lathe

[Tomme boy]

I might get a little lathe to play with. All the small mini's are made by the same company in China. But the accessories they come with and the motor spec seems to be the big difference between them. Grizzly has a nice 7x14 that comes with a steady rest, quick lock tail rest and a 3/4 hp motor and a digital read out for speed.

it has been 15 years since I last used one. I am sure it will be a hard learning experience again. Last time I had a 35 year tool room machinist standing over my shoulder so I would not mess up his lathe. I am tired of having to pay someone for things I know I could make myself.

I was cruising facebook and craigslist and I might as well buy a new china lathe for what they want for stuff that is absolute junk and is missing about half the stuff to even to use it.

Or should I go with the cheaper Harbor Freight version? If I go the Grizzly I will drive down to the store in Springfield and pick it up. The old lady has relatives in Branson so that would be and easy place to stay a day or two. I guess they have scratch and dent models for cheap on the floor. I would be ok with that too.

 

[Bret4207]

The world is your oyster these days as far as stuff for smaller lathes. Places like "Little Machine Shop .com" have all sorts of nifty gee-gaws, gadgets and whatchamacallit's for the small lathes. Have at it and have fun.

 

[RicinYakima]

I bought a Grizzly small mill/surface grinder combination at their scratch and dent sale15 years ago. It has given great service with not a problem.

 

[Ian]

The harbor freight lathe is half the machine the Grizzly 7x14 is. I did a LOT of research before buying and the Grizzly one got the nod. The 2" extra bed length is a LOT more than you think it might be and the tailstock of the Grizzly is second to none among mini lathes. The motor and drive is very powerful and smooth.


Get all your extra chucks and so forth from Little Machine Shop, they custom make adapters and such and "Chris's Tips" section under the product details tells you what fits what specifically. You will need a 4-jaw chuck, I'd just cut to the chase and get the 5" one from LMS to fit the G0765. A quick change tool post will be your friend.

 

[smokeywolf]

While I'd love to be of help here, my experience is with larger commercial machines. Ian, Brad and a few others have recent hands-on experience with home shop machines that is sure to be of great help.

What I will say is, when it comes to lathe chucks, drill chucks and tool posts & holders, buy the best you can afford. Cry once.

 

[Joshua]

I too am in the planning stages for my home machine shop. I have a lot to do before I make a big purchase on a lathe.

My experience on lathes is limited, but growing. I have only used three lathes, and my run time on them is small. I’ve used a European 13” x 40”, a Monarch 10 EE tool room lathe, and many years ago a Taiwanese 14” x 40”. This doesn’t include all the machine shop welding I’ve done, where we repaired shafts or secured large steam pipe fittings to fixtures for flange face repairs; always a welder, but never a machinist.

Having turned pieces on larger lathes I have concerns about material removal rates on hobby machines. Some midsized machines (9” and 10”) lack the ability to easily cut left hand threads, and can only thread in one direction. And then there is the size of the spindle bore to consider.

But, I am gonna need to maneuver one of these machines into a basement. So size and weight are of great concern also. I’ve been looking very hard at the mid sized machines from Precision Matthews and also at the Grizzly Lathes. I like the idea of buying a machine that comes with an assortment of tooling.

Then there are a bunch of rabbit holes you can fall into. DRO’s, Aloris tool posts or Aloris clones, and variable speed motors.

I’ve gotten to the point where I want to stop buying fixer uppers. I want to buy enough lathe to last me the rest of my life. Yet, also fits into a realistic budget. Sorry, but there is no new Hardinge tool room lathe in my future. I’m gonna try for a 10” import.

But, if I stumble across a used 7” HF for 300 bucks, it’s probably gonna end up in the basement.

As long a 7” still runs you will never have a hard time selling it. Just look at 6” Atlas’s and how much they sell for.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got no lathe right now. I’d love to have a 7”. I just wouldn’t want to try to take .100” roughing cut with one.

I have read that more than a few professional smiths have a 7” lathes set up in their shops for making screws, and other assorted small fitting. It allows them to dedicate their larger lathes to barrel work.

Someday! I have faith that someday I’ll be making chips in my basement; someday.

Josh

 

[Ian]

I'll add "live centers" to the list of buy the best you can afford". I got a cheap MT #2 center and it wobbles on the bearing.

