Hello all,

I have no previous lathe (but some milling/routing) experience and I'm now looking to add a mini lathe to my shop. Mainly, I want to be able to make small parts for RC airplanes (primarily retracts).

I have no idea what type of machine to look for, so I'm looking for tips on that as well as what typical mistakes to avoid.

any thoughts on any of the following as a cheap intro way to try turning my own parts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120119732135&rd=1&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250064599161&rd=1&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160116896142&rd=1&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320115298706&rd=1&rd=1

it seems like the Clarke may be the sturdiest - any other things to look for?

thank!

I would bite the bullet and get the Lathemaster 8x14. I toyed around with some of the smaller lathes and it's a chore to work with any material outside of brass and soft steel. Rigidy is a problem with the small lathes and the tail stock on the Sieg model Clarke you have listed there is useless for any precision work as repeatability is nill. You;ll spend more time fixing weak areas or finding creative ways to overcome them than actual part machining. Stepping up to the 8" was the best and most enjoyable experience I've had so far in this hobby.
Jim

I'm very new to lathes but I was able to get a HF 8x12 very reasonable a few weeks ago.
My local HF store can specail order it with no frieght charge. This info came to me in a e-mail from HF, so I'm sure they all can.
I was able to use the 15% off cupon (retail store only) I got off the internet. So my total delivered 5 minutes from my home was $468

I have read the reviews and for my needs - for that price choosing the 8x over the 7x was easy for me.

It doent have as many toys as the Lathemasters version, but they can be purchased as needed.