Need advice on a minii Lathe

Joe0121

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I want to buy a decent mini lathe mostly for making Form 1 Suppressor parts and odds and end around the house. For example I use a Forster Co-AX press and occasionally reloading Dies are made too long and wont bump the shoulder back. Up until now I have sanded material off the bottom of the die with the lath I can make a more precise cut. Also I don't have a place or room for a decent size machine but I can learn to use a lathe on the small machine.

This is what I am looking at since it has the hi torque motor. But could I get away with a cheapo HF lathe and spend the money saved on tooling?
http://littlemachineshop.com/4200

Is there a mini Lath out there with a decent size through hole and/or steady rest. I don't have the money now but I am saving up for it so I'd like to buy in say a year or so.

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This is local and may work for me...
http://columbus.craigslist.org/tls/3921108161.html

Here is more than likely the upper end of both size and cost in fact I really like this one.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4717&category=1271799306
 
I want to buy a decent mini lathe mostly for making Form 1 Suppressor parts and odds and end around the house. For example I use a Forster Co-AX press and occasionally reloading Dies are made too long and wont bump the shoulder back. Up until now I have sanded material off the bottom of the die with the lath I can make a more precise cut. Also I don't have a place or room for a decent size machine but I can learn to use a lathe on the small machine.

This is what I am looking at since it has the hi torque motor. But could I get away with a cheapo HF lathe and spend the money saved on tooling?
http://littlemachineshop.com/4200

Is there a mini Lath out there with a decent size through hole and/or steady rest. I don't have the money now but I am saving up for it so I'd like to buy in say a year or so.

- - - Updated - - -

This is local and may work for me...
http://columbus.craigslist.org/tls/3921108161.html

Here is more than likely the upper end of both size and cost in fact I really like this one.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4717&category=1271799306

I think HF mini's come in two ID sizes. One is 3/4" and the other 7/8". Probably metric since the diameters are fractional sizes. If you can find a good tool-room bench lathe you should be able to repeatly hold tight tolerances. Good hunting
 
I recently went through pretty much the same scenario. I needed a small lathe that I can move myself, yet could do quality work on. I was going to get the LMS 7x14 lathe (I did purchase their solid column mill: good stuff), but wanted more distance between centers. Ended up getting the Micro Mark 7x16 and while it will do for most things, I wouldn't try turning any pistol barrels on it. Maybe it's because I had to fix too many things on this thing. Dunno...

After talking to Chris at LMS, I think the LMS machine would have been the better choice. According to him the MM 7x16 is the same as his high-torque but with a longer bed. But I suspect MM doesn't quality check their stuff like Chris does. What I should have done is buy the 8.5x16 from LMS, but I was trying to save some money.

But after much thinking I decided to go with my original target: a South Bend 8k. It's going to be hard to move this around by myself, but I'll figure it out. Not sure what I'll do with the 7x16. Probably just put it under the bench for now. Maybe Craigs List later.

An expensive lesson I'll try not to repeat.
 
I recently went through pretty much the same scenario. I needed a small lathe that I can move myself, yet could do quality work on. I was going to get the LMS 7x14 lathe (I did purchase their solid column mill: good stuff), but wanted more distance between centers. Ended up getting the Micro Mark 7x16 and while it will do for most things, I wouldn't try turning any pistol barrels on it. Maybe it's because I had to fix too many things on this thing. Dunno...

After talking to Chris at LMS, I think the LMS machine would have been the better choice. According to him the MM 7x16 is the same as his high-torque but with a longer bed. But I suspect MM doesn't quality check their stuff like Chris does. What I should have done is buy the 8.5x16 from LMS, but I was trying to save some money.

But after much thinking I decided to go with my original target: a South Bend 8k. It's going to be hard to move this around by myself, but I'll figure it out. Not sure what I'll do with the 7x16. Probably just put it under the bench for now. Maybe Craigs List later.

An expensive lesson I'll try not to repeat.
If I do buy new it will be the 8.5X16 I listed. 2k is a reasonable budget and it comes with tooling and a stand. I have been eyeing CL here in central ohio for months but it's pretty rare that something useful for me goes on sale and when it does they want more than a new machine.
 
I say to go for the Atlas you posted! Back gears!

Or at least go look- but as far as I know, no back gears on the minilathe- am I correct?
 
I say to go for the Atlas you posted! Back gears!

Or at least go look- but as far as I know, no back gears on the minilathe- am I correct?

I agree with Bernie, as I have found some of those imports to be of inferior quality when you take them apart. Last year I helped repair a HB mini lathe that a waste of money in my opinion. I have also worked on a few Mini Mills that were laughable.

Those old american made machines have been and will be producing chips for years and Atlas seems to have lots of options when it comes to buy repair parts when needed. I would also think if you found a new mini lathe built in Taiwan instead of China I would go for it. If the Chinese machines come with a good warantee and others can vouch for them then I would think you are pretty safe too, but the salesmen at the lathe companies want to sell you their machines that are on special this month, so keep asking here for opinions as we only want to help you and not sell you something.
Rich
 
I agree with Bernie, as I have found some of those imports to be of inferior quality when you take them apart. Last year I helped repair a HB mini lathe that a waste of money in my opinion. I have also worked on a few Mini Mills that were laughable.

Those old american made machines have been and will be producing chips for years and Atlas seems to have lots of options when it comes to buy repair parts when needed. I would also think if you found a new mini lathe built in Taiwan instead of China I would go for it. If the Chinese machines come with a good warantee and others can vouch for them then I would think you are pretty safe too.
Rich
Ill call the guy and see if he still has it. I'll build a new table for it for sure.
 
Why are back gears a good thing?

The back gears are so you can change the of the feeds as when you machine steel you need one feed and cutting aluminum you need another feed. Or cutting threads. You may want to take a class on lathe operation of look on You-Tube. The newer models of lathes have whats called a "Quick Change" and you don't need gears. It is under the head-stock on the left. It is like a manual transmision. Inside the door on one of the CL pictures you will see a chart, that shows you the configuration you will need to set the gears to get different feeds. If all your doing is polishing or an occasional cut a lathe with-out a quick change should serve you. But check and see if he has gears to go with the deal. Rich
 
Backgears allow you to get the spindle speed VERY low and increase the torque, instead of lose torque.

My 618 would go down to 50 rpm or so in backgear. This allows for cutting steels of large diameter, approaching the capacity of the lathe, and maintain a useful depth if cut.

Maintaining a useful depth if cut matters more for metals that work-harden when machined, like stainless. I was able to turn stainless with my 618 when I was very careful a out my speeds and feeds.

I was also able to part steels up to 3 inches when I kept it tuned up, tightened, and aligned.
 
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