$50 buys a Jacob's brand #2 tailstock chuck in the 1/16" to 1/2" variety from Amazon and mine has been excellent. The chucks that LMS sells are cheap Chinese but are plenty serviceable and are really the only choices for direct-fit to the mini lathes. I'm not sure Aloris makes a 1/2 or 1/3 scale QCTP but if they do it would likely be $5-600. I like the steel Chinese one from LMS which can be had in a type that direct-fits the cross slide of the G0765.

If you make a spider nut for the outboard side of the headstock you can do some barrel work (through hole is only 7/8"). If you make an inboard spider and use some workarounds for fixturing and driving the barrel you can do work on larger barrels.

 

[Ian]

If a nice 10x40 PM gunsmithing lathe is within your reach, by all means go for it. You will rarely wish you had a smaller one but with a mini you will often wish it was bigger.

The thing about a mini is if you buy the right one, you can do a surprising amount of gunsmithing work and make virtually anything the reloading room could ever need that can be made on a lathe. I use mine for some large-batch brass prep operations too. And I can carry it down a flight of stairs under my arm with some effort. And it only set me back a grand with some basic tooling so I could quit dreaming and get on with making stuff.

 

[dannyd]

This is the one I'm looking

https://www.sherline.com/product/4400c4410c-package/

 

[Brad]

Josh, my lathe is a PM1236. Only thing I might do different today is look at the Taiwan made version.

My mill is a PM833T and I am very pleased with it.

 

[Cherokee]

Years ago, I bought the HF china machine. I would not do that again.

 

[Joshua]

Josh, my lathe is a PM1236. Only thing I might do different today is look at the Taiwan made version.

My mill is a PM833T and I am very pleased with it.

Brad,
Those are some nice machines. A square column/dovetailed milling machine is leaps and bounds beyond what I have. Did you go all out for the power feed and DRO options?

I have an old Rong Fu RF-30 that I need to build a bench for. Bare minimum that machine is gonna need a complete deep cleaning. Also, possibly a complete tear down and a “shim job” to try and align the column/spindle to the table. It is gonna be a big job setting up this mill. And, if I’m honest, it’s a big job that I have procrastinated for too long.

Oh, and the RF-30 came to me with no other tooling except a 3/8” end mill holder that was in the machine. The step-son was selling off his deceased step-dad’s tools. The guy who bought the lathe had scored all the mill tooling. He had convinced the kid that all that R-8 tooling and end mills were intended for the lathe he was purchasing.

I don’t want to go the same route with my lathe purchase, as I did with my mill purchase. I don’t want to refurbish an eighty year old South Bend. I don’t want to find all new tooling to fit a bare bones 1980’s Jet that’s missing a chuck and steady rest. Plug and Play is the plan.

I have promised myself that I won’t buy a lathe until I get the mill up and running.

What’s funny is that one of the biggest distractions that I have is reloading and casting. I’m so glad that I finally over the last two years jumped in and started doing stuff I had been reading about for thirty-five years. But it definitely slowed down setting up a home based machine shop.

Time to get to work.

Josh

 

[Brad]

I did get the DRO and powder feed for X axis. The head isn’t hard to crank up and down at all.

I looked online and everyone said get old American iron. Then a couple guys with experience and knowledge told me that I could get a new a Chinese machine and be using it now or get old American iron and have a project.

I don’t buy old cars for the same reason.

 

[Bret4207]

Having inherited a 6" Atlas and having used it for 50 years or thereabouts now, I can tell you this much on light lathes- NO! It's not anything like the 12, 14 or 16 inch lathes you played with in shop class or at the mill. You don't even think about "hogging off" .100 at a time. You don't even think about carbide if you want a nice finish, at least not any of the carbide tooling I've tried. What it comes down to is mass and stiffness, or rather the lack thereof. The smaller the lathe, the more those tiny vibrations add up. I will admit that I've used my Atlas WAY beyond anything it was ever intended to be used for. I should have at least a 10" lathe and something more like 13-16 would be far more realistic but there is simply no room for such a thing here. Yes, for gun stuff a small lathe will do nicely if you have good sharp tooling and you are patient. Start taking a larger cut than it wants and things go south ASAP. Or try using carbide intended for a much stiffer machine and the same thing happens.

