Is this lathe any good.

[Angusdog]

At least that one has metal gears, so many of these mini-lathes use plastic.

I have a mini lathe and it's fine for what I want to do. I bust the plastic gears doing an aggressive intermittent cut (It was really mechanical abuse), but the steel replacement gears from little Machine Shop made a huge difference. There's quite a bit you can do with a mini lathe (as you'll find when reading on the web), like a lot of people I don't have the space or funds for a proper lathe and the mini lathe suits a lot of people.

There is no way I could stop the motor on mine with my hand.

 

[hareng]

There is no way I could stop the motor on mine with my hand.

Most have 300W motors with the exception of one labelling with a 400W motor and no torque. With 3" chuck got more grab, and we all know how easilly you can stop a 1/2hp (370W) hand drill mains powered.
Couldnt even spin polish aluminium 4 1/2" round with wet and dry with one finger.

Mine was brand new, two replacement US boards, still got grease on when got shut of it £230
Had two of everything, bottles, plastic change wheels, QR tool posts, whatever you get brand new in the bag twice over plus metric lead screw unused.

 

[Wedg1e]

You weren't expecting much from it then

To be fair, they are what they are. And sometimes it a good excuse to buy another toy, that *won't* take up much room, yadder yadder yadder.

But it won't be long before the rot sets in, and you want/need a bigger one.
I used one for turning spacers for MTB shocks, made me a lot of money, looked after it and sold it to a guy that reloaded, for more than I paid for it, as I had over time modified it, much of which I now see is done to them by others.

Better than no lathe

Well I had a Boxford AUD as well at the time
I was meaning that the set-up time, tool changing etc. of the CNC wouldn't advantageously offset the time to do the job using the AUD. Unless you have the proper kit and can set it running and walk away/ do something else, it didn't seem that it would gain me anything. I don't tend to make batches of anything, which is of course where it would score.

Now I make do with a Boxford VSL and a Colchester Student - and neither is overworked

 

[Hog-Rider]

I use a Myford S 7.Yes i know its old but you can buy spares any where for it and it don't take up too much room.It does every thing I ask of it,I also have the milling attachments so its always there when i need it.. The make is worth a thought if you need a lathe,

 

[chris-law]

I use a Myford S 7.Yes i know its old but you can buy spares any where for it and it don't take up too much room.It does every thing I ask of it,I also have the milling attachments so its always there when i need it.. The make is worth a thought if you need a lathe,

How do you find the lathe to mill with , id like to do some milling at some point but not sure which direction to go , i have seen a rishton miller that bolts to the lathe but not sure if thats a good idea or not .

 

[BillJ]

Most have 300W motors with the exception of one labelling with a 400W motor and no torque. With 3" chuck got more grab, and we all know how easilly you can stop a 1/2hp (370W) hand drill mains powered.
Couldnt even spin polish aluminium 4 1/2" round with wet and dry with one finger.

Mine was brand new, two replacement US boards, still got grease on when got shut of it £230
Had two of everything, bottles, plastic change wheels, QR tool posts, whatever you get brand new in the bag twice over plus metric lead screw unused.

Perhaps the control boards were current-limiting? Or the variable speed turned way down. My mini-lathe is specced at 550W and there's no way I could stop the chuck by hand at any sort of speed in the low-speed gear. I assume bigger lathes use a fixed-speed motor with selectable gearing to make the full motor torque available all the time. The mini-lathes only have two-speed gears so you rely more on the variable speed drive, which also reduces torque when it reduces speed.

Having said that, mine does what I need and I struggled to find space even for that, never mind anything bigger. It depends what you need to do with it.