I may have gone off the deep end on this list of "small" lathes.
In the end I made the criteria bench and table top machines, of no more than 600lbs, so there are a couple of 12 and 13" lathes in there. It also means the South Bend Heavy 10, a fairly popular smaller lathe is not included, because it was not (as far as I could find) ever sold as a bench model, only with an underdrive and cabinet. To me moving a lathe with a cabinet base adds another level of complexity, and is really getting away from my initial idea which was mostly focused on mini-lathes. You can blame Atlas / Sears and their relatively lightweight and popular 12" lathe for the mission creep, I was going to cut it off at 10".
This is also by no means meant to be all encompassing, I tried to leave it to machines that a search of Craigslist or Ebay (or similar) are likely to turn up on a regular basis, not list every lathe that might be out there. There are some great smalI lathes for a hobbyist that were only made in small numbers, but we have to leave some mystery to keep things interesting. I also did not include watch makers lathes, they are small but rather specialized and probably not what a first time lathe buyer is looking for.
I did get far more into the non-USA market lathes, than I had intended, but I found it kind of fascinating. Hopefully also useful to our non-USA members and some probably do turn up in the US from time to time. I also now find myself wanting a Myford 7 or a Danish SR80... The SR80 is not on the list, a little too obscure and I couldn't find enough info to complete the chart. Cool looking little lathe though.
The intent of the list is just to give a person some suggestions once they have an idea of their space, weight and budget constraints. A jumping off point for further research. I did not get into features like back gears, gap beds, the option to add a milling column etc (I probably would have but thankfully ran out of columns).
In all 119 lathes listed.
Data came from a variety of sources. The Lathes UK, and Vintage Machinery sites were invaluable for info on older machines, manufacturers and sales sites provided for most of the detail on the current crop of lathes. At least one member was kind enough to get me some measurements of their lathe. I'm sure there are some errors, but should be pretty close. All prices are in US dollars, even those not sold in the US. Again a jumping off point and using one currency makes comparisons easier.
Uploading two files, the first is a simpler 2 color list, grey and white rows to make it easier to stay in your lane when reading across the list. The second I added a color code, blue for current lathes you can buy new and grey for out of production lathes (they are old so grey
).
It was only after I finished that the history nerd in me realized I had selected the uniform colors of the American Civil War. Considering how contentious the new import vs old iron debate can get perhaps that is appropriate.
I'm also working on a version with metric values but thought I'd get these posted.
Comments, suggestions, criticisms welcome.