Just remember no matter what you get in a small lathe, it's a relatively frail thing compared to that LeBlonde or Cincinnati back in shop class.

 

[RicinYakima]

I also have a 1940's six-inch Craftsman (Atlas) lathe. 0.010" is a big cut even with sharp tools with a lantern tool post. Since retirement, there is plenty of time to make small cuts, slow feed rate and keep your cutting edge sharp. You can do a lot, just not fast.

 

[Bret4207]

I also have a 1940's six-inch Craftsman (Atlas) lathe. 0.010" is a big cut even with sharp tools with a lantern tool post. Since retirement, there is plenty of time to make small cuts, slow feed rate and keep your cutting edge sharp. You can do a lot, just not fast.

I was turning some adapters from 3/4" soft copper pipe today for an ancient chainsaw grinder I didn't have the proper stones for. Even with a sharp HSS tool I wasn't taking more than .005 at a pass. You just can't push them hard at all. I made some custom oversized 3/4" bolts omce to help deal with some worn holes in a crawler bellhousing to side panel frame. Started out with 7/8" grade 5's and it took a good hour just to get to the nominal OD, which was maybe .775 or so +/-. Cutting the threads with that old change gear system was another couple hours of set up and practice runs on some 3/4" round stock. I suppose I should be grateful it wasn't a left hand thread! I got it done and the fit was perfect, a complete accident I'm sure! You just have to go real slow with the little lathes, but they do get the job done.

 

[RicinYakima]

Made a 44 Special barrel for my Colt New Service from a blank from Green Mountain. Luckily when I got the lathe there was every change gear ever needed. I think I spent about 4 hours turning down to OD, a hour setting up the change gears and another hour threading. This is after I practiced on a piece of brass stock. However, it turned out wonderfully, the best shooting 44 I ever owned. No thread choke nor compressed shoulder and cut the back to 1 1/2 degrees by .438". So the S&W's and Ruger's were sold off to fund other projects.

 

[ShamusSage]

Lathes vary in quality a whole bunch like most things. So many of the Chinese lathes have gritty and rough movements, sloppy screws etc. Very few of the import machines use "inch" lead screws. Don't have as many good options now, but there is a 12/28 variable at PM: https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-1228vf-lb/

You want the 1 1/2" spindle bore and the variable speed is very nice to have especially when your changing things up on small parts a lot. I wish they had that model when I was shopping. Add a DRO and its a very nice well rounded lathe.

The 12/36 lathes are the standard most gun related shops start out with, but the 12/28 is a nice package for about the same money. I have a 12/36 Chinese lathe from PM on a cast stand, its been a very good experience so I got a small gear head mill from PM also. Their service after the sale has been good.

If you want cheaper, just go used. Look around for a clean known branded 13/40, 12/36 or whatever size you want that has parts available. The old American iron is for experienced folks, you really need to know what your buying when shopping the antiques. I finally got sick of messing with the old iron, most of them are really worn or rusted in the wrong spots. The dials are hard to read, but you can add a DRO. I do have equipment from the 1940's and 1950's.

The mini machines are not much use for me, never tried them. But the Harbor Freight mini and some of the small Grizzly machines I saw were really bad. Grizzly sells the better machines also with the associated price, but the QC isn't there from what I've seen. New machines from China haven't been that great lately, a nice clean 10 year old Grizzly 13/40 would probably be better than new sadly.

 

[wquiles]

Josh, my lathe is a PM1236. Only thing I might do different today is look at the Taiwan made version.

Same here. I started with a 7x lathe, then the much heavier 8x, and now I have a PM1236 lathe. Nice lathe, can do great work when the idiot using it pays attention, but I would love to have the Taiwan made version as well

 

[Tomme boy]

Well it looks like grizzly is out of stock. Anyone have experience with LMS lathes or the Microlux? they are both the same machines and are true inch machines. These have a slightly smaller motor than the grizzly.

I was looking at the mx-210v 8x16 machines on ebay. But I just don't think I can trust them. Lots of people like them but i have the luck of having to use warranty on everything I buy it seems. And the support seems to be nil from what I have seen also.