Table top lathe recommendations??

[country gent]

A lot of the small mini lathes have a flange attached to the spindle and 3-4 bolts that hold the chuck on with a alignment ring in the flange. but no taper in the spindle, this taper is extremely useful to mount tools and fixtures and is much more accurate than the chuck.

On my minii removing and replacing the chuck takes some indicating and tapping to get it right. The 3 jaw is good for about .005 as it came.

[uscra112]

My SB 10 Heavy has a 5C collet closer, and the only time it comes off is when I mount the 4-jaw for barrel work, so I'm all in favor of having a collet setup for ANY lathe. I've never used the 3-jaw it came with.

The MicroMark 7x16 I've mentioned has an MT3 spindle. Don't know about the others in that class. It also boasts true inch leadscrews.

Little Machine Shop has a 3C closer and collets for MT3 spindles. They also sell an ER chuck with an MT3 shank, and a flange mount version that probably fits their own mini lates, but ???? others. It does bolt on. And they sell MT3 collets, if you're that much of a masochist.

One niggle about my little Unimat Mk.3 desktop lathe is the peculiar 3-jaw chuck that takes 2 tommy-bars to operate. But it is very thin so it doesn't use up much of the available bed length, and the runout is minuscule.

[country gent]

I have one of those style chucks on my wood lathe I believe its a Nova.

My mini lathe is a central machinery from harbor freight 7 x 10. Other than polishing its seldom used much now. I am considering making a plate mount for the diamond plates and converting it to a slow speed lap grinder for honing tools. I may see if the end mill sharpening set up I have can be used on it also.

My big lathe is a Nardinni masconte 14 x 40 D-6 spindle mount with a 20mm-1mm taper in the head stock, #3 morse taper in the tail stock. This machine has the mounting for a tool post on the back of the cross feed also. digital read out, Has a feed shut off on x and y axis thats very handy. set the stops short it shuts off and the last little bit can be removed manually.. I have 5 c collets but no mount for this machine yet. 2 1/4" spindle bore, and bridge in the bed.spindle speeds from 40 - 2500 rpm. currently aloris tooling on it

Next is a 12 x 40 clausing knock off all manual with lever closer collets. This is a nice little machine but dosnt have the speed range of the Nardinni I think top spindle speed is 970 rpm I think its a #4 taper in the spindle and #3 in the tail stock. I have a 4" indicator that mounts on the bed for travel when needed. Basically a nice little basic machine. this one has a D-3 chuck mount. 1 1/2" spindle bore. also aloris tooling on it.

9 x 48 bridgeport end mill kurt 6" vise read out power feed Series 1 head with pulleys.

6 x 12 delta rockwell tool surface grinder.

leeland gifford 1/2" drill press 1 hp motor X Y table both head and table are on dovetails and adjust up and down. Table has a hydraulic jack to raise and lower ( table and X Y table are around 150 lbs). Threaded 1/2" chuck I converted this machine to a 3 pulley drive so plenty of speeds.

American Hole wizard radial arm drill 9" X 3' 5 hp spindle, power feeds, #4 taper in spindle, 20" x 28" universal table 8" vise for it. Just plugged in the holes in the universal table. made a heavy set of clamps and studs for it.

Roll in vertical cut off saw vise upgrade and power feed added. I also mounted a 24" scale along the back of the table so no measure needed to make a precise cut. I also made and fitted an oil mister to it so cuts are lubricated.

The Nardinni and radial arm run of a rotary converter the mill a static converter to get the 3 phase. The radial arm also has a transformer in line to get 440.

I would like to acquire a taper attachment for one of the lathes and possibly a small to med sized shaper and horizontal mill yet. Also a 10" 6 jaw chuck for the Narddinni.

