Mini Lathe

[Moose_Meat]

Mini Lathe

I’m in the market for one of them new fangled mini lathes.

I was wondering if any of you have one and if there are any I should stay away from.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Hey Moose, I got one of those Wiltons from amazon for $99 including shipping and its a great little lathe. You got to have a good set of chisels though, I like marples and some ones I made.It only has a 14" bed, so hawk handles are out,it'll handle 12" and a 6" swing. :thumbsup:

 

[bob1961]

i'm going to pick one from lee valley tools....ya can get different parts to make it turn metal or wood :v ..............bob

lee valley.....

 

I have been using a Unimat since the early '80s.

Mine has 8" between centers and will swing 6" diameter stock. The stepped jaws are reversable so they will hold stock from 1/32" to 6". It has plenty of power and will spin off .020" at a cut if you go slow and know how to sharpen your cutting bits. It is repeatable and precise enough for me to hold tolerances down to +-.0005"

I must have turned about a thousand .45 compensators on this thing as well as all of the odd jobs on custom pistol barrels, rifle bolts and firing pins. It has bounced around for 25 years and still works as good as new.

My only complaint is that I should have spent the additional couple of hundred $$$ and gotten the next size larger. There were several times when I had to pass up work on 10-12" pistol barrels and the work would have more than paid for the diference in price of the bigger laythe.

Check out Harbor Freight, you get a lot for your money from them. I have been very pleased with my last few equipment purchases from them.

Remember, you can cut wood on a metal laythe but you can not cut metal on a wood laythe.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Watch the speed,I've never seen a lathe that could turn both, but I was wrong one other time! :rotf: Seriously, metal takes a slower speed, and a wood lathe goes about 700 rpm at the slowest. Metal also takes different tooling.Is this one of those "smithy" lathes?

 

[Bob Riegl]

:v I've been using my Unimat since 1967, but have only used it to turn parts for Model RR'ing. :hmm:

 

My speeds are adjustable through 3 stepped pullys and a two speed motor. Goes from about 200-2000 rpm.

I clamp a piece of angle iron in the tool holder when I turn wood or sometimes just use the regular cutting bit.

It's not intended for wood but I use if for the small odd jobs. Turning down plug bayonet handles and small one off things.

You are not going to do anything very big with only 8" between centers.

I would not call it a "smithy laythe". Never heard that term before. It is a piece of precision machine tooling in small form.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Smithy is the brand name,they're like a little machine shop and way out of my budget!

 

[wolfers]

I Have a Jet variable speed mini and I love it. My recommendation is if you can afford one with variable speed it is the way to go. I have made everything from wine stoppers to turned ends for horns. Of couse this is a wood turning lathe and not for metal.

 

[44-henry]

I'm not sure from your post which type of lathe you are referring to. To some people, Mini Lathe implies one of the small lathes designed for wood turnings such as pens and such, to others it is typically referring to the Asian 7x10's and 7x12 metal lathes that are widely available. Since I can't think of too many applications for the wood lathe in gunsmithing, I am assuming you are referring to a metal lathe.

Actually right now you have several options available to you. The Asian 7x10 and 7x12's are widely available for under $500 and most come with a decent assortment of tooling, if you need more, and you will, check out the[url] www.littlemachineshop.com[/url] website for an almost endless assortment of accessories and modifications for these little guys. The lathes are somewhat crude, but they can be refined to a considerable degree and made to perform very nicely, there are many websites available to help you on this project should you choose to go that route. Last year I purchased two of the 7x12 lathes from Cummins for the University that I work at, we needed a small lathe for smaller projects and did not have a lot of money in our budget so they seemed like a good idea. I have since used them extensively in two of the classes that I teach and estimate that more than 60 students have worked on them over the course of the two semesters, they have held up very well.

If you don't want to worry about having to do some modifications you can check out Sherline for their excellent line of American made products. I have one of their short bed metal lathes and it is a very precise machine, but will not handle work as large as the 7x12 lathes will, it is, however, better quality. These lathes start around $600 and again there is numerous tooling available for them.

Both of the above lathes have variable speed motors and would be more than adequate for most small turning tasks, if you wanted to turn muzzleloading pistol barrels I would go with the 7x12 personally. For smaller, more delicate work like screws, pins, and such go with the Sherline.

You might also have some luck checking out Ebay and purchasing an older used lathe such as a 6" Atlas or even perhaps the older Dunlap lathes (not as good as the Atlas) for less than a new lathe. Keep in mind with an older machine that accessories are sometimes hard to find and could get very expensive, do your research before you buy.

Hope this helps.

Alex

 

[ss1]

I have a 7x10 from Harboe freight.The only way it could be better is to be much longer.

