

Hooked is an understatement. The Smithy was just the start of it. Then
there were the end mills, the dial indicators, the tool post, the
boring bar, the clamps and indexing tools. The list goes on and on...
Of course, after I got the Smithy then I needed a good welder. Next
thing I know I'm spending a good bonus check on MIG and TIG welders.
Love that TIG - some days I just go weld sh*t together to clear my mind.

Probably would have been cheaper to just get hooked on drugs

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX

Joe Chisolm wrote:
On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:51:16 -0400, Morgans wrote:

"Joe Chisolm" wrote

I got one of the Smithy units years ago when they used to have a booth
at Sun-N-Fun. I'm not sure what their lowest price unit is these days,
but I would expect it's more than the HF unit. The Smith is not a bad
unit and was a good fit for me, as a novice using a lathe or mill. I've
made a lot of parts with it. Now that I have some time under my belt
with a lathe and mill, I'd like to move up to a higher quality, larger
machine one day.
Clever manufacturers of those many lathes! You're hooked! ;-)

Just like the progression of drugs. You keep needing stronger and
stronger stuff!

You got hooked with a mini lathe, now you have to move up to the heroine
of the tool world, a bigger and badder gear engine lathe!

I'm not going there. I know I would quickly be hooked! g

Hooked is an understatement. The Smithy was just the start of it. Then
there were the end mills, the dial indicators, the tool post, the
boring bar, the clamps and indexing tools. The list goes on and on...
Of course, after I got the Smithy then I needed a good welder. Next
thing I know I'm spending a good bonus check on MIG and TIG welders.
Love that TIG - some days I just go weld sh*t together to clear my mind.

Probably would have been cheaper to just get hooked on drugs


He who dies with the most toys wins.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired