Help with adjusting LMS 5200 lathe

[Ckormann]

I had the very same lathe for a year or so. I couldn't take it anymore and bought a full size lathe. It was very expensive for something that really wasn't much use. I try to steer anyone away from jacking with mini type machines as it's just a waste of time and money. Spend your money on something that weighs at least 1200 lbs. It was a costly but valuable learning experience for me.

I agree with you and I would love to have bought a much larger lathe, but I just don't have the space, and possibly not the budget. Purchasing a nice lathe like that is a bit of tossing pearls before swine; my skill level does not yet justify that type of a purchase. As it is, I have tuned the lathe to the point where it leaves a pretty nice finish. The cross slide and compound are tighter than I would like, but I can live with it for now.

Chris

 

[Bob Korves]

I agree with you and I would love to have bought a much larger lathe, but I just don't have the space, and possibly not the budget. Purchasing a nice lathe like that is a bit of tossing pearls before swine; my skill level does not yet justify that type of a purchase. As it is, I have tuned the lathe to the point where it leaves a pretty nice finish. The cross slide and compound are tighter than I would like, but I can live with it for now.

Chris

I can certainly understand the:
-Not enough money, and
-Not enough room
issues, but cannot give you a bye on the:
-Not skillful enough, and
-Not worthy (of good machines and tooling)
Machining is not easy to learn. It takes time, effort, practice, and often help. Hobbling yourself with poor machines and tools will make the learning slower, more frustrating, and more confusing. It will make you less likely to succeed. On the other hand, seasoned machinists know what they are looking for and how to get there. Poor tools and machines can be compensated for if they know how. They can have great success and turn out beautiful and accurate work with poor machines and tooling. Beginners deserve and require decent enough tools to work with to help achieve initial success. Otherwise, they can often fall along the wayside, confused and frustrated. The other thing newcomers really need is mentors, when in a self taught environment with no school, no teacher, no master machinist, no apprentice and journeyman programs. Find someone or even better, multiple ones who can help you with problems. H-M is really useful, and is a real godsend, but we are not physically looking over your shoulder and really seeing what is going on, good, bad, mediocre, and/or dangerous. Self taught newcomers really need that input to put them on a workable and safe learning path to success. Even just some friends who are machinists where you can hang out and watch is very useful, though you will need to sort out and vet the good, bad, efficient, inefficient, safe, and dangerous practices by thought, study, and practice. Hobby machining is often a sport for loners, but it need not be that way, and is a lot more fun with mutual help and camaraderie...

 

[Ken from ontario]

Your LMS 5200 could produce beautiful projects if you know basic turning/milling and fully understand the smaller machines limitations. , and if you look around the HM forums you'll find some the most talented machinist happen to own smaller lathes( due to lack of space or other reasons) , and you'd be amazed at the intricate machining and tuning involved in their projects.
The point is, to own a small lathe/mill does not automatically makes you a total novice and by the same token, owning a bigger /much heavier lathe does not make one a professional /seasoned machinist.

 

[lcrepairs]

I can certainly understand the:
-Not enough money, and
-Not enough room
issues, but cannot give you a bye on the:
-Not skillful enough, and
-Not worthy (of good machines and tooling)
Machining is not easy to learn. It takes time, effort, practice, and often help. Hobbling yourself with poor machines and tools will make the learning slower, more frustrating, and more confusing. It will make you less likely to succeed. On the other hand, seasoned machinists know what they are looking for and how to get there. Poor tools and machines can be compensated for if they know how. They can have great success and turn out beautiful and accurate work with poor machines and tooling. Beginners deserve and require decent enough tools to work with to help achieve initial success. Otherwise, they can often fall along the wayside, confused and frustrated. The other thing newcomers really need is mentors, when in a self taught environment with no school, no teacher, no master machinist, no apprentice and journeyman programs. Find someone or even better, multiple ones who can help you with problems. H-M is really useful, and is a real godsend, but we are not physically looking over your shoulder and really seeing what is going on, good, bad, mediocre, and/or dangerous. Self taught newcomers really need that input to put them on a workable and safe learning path to success. Even just some friends who are machinists where you can hang out and watch is very useful, though you will need to sort out and vet the good, bad, efficient, inefficient, safe, and dangerous practices by thought, study, and practice. Hobby machining is often a sport for loners, but it need not be that way, and is a lot more fun with mutual help and camaraderie...

Very True, these are the things I learned, if you can run a mini Lathe (which is extremely difficult) you can run a larger lathe very easily. I couldn't believe how easy it was after fighting that little 5200 for about 1 year. I'm not knocking what others do, I'm just stating how I learned the hard way and don't want others to fall into the trap of thinking the mini lathe is the way to go. My Grizzly G0776 isn't very big and don't take up all that much room. I just measured it at 2ft X 6ft footprint. It works great. I've owned it now for 1 yr 4mo.