 

[Runner]

The Cummins version comes with a four jaw, face plate, and basic cutting tools It is the shortest, but a nice bench top machine anyway. I have the Homier 8x12. Mine is not all that accurate. I need to make a couple of changes and it would be.
Mine has made a lot of stuff in three years and has paid for itself. If you decide to get a mill, do not get anything with a round column despite the ads and the price. The little micro mill and the Mini mill are ok. The Mill Drills are not much good as mills. I have the Big Red, and it is ok if you need to do something simple. It works great for items needing multiple holes drilled because you can move the table and do them all from one setup usually. If you really need a mill, then buy one of the bigger better mills they offer.

 

[jr06]

I opted for the 9 X 20 which comes with faceplate, four jaw, steady rest and follow rest. They go for $700-$800 and I figure when you add up the accesories you get more capacity for not much more money. On the downside, the four jaw is a kind of crude affair that is tricky to use and the minimum speed is 130 RPM which makes threading a challenge.

 

[Moose_Meat]

Thanks I have been looking at few differnt ones, one for Yravers and the other form Harbor Freight cought my eye.

And should have said up front it was mainly for metal.

 

[ss1]

I used my HF to make clock and watch parts. Very accurate, auto feed, var-speed,hi and low range, forward and reverse, and adjusted speed controll down to less than 30rpm. Does good job on small things. They put them on sell . Don't see a lot of use for them on guns, but handy at times.

 

[Runner]

The mini's are around .70 thru the three jaw chuck, and not much bigger thru the spindle. That pretty much leaves most barrel work out. The new 9x19 grizzly says it is 22mm thru the spindle. That couple of hundred extra buys a lot.

 

[davy]

So my question in all this is ... if you wanted to go with doing SOME rifle barrel work ... what size lathe minimum do you need? :hmm: And should you forget the foreign jobs & go only American?:shocked2:

That would figure with my luck, as I have a Harbor Freight just down the street from me! :rotf:

Davy

 

[44-henry]

A lot of this depends on what you are looking to do. If you only want to turn pins, screws, and tumblers for locks and perhaps do a little light milling on small parts than the 7x12's will do you just fine. If you want to do some barrel work than you probably need a bigger lathe, though I know of one person who routinely turns and chambers Thompson Contender barrels on his 7x10 which, at least, says they are still capable for that chore, at least on some pistol barrels.

In our University shop we currently have two Cummins 7x12 mini lathes, and five Grizzley 9x19 lathes. The 9x19 are more robust, but they lack the variable speed motor and tumbler reverse that the minis have. They also don't have a low speed range that makes threading very easy, the minis do. Given my choice for small work I will still use the mini lathes over the 9x19's. When big work beckons, I use neither and promptly walk over to either our 13" Clausing or our 15" Enterprise floor lathes.

Back at home I have an older and very nice 10" Rockwell lathe which handles the bulk of my turning needs. For smaller work I have a shortbed Sherline and also an old 6" Dunlap which hardly ever gets used, the Sherline is a delight for really small delicate jobs that are harder to do on a bigger lathe.

Whatever you buy just make sure you realize that the bulk of the price involved will go to tooling which you never seem to have enough of. Of course you can make much of this yourself, but that also takes time and I for one would rather spend my time building guns.

 

So my question in all this is ... if you wanted to go with doing SOME rifle barrel work ... what size lathe minimum do you need? :hmm: And should you forget the foreign jobs & go only American?:shocked2:

That would figure with my luck, as I have a Harbor Freight just down the street from me! :rotf:

Davy

I don't think any of the mini's are suitable for barrel work, with the exception of turning an octagon pistol barrel to half round half octagon. The thru hole in the head stock is too small for any octagonal rifle barrel.
If you can find one, get a 4 jawed non self centering chuck. The self centering chucks leave a little to be desired when it comes to precise centering, and a 4 jawed chuck is easier for centering your work because you only have to adjust the jaws in pairs. With a 3 jawed chuck, with every adjustment, you have to adjust all three every time.

 

[Runner]

I would think that one of the 19 inch lathes would be much better than the mini's for barrel work, but as has been mentioned, they lack some of the nice little touches the mini's have. The tumbler reverse modification is posted online, so that can be corrected. For threading, you would likely have to build a handwheel and operate the lathe by hand. The all in one machines are a pain to set up for milling, and one job has to be finished before you can do anything else. For a home shop, they are very nice. The biggest advantage is the price. Little Machine shop sells a 14 inch bed conversion kit that will stretch the mini's a little bit, and at least one person out there has used the 14 inch bed joined to the original bed to extend his even more. That isn't really a good idea since they don't have the mass to handle that length.
My drill mill was 260$ on sale at the local HF. Then you add a set of tool holders, a set of mills, a set of reamers, a spin jig, a set of collets for the spin jig, two vises, many drill bits, a drill sharpener, and a clamping set! Same goes for the lathe. The tooling will rapidly add up to more than the cost of the lathe. Doing it again, I would go with the HF short bed and a 9x19 both. Instead, I got an old gap bed southbend 16x60 for the longer stuff. I can turn a short grown man now, but it really needs a much stronger motor than my house current can handle.