I'm a newbie at this lathe stuff....I have been told that the Cummins 7x12 is the best bang for the buck? Have any of you had experience with this lathe or would anyone recommend another 7X12. I had it down to the Grizzley and the Cummins and from what I can gather si far the Cummins has more accsy that come with it and I save about $100. Please Help! ! !

Check out www.littlemachineshop.com. They have done a comparison on all the different mini lathes and I think that your mill is the best offering available. By the way, all the lathes are made IN THE SAME FACTORY IN CHINA. All of them use the same parts list. Above site sells every part, nut, screw, washer, label, etc. for these lathes.

Hope this helps,
Jerry

As Jerry says, they are all identical except for color and accesories, so the purchase should be driven by price and shipping cost.

If you get into it, you will soon have spent 2x the purchase price+ on tooling.

I've got the Cummins and I like it. From what I've heard, it seems to be a little better than the rest. It still does need some work to tighten it up though, but for $400.00 at their toolshows its a heck of a deal!
Oh yeah, Like Mark Wrathall says you'll spend twice that on tooling. Soon you'll want to cnc it too!

Thank you all for the feedback. Like I said I'm GREEN at this. What I'll be making are small parts for the gun industry. Any ideas on what tools might be helpful? Like the gun industry....there are thing we NEED and things we WANT. What would be the things I NEED. Thanks in advance!

I recently bought the Cummins 7x12. It comes with a better accessory set than the others. If you get it at the truck store it is a deal. If you have to pay shipping it's less attractive (my shipping would have been USD 164 :( ).
The need/want list will be determined by what your application is. If you are going to turn an occasional bushing or small shaft, the Cummins has everything you >need< out of the box. I want to turn some long narrow pieces so the top item on my need list is a live center for the tail stock. If you are going to do production runs of >anything< a QCTP and CNC move from the nice-to-have-list over to need-to-have real soon.

robotic regards,

Tom
= = = = =
“Soon you will have forgotten the world, and the world will have forgotten you.”
- - Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor

Called today and they are out of stock! ! The gal I talked to said shipping would be $58. So when they come available again I'll get one!