Looking into a mini lathe

[tonphil1960]

Hi all,

Newbie here looking to buy a mini lathe. I have poured over minilathe.com, Mini Machine shop and 7x lathes and Nick Carters site. Still not sure which way to go. A Chinese made 7x12 or 14 or a Taig. I see there is a Taig forum but thought I would get the most responses here. I see the Taig is a quaility machine and very accurate from the reviews I have read, then there are guys who swear by the China made benchtop lathes too. I am a scale modeler and will be working on very small parts say from less than a quarter in. to not over 2 inches in alum, brass and styrene plastics. My concern is not how big a piece I can turn but how small. I would want to or be required to use 1/4 in tools or even 1/8th tools. Can the Taig be fitted with these small tools? Also need to use collets for the small work pieces. I really like the Proxxons but the price is up there. i want to spend about 500 bucks.

Thanks much, Tony Perrotta NJ

[wildwestpat]

Hi Tony

Since you will also need a number of tools to get making parts I guess the budget will dictate the choice and you will end up with a Seig C3 or a similar look alike. Look at the deadicated mini lathe site for an idea of what you might be getting into.
http://www.mini-lathe.com
I have the Big Dog 7x14 lathe in its European 7x12 form see
http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe...og/bigdog2.htm
and have found it to be capable of good work in the size range you mention. Don't get to bogged down in the clean up of the slides and the need to reassemble these lathes as over the years the far east manufacturing has improved. For example mine was purchased 18 months ago and has worked straight out of the box once the packing grease was wiped off with a rag and WD40. i.e. by all means look at the experiences of those with lathes (or mills) from the Far East but do keep in mind that the general quality has improved a lot in the last three or four years - no doubt due to the implied criticism in the posts about how to improve these lathes.

Hope this helps as $500 should get you going with a lathe and some tools and some bits of metal to try out and perfect your skills.

There are various threads on this site covering the conversion of the 7xXX lathes to CNC. Normally for making multiple parts the compound slide is not automated althought this is practical if you get bitten by the CNC bug!

Have fun.

Regards

Pat

[tonphil1960]

Thanks Pat, Yes indeed I did look into all the sites I could. The Taig looks like a good machine but ? I have heard that the Asian lathes have gotten better with their quality control now. I can get one here for $372.00 just the lathe or $450.00 with some goodies, face plate, drill chuck, 5 pc tool set, external jaws for the chuck, wrenches. We'll see !

Tony

[wildwestpat]

Hi Tony

Hope you have lots of fun making some fine models with your new purchase.

Regards

Pat

[tonphil1960]

I still have my eye on the Taig, very cool small machine. We'll see. Just have to scrape up some cashola to make the buy.

Thanks Tony

[wildwestpat]

Hi Tony

Just a thought having just made a new clock winding shaft have you looked at the Unimat series. I have an old SL1000 which I bought some 40 years ago when I first got interested in clocks. These come up on ebay and were the Taigs of their day. Most of the examples in the UK on ebay do not look as if they have had much use as they were often bought by model makers or clock folk. When I was in the market looking for a bigger lathe I wanted to see what the Unimat was worth and since most of them go for just over £100 I decided to keep it as it is very handy for the odd bit of machining and the milling mast works very well. These look like toys with their alli cast base and their twin rods used as a bed but they work well and the accuracy of the collets and other bits are good.

From a model making perspective there are numerous accesories including a fret saw/jigsaw attachement which cuts brass sheet a treat! It looks from your cartouche as if you are into high class detail model making and would have use for the mill and fret saw capabilities.

As a side issue my wife will tolerate the Unimat on the kitchen table but the 7x12 and the X2 mill are garage only toys!

Have fun and enjoy you new machine take your time and chose the right one for you as there are so many available.

Regards

Pat

[tonphil1960]

I looked yesterday after you suggested it. they are a little too high in price for me. i'd hate to buy used as i have had bad experiences with used things. I think the Taig is the machine for me. Of course I am getting all different advice but from what i see the Taig is the better machine for the buck. no big rush have to scrape together the cash first anyway.

Thanks Tony