Small lathes

[slim_boy_fat]

Any suggestions other than here and ebay?

Keep an eye out on https://homeworkshop.org.uk/ or http://www.lathes.co.uk/page3.html/ , something might crop up if you can wait.

 

[earthman]

Check out Amadeal, I got one of their bench mounted lathes because it had better specs than most at the time, distance between spindle and tail for example.

They are all made in China though, all budget machines, some fettling needed on all I'm sure, I'm still happy with mine.

 

[Kram]

What do you plan to make? Most of my bits are short and I could happily live with a slightly shorter bed - Id much perfer more center height and cross travel for milling and large parts!

Most will only turn half of the swing diameter comfortably.. mine is 10" but above 4" I run out of cross slide travel and have to do some interesting setups. Above 6" OD I"ll need a bigger chuck or hold in a bore or other feature.

Dont buy a 7" thinking you can easily make 4" dia parts!

 

[LandRoverTom]

The Amadeal ones look to be cheaper for similar or better specs than most. They all do look similar so looks like a lot are the typical from the same factory with differnt badges/colours on.

I'm only really looking at small parts - the list at the minute includes adapters for various obsuce fuel line fittings, other hose fittings & adapters/spacers. There are a few bigger bits I wouldn't mind doing. But if push comes to shove I could do bigger bits at work, I'd just need to wait a bit longer than being able to make them there and then.
Certainly nothing that would need miles between centres, more centre height and cross travel would be more benefit to me as well.

I'm also under no illusion that just because it's physically big enough to get 'x' size workpiece in, doesn't mean it's capable of machining it.

 

[mrsbruce]

Is that plastic are noisy or metal ones?.

Metal gear replacements are a lot noisier.

 

[Dr.Al]

Hit the nail on the head there - to give some perspective, I don't have a garage but I do have some space in a shed at my parents farm (a bit bigger than single garage size) but with a Land Rover, Motorbike and other tools already there, space is a premium!
(I'm currently eyeing up my dining room table, it's that bad at the minute...)



Funily enough I had a brief look at the Axminster SC2 last night - my brother is a cabinet maker (and my Grandad was too) so Axminster is a name I've heard of and they rate.
I do see that they all seem to be with plastic gears, I guess this is normal for this size of lathe and not too much to worry about?

Plastic gears are normal for lathes of that size and have no problem transmitting the powers the mini-lathes can handle. They also will break before anything else, which is a good thing. I used mine for about 6 years and there was little sign of wear on the gears.

The Amadeal ones look to be cheaper for similar or better specs than most. They all do look similar so looks like a lot are the typical from the same factory with differnt badges/colours on.

I'm only really looking at small parts - the list at the minute includes adapters for various obsuce fuel line fittings, other hose fittings & adapters/spacers. There are a few bigger bits I wouldn't mind doing. But if push comes to shove I could do bigger bits at work, I'd just need to wait a bit longer than being able to make them there and then.
Certainly nothing that would need miles between centres, more centre height and cross travel would be more benefit to me as well.

I'm also under no illusion that just because it's physically big enough to get 'x' size workpiece in, doesn't mean it's capable of machining it.

A lot of the machines (regardless of whether they're sold by Arc Euro Trade, Axminster or whatever) are from a very small number of factories. I'm not sure which one Amadeal uses, but Axminster, Machine Mart and Arc Euro Trade ones are all Sieg machines. Warco is another Chinese factory but I can't remember which. One good thing about the Sieg machines is they're very common (Little Machine Shop in the US sell them too) and there's loads of information about them online. Arc Euro Trade also do a really good guide on stripping them down and sorting out all the issues that they have when you get them (I followed this SC3 guide for my Axminster SC2, which is just a shorter bed version of the SC3). The Warco ones are a bit rarer so less well documented online.

One thing you'll find with the small lathes like the SC2/SC3 is that the distance between centres is lacking a bit. You might not be thinking of turning long stuff, but remember that the tailstock lives on the bed most of the time and the chuck takes some space. I very rarely turned anything longer than about 100 mm, but kept the tailstock off the bed when it wasn't in use as it just got in the way - the lathes are small enough that everything gets in everything else's way. Something the size of an SC4 wouldn't have that problem.

Although I'm happy with my big Harrison now, it really wasn't long after I got the SC2 that I wished I'd gone for something just a little bit bigger and I suspect that had I gone for an SC4 or something of that size, I wouldn't have felt the need to upgrade for a long time.

 

[Kram]

Warco have a couple of used wm150, tiny thing, 30kg? for £250. 6" swing so it may do parts upto an inch..

With the chinese stuff I believe there are a small number of foundries making the castings, hence they all look the same, but a lot of different places machining and assembly.

Ades workshop on youtube is good to see what a 7"/wm180 lathe can make.

 

[LandRoverTom]

Lots to think about thanks.
I've just spent far too long looking at those videos of the WM180. It seems pretty capable for what I'd be doing so that's a help seeing that those sized lathes could to what I'd be after. Plus getting some practice with them by adapting and impriving them.

I think something the size of the SC4 although nice size wise is probably going to be more than I'd be looking to spend. Yes I'm sure I'd end up spending that in the longer term by getting additional tooling etc. but atleast that would be adding to the collection.

 

[winchman]

The thing with them is if bought used you shouldn't loose any money so really its for free as the bank won't give any interest on your money you might as well have a lathe

 

[God mode restorations]

Get the biggest one you can squeeze in there....

 

[addjunkie]

Get the biggest one you can squeeze in there....

I can garuntee once small lathe arrives at said farm, many many uses will be found for it, then youll need a bigger one.

You can do small stuff on a big lathe, but you can not do big stuff on a small lathe!