Metal Lathes - miniature / hobby

[Kbar]

Every now and again I have the need to turn down / dress / modify metal parts and pieces. Bushings, sleeves, pipe, etc.

Are the $500 - $700 dollar range lathes by Central Machinery, Grizzly, and others worth the money and do they hold up? Are they capable of getting within .001 of an inch or ???

[8mpg]

They are supposed to be pretty good. There are lots of people who mod them. Check out little machine shop. They do some aftermarket parts as well as sell their China branded one. Lots of great reviews and videos on youtube of these small units.

[bboswell]

tag

[M16]

Just a piece of friendly advice. Don't do it. It's worse than a crack addiction. First you start out with a mini-lathe. Then you "need" a bigger one. Then you "gotta" have a milling machine. Next comes thousands of dollars in tooling. Then you run out of room and need a bigger shop. You'll never be able to look at a piece of metal again without thinking I can make something out of that. You have been warned.

I started with a micro mark mini-lathe and mini-mill. They are really good little machines. If they are within your budget I'd highly recommend them. They are great for turning aluminum and okay with steel if you go slow. I still use them often but have gone on to bigger machines.

https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-7x16-Mini-Lathe

https://www.micromark.com/Milling-Machine-R8-500W

[Goldeneagle]

Just a piece of friendly advice. Don't do it. It's worse than a crack addiction. First you start out with a mini-lathe. Then you "need" a bigger one. Then you "gotta" have a milling machine. Next comes thousands of dollars in tooling. Then you run out of room and need a bigger shop. You'll never be able to look at a piece of metal again without thinking I can make something out of that. You have been warned.

I started with a micro mark mini-lathe and mini-mill. They are really good little machines. If they are within your budget I'd highly recommend them. They are great for turning aluminum and okay with steel if you go slow. I still use them often but have gone on to bigger machines.

https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-7x16-Mini-Lathe

https://www.micromark.com/Milling-Machine-R8-500W

Or worse, you decide to do it for a living.

[arrowsmack324]

Or worse, you decide to do it for a living.

That's the truth!!!!

[8mpg]

I keep my eyes on craigslist for a decent metal lathe. I keep reading online you can find deals such as a Soutbend Heavy10 for $1000-1500. This would probably be the way to go over a mini mill.

[GrapeApe]

I started with the grizzly g0602. I still have it, but it doesnt get used as much since I've upgraded a few times. I loved that little thing. The only part I didn't like was having change gears for threading instead of a quick change gearbox. Other than that, it held a thou all day long and if I was careful, I could hit a couple tenths when the weather was good. I used it for everything from making tools, gun parts, fixing everything under the sun, homemade flashlights, cool christmas and birthday gifts and jeep parts. I'd consider it a great lathe to get started with at a good price. It'll be a new machine that you wont have to put time into refurbishing and with a few little mods, it's extremely capable of fine work.