Complete Newbie seeking for help. - Clisby mini machines.

[some8]

Hi all.

I'm an IT engineer and completely newbie to machining. I have metal working and wood working exprience but nothing on lathe or milling machine.

Recently, I'm quite interested making my own models/crafts and interested purchasing mini-lathe/mill for home-crafting.

I have searched googles and yahoo for machines that would fit my need and I was quite interested when I found Clisby products. Mostly because the price it offers seem to fit for a newbie like myself and mostly because I'm located in New Zealand and available for purchase localy. I live in the apartment in downtown so I can't afford any big or a machine generates heavy noise(bigger motor perhaps?), thus, its compact size seems advantageous.

I have searched but yet to find any reviews on these products. Therefore came to this forum to seek for help.

Would you experts could drop me some opinions on this product? I'm not interested in CNC or CNC-fying. I only need a lathe/mill for hobby projects such as miniature models, RC car/boat parts and such.

Cheers.

[H500]

As far as I know, all the mini lathes are built in one or two factories in China, so any reviews you read about the others will apply to your's, other than some minor differences. I own the 7x10 version and it does the job. I'm sure you will be happy with it.

[fyffe555]

I've used a clisby recently, almost bought it. They're not made in china, its an entirely different machine and looks in many ways like a smaller sherline.

The machine I used had the name plate and manual and doc all with 'made in australia'. The capacity is *small* 2.5" swing, about 5" between centers and 0.3" (8mm) spindle bore, the whole thing is less than a foot long! You can get longer beds. It's construction is mostly Aluminum so its lightly built - I'd guess it weighs about 3lbs! There's no compound slide or driven leadscrew, there's only one speed but since the motor is 12V there's probably some means of putting an adjustable speed control on there. There's room to put steppers on the leadscrew and cross slide too. The machine I played with was somewhat modified by the owner but had no graduations on the dials? Need that especially given the size of parts you're working with. The headstock is suprisingly good and I thought about getting one to use as a spindle.

I thought is would be a bit of a toy but for light duty ( soft materials, AL, brass etc) and very small parts it was surprisingly good. No chatter in a 2" AL part. Tricky to get a tool on center but once there worked fine. Cross slide thread a bit coarse given the machine size.

hth

Andrew

[some8]

Thanks for replies. I really appreciate it.

It sounds even more appealing to me now that it would do the job for me. I was looking at the one with longer bed so I can have bit more room if I happen to turn longer object.

Just would like to make sure that, "between centers" judge the length of the object and "swing" means the diameter of the object I can turn, is that correct? So in this case, the product I'm looking at has 2.5inch swing and 8.5inch between center space. Would that mean I could turn the object upto 2.5inch in diameter and 8.5inch in length? I hardly think I would machine that big object though. I'm only looking for machines to make quite tiny parts, such as RC car/boat parts and small models. Oh and mostly Aluminium or Brass. Clisby claims it also can machine stainless. What do you think? Personaly I don't think it would.

Would you suggest independent 4 jaw chuck or 3 jaw self-centering chuck? I have read only one post, that says self-centering made by clisby for their lathe is horrible and often goes off center by itself. But I would like to hear more opinions on that than just one.

Also, what is "spindle bore"? Is it where the chuck installs in?

Any opinions on their mini-milling machine product? I know this question belongs to mini-mill forum, but rather than making another thread, I thought it might be better idea to keep it all in one thread.

Thanks for your time.

cheers.

[fyffe555]

Some8,

I played with the machine for about an hour and so take what I say for what its worth!

Between centers is betwen the chuck and the tailstock, with the tailstock back as far as it would go. Swing is the max diameter of the part you can turn either by the physical limit of bed to chuck center height or the limit of what the machine is actualy capable of turning. Spindle bore is the diameter of the hole that goes through the center of the chuck and the headstock spindle. You can put rod or other material in the chuck and have the excess out the back.

The cutting size limits here are that this machine islight and by lathe standards not ridgid and so will move if you try to load it up with too deep a cut or too hard a material. That means either something will break or at best the finish will not be very good because the toolbit will chatter (move around or vibrate) during the cut. The machine has one speed, and as a part changes diameter the actual speed past the toolbit (cutter) changes with diameter. Since cutting speed is an important part of metal lathe work your finish would change and at worst you need to consider the part size based upon speed of cut and material. This would usually be smaller than the quoted max size. Material hardness plays into this too as does the depth of cut. You're not going to be making deep cuts with this machine, rather lots of small (shallow) cuts to get to where you need to be. Stainless at 2.5" would be a bit too much, unless you had some variable speed control and botled the machine down.

All I can say is that I was turning some Al at around 1" and it was ok. Definitely not up to even 7x10 mini lathe std for rigidity but it worked fine as long as you considered the light weight and build of the machine and for the money I wish I'd bought it. The macine I used had a four jaw chuck that was fine, four jaws need manually centering but its aeasy to do once you get the hang of it. No idea about the the jaw or any problems.

