Hobby Lathe / Milling Machine

[mylo]

Hey all,

Does anybody have any opinions, good, bad, otherwise, on any hobby lathes / milling machines ? I'm doing some research and plan on buying soon. I'm not looking for the cheapest, I'm looking for quality tools. I believe I've asked this before, but now I'm needing this equipment to build the WTC for my VIIc/41.

Thanks,

Mylo

[dono]

Hobby lathe and mill

Hi Mylo,

I have had good luck with Sherline. They are not the cheapest, but they seem to be very good quality. They also sell all the parts and accessories you would ever need. I picked up some good accessories in the after market as well.

Just my two cents.
Don

[aeroengineer1]

I have a Taig lathe,

I have a Taig lathe, and I like it. It is a simple machine with good accuracy, with the ability to hook up up to 1/2hp motor. They are great, simple, and a good price. His shop is about 30 min away from my house. If you are looking for threading features, this is not the machine for you.

Adam

[JWLaRue]

A third choice would be

A third choice would be one of the Seig lathes sold under a number of brand names like MicoMark and Harbor Freight. These are more robust than the Sherline....

Check out http://www.littlemachineshop.com for all kinds of excellent information on lathes.

-Jeff[/url]

[boss subfixer]

Mylo,
Here are a couple more

Mylo,
Here are a couple more places to check out.
Harbor freight tools.

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=lathe&Submit=Go

I've checked out the 9"x20" lathe and it's a pretty good machine and the one I want. There just happens to be a store near by.
The other place is Micro - mark tools.

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.as ... ment&ID=60

These seem to be good as well but no store near by for me to be able to put my hands on one.
Both places offer combination lathe/mills as well. I don't know about micro-mark but Harbor freight offers an extended no questions asked warranty and I was told by an employee that at the end of the warranty I could just bring the machine in and tell them there is something wrong with it and get a brand new one. I don't doubt this because of dealings I've had with them in the past.
Geese Jeff your fast, I'm posting mine anyway
Don

[hampboats]

Check out Grizzley and wholesale tools

I love Micro Mark but before I buy major tools there I always check out Grizzly and Wholesale tools. They sell the same Lathe for much less:
Here is Grizzly's hobby lathe:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/categor ... key=460000
Here is wholesale tools]http://www.wttool.com/product-exec/prod ... able_Lathe[/url]
You will save about $200. I bought mind at Wholesale tools for $200 less than Micro Marks and I use the parts from them. No problems.

[JWLaRue]

I happen to have the

I happen to have the MicroMark 7x14 lathe. This after a lot of head-scratching over which lathe to buy. The bed is two inches longer than the other Seig-based machines, it has Imperial (inch) feed screws, and a LED readout for the digitally-controlled speed controller. This is a good sturdy machine and serves me well.

For the type of work needed to build dive modules, any of these machines will work. Of course the swing-over-center may be a deciding factor depending on how large of a diameter your module needs to be. For example the stock Sherline is 3.5 inches and the MicroMark/Seig is 7.0 inches.

-Jeff

[anonymous]

And don't forget that you

And don't forget that you can add riser blocks to the Taig which raises the centre height to 3.25" so you can turn 6.5" dia.

Davy

[Guest]

You're going to need a

You're going to need a fairly big machine for swinging the sort of stuff you are building.

If you have the space, ex light industrial machines represent very good value for money. I paid £50 ($100) for the Harrison lathe, although that was about 18 years ago. I paid another £10 for a 1 HP single phase motor.

It can swing up to 24" with gap-bed removed, has a norton screw cutting gearbox and power feed on both axis. Nice machine.



A recent purchase is a Dore-Westbury Mk I mill. These mills were sold as a set of machined castings, with the rest of bits left to make by the owner. All the parts were designed to be built using a Myford ML7 lathe or similar and a drill press. The machines represented an affordable way to own a vertical milling machine back in the 1960's and 70's, before the inrush of cheap imported machinery from China.

I paid £100 for this, and it came with a box full of nice bits like a collet chuck, boring head, lots of flycutters and milling bits. These were worth £100 alone! There is a little wear in the leadscrews, but nothing major.



I'm still setting this machine up, and I'm also in the process of converting this machine to CNC, but I will keep it manual as well, as many jobs just don't require CNC.

Andy

[mylo]

Thank you gents,

Andy, Actually,

Thank you gents,

Andy, Actually, I'm only going to be needing the lathe for machining smaller parts. The actual WTC is going to be 6" x 48" Lexan tube.

Mylo

[raalst]

Mylo,

Use the internet

Mylo,

Use the internet and check out the hobbyists websites and forums for some
additional opinions, do's , don'ts and general advice.
I found that
a) it is a hobby in itself
b) good turning is truly an art, the lathe will only enable you to learn it
(over time..)

e.g. http://www.mini-lathe.com/
and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/7x10minilathe/

[mylo]

Ronald,

Couldn't agree more, it's

Ronald,

Couldn't agree more, it's the machinist that creates, not the machine. .....I'm just getting tired of chucking stuff in my drill press and carving away at it with files. ....a true cave man at work. I'm interested in doing fine machining and think it's the next advancement of my model making skill set now that I've tackled this mold making thing.

Mylo

[tommydeen]

I started with a copy

I started with a copy of Joe Martin's great book "Table top Machining"
lots of good info in that book i would say is a must have. the first lathe i bought was a Taig. then i needed a mill.. bought a sherline very nice!!
i would say that sherline has alot more tooling for the lathe/mills than Taig does. both are good. i would stay away from the stuff habor fright has.
a friend of mine had a lathe from habor fright when i was just starting to look for a one and his lathe had alot of play..enough he had to replace the lead screws. well that turned a $100. lathe into a $500. lathe!! thats why i started with a Taig.
Tom

[tmsmalley]

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe/7x10_index.jpg

]http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_mill/Main/mill01.jpg


There is a very good



]


There is a very good website dedicated to use of the Harbor Freight/Grizzly 7 X 10 minilathes and their mills - http://www.mini-lathe.com/

[Guest]

The Chinese stuff is okay.

Usually

The Chinese stuff is okay.

Usually needs a bit of fettling here and there. Backlash in the lead screws can be largely eliminated by modifying the leadscrewnut- put a split into it and a set screw to tighten the nut around the leadscrew, this works very well.

It all depends on the accuracy and nature of the work you will be doing with the machine, but there is an old saying- buy cheap, buy twice.

Andy