Advice on choosing a benchtop lathe

mickri said:
We still don't know what he wants to make with a lathe. Knowing that would really help.

Another vote for the Sheldon.
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Honestly, I don't have any big plans in mind. My desire for a lathe is two fold.

1. I'm an introverted engineer. I don't drink, smoke, fish, bowl, golf or hunt. I have no hobbies outside of the house, no close friends, and other than the wife and 2 grown kids, no other family within 750 miles. My happy place is in my workshop, tinkering around. As mentioned in my intro, I can design just about anything, but when it comes to making stuff, I've been having to dumb down the projects to work with available sized materials and my previously limited machining capabilities. Now, having the new Jet mill/drill and (hopefully soon), a lathe; will greatly expand the complexity and scope of the projects I take on.

2. I acquired most all the tooling (drills, end mills, taps and lathe tools) from my fathers work shop (none of my siblings wanted any of it). I'd estimate retail value of the collection was over $5000. I still haven't had enough time to go through it all. Seemed like an awful waste to have all that stuff and not be able to put it to good use.
 
The Shop Fox M1049 will definitely get you started. Go for it.
 
Start clearing out room in your shop, it doesn’t stop here ;)

John
 
The Shop Fox M1049 is a clone of the venerable Emco/Maier Compact 8 from years past
Good choice
 
I think you made a good choice.

The 9x19" lathes have some short comings, but they are a nice size, affordable, and quite popular. They have been around for several decades with little change, so they must have got something right. As Mark mentioned these were based on the Emco Compact 8, which were also sold by Sears as a Craftsman 8" lathe in the early 80s.

Because they have been around for so long and have sold so well you can find tons of modifications available to address the shortcomings. Quite a few of us on the site have some version of this lathe, I have an early 1990s version sold by Enco.
 
imagineer said:
Honestly, I don't have any big plans in mind. My desire for a lathe is two fold.

1. I'm an introverted engineer. I don't drink, smoke, fish, bowl, golf or hunt. I have no hobbies outside of the house, no close friends, and other than the wife and 2 grown kids, no other family within 750 miles. My happy place is in my workshop, tinkering around. As mentioned in my intro, I can design just about anything, but when it comes to making stuff, I've been having to dumb down the projects to work with available sized materials and my previously limited machining capabilities. Now, having the new Jet mill/drill and (hopefully soon), a lathe; will greatly expand the complexity and scope of the projects I take on.

2. I acquired most all the tooling (drills, end mills, taps and lathe tools) from my fathers work shop (none of my siblings wanted any of it). I'd estimate retail value of the collection was over $5000. I still haven't had enough time to go through it all. Seemed like an awful waste to have all that stuff and not be able to put it to good use.
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I think your reasons are as sound as any, and I wouldn’t feel the least bit bad about not having defined projects in mind before you acquire a machine. Sure, it may simplify a starting point for how big a machine you should look at but even then it’s so difficult to imagine how machine size and project size relate to each other, especially for people just starting out.

A small machine allows a person to get their feet wet, see and feel what it’s all about, and ultimately decide if it’s even something that they want to continue on with. And at the same time, some of the limitations begin the show themselves but now in real time. Maybe you can live with them, maybe you can’t, but at least you can see each one of them first-hand and place a value on it yourself.

For me, I have mostly small machines, and I find I actually don’t really need anything larger for the type of things I fool around with. Sure there are times I look at a nice Standard-Modern or Logan and think how cool it would be to have until I look at my shop and think “ok, now which other machine am I going to have to sacrifice so I can fit the larger lathe in?” Uh-uh, not going to happen. I like all my machines and the variety of choices they give me in how to make something. Having a bigger “this” at the cost of two or three “thats” isn’t worth it. For me, and for the things I do.

I think this hobby we’ve chosen (or are in the process of choosing) is not a one-size-fits-all game. But one thing I do see time in common time and time again is the doors that it opens for people in terms of building, in terms of designing, and in terms of honing skills and taking on challenges. And that seems to happen regardless of the size of machines you have.

Enjoy the new lathe, I’m sure you’ll learn a ton and have a blast doing it!

-frank
 
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