# DECIDED ON A 7X14



## riversidedan (Apr 18, 2021)

No doubt thiers a jillion mini lathes out thier good and bad and cant rack my brain anymore so decided  a 7x14 would fit my needs.
I wont talk price cuzz at this point doesnt matter but something under 1K would prolly work for my applications.

Everyone sez bigger is better but not in my case, so need to stick to something in the bench top category.  main concern now is power, bigger tool selection and other minor things I wont list...... My GO 4x6 micro has been great for learning and doing smaller  projects but have diffrent things in mind now.  and will be doing mostly aluminum projects..
So looking for suggestions re asian or U.S. 7x14 lathes.


----------



## Aukai (Apr 18, 2021)

I'm assuming you have researched this one?


----------



## riversidedan (Apr 18, 2021)

Aukai said:


> I'm assuming you have researched this one?


just seen that last nite


----------



## markba633csi (Apr 18, 2021)

Get the Grizzly, they have decent service and parts
-Mark


----------



## ShagDog (Apr 18, 2021)

riversidedan said:


> ...
> ...
> ...
> So looking for suggestions re asian or U.S. 7x14 lathes.


I think you are stuck with chinese. I am unaware of any U.S. 7x14 mini lathes. Heck, I don't even think there is a Taiwan 7x14 available. Good luck.


----------



## Ken from ontario (Apr 18, 2021)

Is there a big price difference between 7x14 and 7x16? if there's a small difference, I would get the 7x16, it is still the same lathe but with a 2" longer bed which may sound insignificant but you'll appreciate it when dealing with longer workpieces.
Also consider the extended cross slide kit for your lathe.


----------



## homebrewed (Apr 18, 2021)

I bought a 7x12 back when that was the longest available version in its class.  There have been some cases where I wished I had a few inches more, although ingenuity got me through most (but not all) of those.   Right now there is a $120 difference between the Grizzly 7x12 and 7x14, and I think the difference would be worth it.  Griz doesn't seem to stock the 7x16 but Micromark and LMS have 7x16's.  They all have good to very good customer support.  I'm not affiliated with any of these vendors so have no hidden agenda . 

I'd stay away from ebay vendors and the like.  Getting problems corrected can be difficult, plus it's more likely you will get one that needs significant tweaking to function well.  Just going for the lowest priced  lathe could mean you spend less time up front doing machining while you fix the machine itself.  This isn't a truism but I've read horror stories that would make me think twice (or thrice) about buying the cheapest-possible 7X lathe.

On the other hand, having to dive into the innards of your lathe will teach you a lot about it (whether you want to or not .


----------



## Aaron_W (Apr 18, 2021)

Look at the features on the different 7x lathes, the 7x10, 7x12, 7x14 and 7x16 are similar but not identical and there may also be small differences by brand name. Some have 2 speed ranges, others just one but with a motor that has a wider speed range.  Some have a cam locking tail stock instead of needing to use a wrench. These are just two differences I am aware of. Some vendors spec more powerful motors on their version. Look at the tooling included as well, this often accounts for a good portion of cost differences between two "equal" machines. Some also include upgraded parts, like metal gears or an imperial lead screw.

The 7x10 is in reality 7x8, but the rest are pretty close to the stated size.

Quality control seems to be the major drawback on these so a good vendor who will be there if you have issues is worth paying a bit more for. Grizzly and Little Machine Shop both have good reputations. Harbor Frieght has the 7x10 and 7x12, not great quality control, but they are good about exchanges of defective items. Ebay will get you the best price but you are often on your own if there are issues.


----------



## riversidedan (Apr 18, 2021)

thanx for the input guys again alot to study and think about, altho have a pretty good picture of whats going on.


----------



## scrollsawer61 (Apr 18, 2021)

If you can afford it I would look at the 8 x16.  The extra size is very worthwhile.  Good luck with your purchase.  I have
used a 7 x 14 for a number of years and recently got hold of a 8 x 16.  The size difference is fantastic.  Your choice.

Barry
Australia.


----------



## riversidedan (Apr 18, 2021)

thanx but cant figure out why everyone keeps raving about "longer is better" when 14 should serve my purpose, anyway am enjoying the replys


----------



## Aaron_W (Apr 18, 2021)

riversidedan said:


> thanx but cant figure out why everyone keeps raving about "longer is better" when 14 should serve my purpose, anyway am enjoying the replys



Tooling eats up a lot of length if you start to get into drilling, tapping or boring operations. I'm glad I bought the longer 17" Sherline, I've never needed the whole 17", but a few inches of unneeded length are much better than 1" too short. I definitely would have had issues with the shorter 8" model. For the things you seem to be making the 7x12 or 7x14 should be fine regarding length. 

You will notice the price jumps up quite a bit for the 7x16 lathes, that is due more to them being of higher quality than for the extra 2" of bed length. It is a similar situation with the 8x16 lathes which are nearly identical in features to the 7x lathes but at about double the price they leave more budget for building in better quality and tend to come with more tooling.


The other thing you are running into is simply that small lathes are something of a niche item, and most of the posters here do not fit into the small lathe niche so advice tends to lean toward larger.


