Many come with nylon gears , LMS has steel upgrades for many mini lathes
-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Help me choose a mini lathe
- Thread starter nickg
- Start date
Im not sure if you seen this guy.
He does a ok job with the whole not a machinist experience with a vevor mini lathe
I picked up a used lathe cheap , took a chance. I have learned how to use by fixing it, lol
That said I have some questions for you.
1. What is your Total Entry budget?
Lathe $750 , what if any budget for Tooling and material
2. Work space : Lathes are some what noisy , cutting can produce horrible noises and also some un intentional smells.
My wife cant stand that “oil” smell.
3. Chips be careful chips end up everywhere.
I dont have a recommendation.
I picked up my first lathe cheap 12-20
Lathe mill combo. I could sell the tooling and be way ahead of what I paid.
Its been frustrating getting it usable but really forced me to learn about the machine and use ro make parts to fix it.
I have my share of mishaps and delays.
All and all I am happy so far. Slowly building up tooling that can move forward to better machine.
The mill portion is still a work in process.
Im glad I snagged this lathe cheap less than $200 left a window for tooling and repairs/upgrades.
I have no idea whats what with these inexpensive lathes. IF I where to buy new I would lean heavy towards a company that you can look to for support.
Grizzly , LMS ?
I know nothing about this model but its not much more than your budget
Bench top model at 100 lbs or so.
Ships free to Lowes
Grizzly , LMS ?
I know nothing about this model but its not much more than your budget
Bench top model at 100 lbs or so.
Ships free to Lowes
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1,221
Chip, we've had some frost here in eastern Oregon, but no snow yet. It seems that the motor is the weakest link on these lathes. Whoever put the motor together left one of the start winding wires pinched. It was okay in the beginning, but after a couple times of putting it in reverse it shorted to ground. Managed to fix it but then relay in the start switch chattered. You are right on the circuit. Must had been wired by some colored blind guy that ate his ramen noodles at the same time. Never did figured out the wiring. However, the contacts on both the drum switch and start switch were burnt. So, scrapped the whole thing and rewired it with new switches. Works great now. Still like to have variable speed. Been looking at commercial sewing machine serval motors. But I'll take another look at what you've done. Thanks for the info on the 71 frame.
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2023
- Messages
- 332
That is horribly mislabeled as a 30 x 13.75 or whatever. It's a 7 x 14 (look at model number on the lathe).
As someone pointed out, LMS has the Seig C3 for 600$. If you can absolutely trust their QC process, that's probably the best deal you'll get on a more or less working out of the crate 7" lathe. But I would go with something that has at least an 8" swing, and isn't simply a jacked up 7" lathe.
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2023
- Messages
- 332
So again to the OP, it wouldn't hurt for you to scan CL and FB and other ads for a while, a few months maybe. You never know what you might find real cheap. Many people would scoff at the earlier split bed lathes (getting a lot more scarce these days). But for some classes of work their fine.
You need to give some thought to the types of things you want or need to make. Again for some jobs a worn bed doesn't matter at all, as you'll be working very near the headstock. People have devised the means to regrind their ways, using a contraption of sorts, but this necessitates a lathe bed like a South Bend, certain models, that have 3 out V's, and an inner V and flat. The inner V and flat are only used for tailstock alignment and travel, and therefore should have very little wear. No one is likely to want to get into that so early on in the hobby. But really old worn lathes gotten for a song can still produce a thing or two you might need. Never know what you'll find if you ask around.
You need to give some thought to the types of things you want or need to make. Again for some jobs a worn bed doesn't matter at all, as you'll be working very near the headstock. People have devised the means to regrind their ways, using a contraption of sorts, but this necessitates a lathe bed like a South Bend, certain models, that have 3 out V's, and an inner V and flat. The inner V and flat are only used for tailstock alignment and travel, and therefore should have very little wear. No one is likely to want to get into that so early on in the hobby. But really old worn lathes gotten for a song can still produce a thing or two you might need. Never know what you'll find if you ask around.
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2016
- Messages
- 3,332
I noticed that, I think they are giving the foot print of the lathe as its size. Weird. I don't know why anyone would order a Grizzly machine from Home Depot or Lowes anyway.
Price ? Free shipping , easy of pick up?
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2023
- Messages
- 332
I much prefer buying my lathes from grocery stores. This way you can get it delivered via grub hub 
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2023
- Messages
- 1,237
I notice the OP hasn't responded at all. Did we scare them away, do you think?
Similar threads