No idea about the milling machine, other than the website seems to show the same headstock used as a mill spindle - Something I've been thinking about using on a cnc mill. Like the lathe, the base and uprights are AL extrusions and the cutting capacities of the mill would be very limited. If you're doing very small stuff in soft materials then it should work ok. It's not going to be able to do 1.8" cuts in steel

Andrew

[some8]

Again, I really appreciate for detailed replies. I couldn't have had better help. Top notch!

I found another lathe from my local dealer and they said it is Procon Technology C1 TL4000 mini-metal lathe. What it seems is that is very similar to 7x10 lathes found at www.mini-lathe.com. It costs about twice more than clisby(US$525 vs US$200) and weighs quite a bit more.(about 25kg) What would you think about this lathe? Would it worth extra cost over clisby? I'm still attracted by Clisby lathe, but if C1 TL4000 lathe can deliver the performance over extra costs, or even more worth than Clisby mini-lathe, I might consider getting it instead.(and obviously delay purchasing Clisby milling machine.)

here is the link of C1 TL4000 lathe I was talking about: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/p8king/tl4000.htm

C3 lathe sounds nicer but it is bit more expensive too. Still a cheap price range for metal lathe but thinking of parts I would machine, I don't think too much of heavy duty is necessary.

Thank you and I couldn't have thought of any better help.

cheers.

[fyffe555]

Glad to help. I always get frustrated when people reply when they don't actually know of the subject or give advice that's blatently wrong or unconsidered. So I keep my trap shut unless I know and appreciate the talented and educated posters in this forum who've helped me out.

I have a 7x14 (micromark) lathe. love it. The 7x10's are the same with minor mods. The proxxon looks to be much the same. Theres a lot on the web about 7x10-14's and some useful advice and plans for using the thing and mods to improve or do specific tasks.. The problem with lathes is that it doesn't matter which one you get, you'll probably want a bigger machine at some time. The larger lathes (7x10 etc) will do steel reliably but still not in 'real lathe' capabilities. I'd be concerned about trying steel or hard stuff or larger swings on the Clisby. If you think you'll use it just for small stuff on soft materials the Clisby would be fine, the larger machine is nice but you have to have it set up on a bench, the clisby you could throw in a briefcase!

here the clisby is about $150, the 7x10's start around $320. It depends on whats available where you live but the 7x10's would probably be better in the long term, they're more rigid, have driven slides, have a compound slide and speed control - usually. Remember you'll probably spend as much on tooling as you will on the machine....

let us know what you get.

Andrew

[Fred in NC]

Taig is just a few dollars more . . .

[some8]

fyffe555

Top notch reply again. I really appreciate it.

I will have to have good thinking for couple of nights. It seems Clisby would be suffice for my use but those extra features on 7x10(C1 TL4000) sounds just better. Well it should for its higher price. :P

I will do some more study in metal working on lathe since I'm really not educated in this area, so after doing bit of study, will go ahead and make a purchase.

I really appreciate your help. You wouldn't know how much I'm relieved.

cheers.

EDIT: Sorry fyffe555. I didn't notice your reply before so I decided to edit to reply to your post. Thanks.

Fred in NC.

Thanks for your reply. But as I stated above, I live in New Zealand and I would like to stick with what's available localy. It would cost me quite bit of money to ship it from states, not to mention the shipment time would be a month long or even longer.

[Celtichawk]

Else you will end up like me

I started with the short lathe bed back when they first came out.
I got lots of accessories and then they came out with the long bed, so I had to get one of those, plus plenty of spare parts. Then they released the mill so of course I got one of those too

After playing with these for a few years and thinking about mods to them. special mandels for the sherline collets etc I finally got a 7x14 chinese lathe and a micro mill, I am still buying accessories, got my eye on a ER32 MT3 collet set for my next addition.

Pretty soon your next house MUST have a shed, number of bedrooms don't matter as long as it has a nice big shed

Today I was still modifying the short bed lathe to fit on my micro mill as an indexing adapter for gear cutting using some micro lathe gears from Jaycar as the index wheels. I was even using the Clisby lathe to turn it's own mandel, a bit slow after the 7x14 but turning 19mm steel is possible. My next stage is to CNC everything.

Run, run away, do not turn around and think about these machines ever again, they are totally addictive. Now of course if you have a spare $10k lying around this will set you up nicely with all the accessories you will ever need. Hmm wonder how much a big CNC mill costs, hmm better get a bigger shed hehehe.

[Tim Wiltse]

some8,

Run away from the Clisby as fast as you can. They are SO SO small. I have 7x10 lathe myself thinking it will be way bigger than what I need(I too make RC parts). I quickly realized there was going to be alot of things I couldn't make with it even. I saw the Clisby line of machines before I bought my Harbor Freight lathe. I also thought real hard about getting the Clisby. I am so glad I didn't. The extra money the 7x machine costs was money well spent.

Later,
Tim

[ZipSnipe]

Yeah I agree the Clisby are just too darn small, thats somethin you buy for your kid. The Sherlines look nice and they aren,t too big. Good for putting in a office and it all fits on a desk.