----------



## mickri (Apr 19, 2021)

Buying the 7x14 is a great decision.  If you later find you need the longer bed length you will have a good reason to buy a bigger lathe.  Or you could buy another bed for the 7x14 and have a fun project mating the two beds together.

All kidding aside.  Buy the lathe that works for you.


----------



## Aukai (Apr 19, 2021)

At the end is about 7 x 14. I did not get that far, yet.


----------



## devils4ever (Apr 19, 2021)

I bought the Micro-Mark MicroLux 7x16 Mini-Lathe because of its longer bed and the fact the leadscrew is imperial, not metric. After many years of use, I converted it to ELS so I can push a button and change feed-rate and between metric and imperial threading.

I like this lathe a lot, but I wish it was bigger and heavier only because it would be more rigid and allow much heavier cuts. I get jealous watching the cuts taken on many YouTube channels!


----------



## mikey (Apr 19, 2021)

devils4ever said:


> I bought the Micro-Mark MicroLux 7x16 Mini-Lathe because of its longer bed and the fact the leadscrew is imperial, not metric. After many years of use, I converted it to ELS so I can push a button and change feed-rate and between metric and imperial threading.
> 
> I like this lathe a lot, but I wish it was bigger and heavier only because it would be more rigid and allow much heavier cuts. I get jealous watching the cuts taken on many YouTube channels!



Just curious. What kind of tooling are you using and what depths of cut are you able to take with them?


----------



## devils4ever (Apr 19, 2021)

I use HSS lathe bits with carbide boring bars and internal threading bits.

Typically, I can't take more than 0.010" (or 0.020" max) on 12L14 or 1018 steel for facing and turning cuts. For threading, I usually start at 0.004" for the first pass or two, then quickly get to 0.002" for the middle passes. After 60-70% of the thread cutting done, I switch to 0.001".


----------



## mikey (Apr 19, 2021)

devils4ever said:


> Typically, I can't take more than 0.010" (or 0.020" max) on 12L14 or 1018 steel for facing and turning cuts.



Wow, something is off. A good HSS tool should be able to take a 0.050" cut on your lathe with ease. Head on over to the model tools thread and post some pics of your tool or start a new thread and we can maybe take a look at your turning tools and see if we can make it better.


----------



## Janderso (Apr 19, 2021)

It’s interesting you can’t find a lathe in this size category from Taiwan. It’s clear, there is a big demand out there.
To be honest, I always thought these lathes were a joke.
Until I saw the quality parts that can be made with them.
I also discovered when I was fiddling around with my little steam engine model, my lathe is too darn big!
Changing chucks to a 10” four jaw vs. one of these little baseball size chucks makes a huge difference.
Yeah, get the lathe that works for your needs.


----------



## devils4ever (Apr 19, 2021)

mikey said:


> Wow, something is off. A good HSS tool should be able to take a 0.050" cut on your lathe with ease. Head on over to the model tools thread and post some pics of your tool or start a new thread and we can maybe take a look at your turning tools and see if we can make it better.


Done. Posted in sticky thread.


----------



## fursphere (Apr 19, 2021)

riversidedan said:


> thanx but cant figure out why everyone keeps raving about "longer is better" when 14 should serve my purpose, anyway am enjoying the replys


Take 14" of bed, add the tail stock, a drill bit chuck, and a drill bit, and you've just eaten up half your length. At best.   Check out these videos if you haven't.   I'm still considering picking up a mini lathe in the future to mess around with.  There are pros and cons with almost any choice, so just going in with eyes wide open is the best approach in my opinion.


----------



## Aaron_W (Apr 19, 2021)

Janderso said:


> It’s interesting you can’t find a lathe in this size category from Taiwan. It’s clear, there is a big demand out there.
> To be honest, I always thought these lathes were a joke.
> Until I saw the quality parts that can be made with them.
> I also discovered when I was fiddling around with my little steam engine model, my lathe is too darn big!
> ...



I get the whole big lathe can make small parts, but a small lathe can't make big parts thing, but you hit on a big reason why small lathes are popular despite their limitations. I'm pretty sure my Sherline lathe including the board it is mounted on weighs less than the 6" chuck on my 11" lathe.

I think the smallest Taiwan lathe is Jet's BDB-919, a modified version of the common 9x20 lathe. The 919 runs about $2800 compared to Grizzly's G4000 (Chinese) 9x20 at about $1500. Assuming a similar increase, a Taiwan made 7x14 would probably run about $1700 maybe? If Proxxon (German) can sell a 3.3x15" lathe for almost $3000 then I could see there being a market for an upscale Taiwan made 7x14 or 16 lathe in the about $2000 price range.


----------



## riversidedan (Apr 25, 2021)

Am sadly letting my grizzly 4x6 micro lathe go to another home thats been a great learning tool but just isnt big enuff for other projects in mind........so am looking for something bigger like the infamous mini lathe and thinking 7x14 would fit the bill but am open to suggestions.

If your familar with my post I like to do small modeling type things with 6061. so dont need anything big. rather a bench type setup. 
Have seen a jillion mini lathes online " that are mostly asian "and kind of have an idea what to look for but am open to suggestions as to what make that "wont break the bank and would like to keep it under $1000.  so again, am looking for "Good and Bad" opinions re mini lathes.   all comments welcome


----------