[nuclearcricket]

I have a micro mart lathe I got a number of years ago, at that time it was $600. It was one of the big ones at the time, 7x14. I have added a QC tool post, tapered bearings in the head and just some general tweeks on the gibs and such. I have a 4"4jaw chuck, and ER 40 collet chuck and an ER 25 collet chuck. I have done a lot of work on mine and have made a lot of money with it. Steel over 2" in diameter is not the most fun thing to work with but it still works. The real hard part is parting off stuff that large. That is a long time consuming step to making parts. I have run plastics, steel, brass, aluminum, and stainless on my lathe and it does a nice job on all the projects I have asked it to do. Yes at times I would like a bit larger lathe but I get by with what I have.
For your first lathe, these small ones are hard to beat. You get to learn the basics, and then hone your skills. If you want at some time down the road to move up to a larger lathe then you have the skills to get up and running quickly.
Yes you can do small parts on a big lathe and can't do big things on a small lathe. LIttle things are just a bit easier on a small lathe.
One advantage I have found on the small lathes is the change gears for threading. I have found it very nice to be able to cut odd threads like 30 tpi for some of the lyman reloading stuff and 48 tpi for parts for antique rifle scopes. . My lathe with the ER 40 chuck installed.
Sam

[Rockindaddy]

Watch for trade school auctions. The lathes sell fairly reasonable. You might even get an American made machine and not have to settle for a new made China piece of junk! Table top lathe? Most small lathes can be mounted on a table. The companies would often offer a steel base for their lathes like South Bend. It is nice to have a steel base that was actually a storage cabinet to hold extra chucks, steady rest, tool heads, etc. Lathes made in Taiwan are better than china junk. If you locate a machine check the ways and carriage slop. Check the head for slop. Check if the head bearings are ball, roller, babbit, or bronze. Take inventory of accessories such as a 3-jaw, 4-jaw chuck and a collet set up. Steady rest, tailstock chuck, and tool holders. Look up Aloris tool holders and see how they work. Knowledge is power! Machinery auctions are great. Often times you can go and talk to an employee of a company. He will tell you before the auction what machine is good or what problem may exist with a machine. Don't be afraid of a 3-phase powered machine. Phase converters are easy to build. Good luck finding a machine.

[country gent]

Check the used equipment vendors in your area. Here there is Yoders machine, HGR, Mckeans, and T&S tool they haved a lot of used equipment and also tooling cutters and measuring tools.. While they normally deal in larger machines they also have smaller machines. They will buy out a shop and resell the equipment. Its amazing what these places have not just machines but tooling. Last time I was in yoders they had aloris and dorian tool posts and holders from A size up to D size or bigger. If I make an appointment to see a machine they have it out and wired up I can see it run and more important hear it running. Most hear have a separate area where you can walk thru with the tooling and smaller equipment. Do a search for used machine vendors in your area. Most have websites and you can view inventories. The other plus dealing with these is they normally have the means to load easily. Most machines are top heavy and awkward to move. My big drill tipped the gantries scales at 7500 pounds. WHen we moved itr B&B backed their trailer with the forklift on it in and yoders set the drill on the trailer in front of the lift. Strapped down and on the road in 45 mins.

[uscra112]

Lathes made in Taiwan are better than china junk.

As I posted earlier, this is NOT necessarily so. Chinese makers will (and do) build to a price point, according to the desires of the US importer. Which is why a version from MicroMark will be a better machine than Harbor Freight, even though both machines came from the same factory. Ditto Taiwan.

I wish I hadn't been there when the Pacific Rim destroyed the American machine tool industry, but I was. Don't let me get started.

[Dave H]

I started out with a small lathe to play on soon moved up to a 12x36 Rockwell I then traded it in on a 10 ee Monarch which I still have and never will part with as a larger lathe I have a 18x60 Summit. I have a digital readout on the 10ee and my bridgeport type mill the mill has power feeds and air release drawbar.

[W.R.Buchanan]

My own personal Preference would be a Hardinge HLV Toolroom lathe. The reason why is simple, they actually do what you tell them to do. I have a Hardinge Chucker now that I can do everything but thread on. and it is limited when it comes to doing barrel work. I can do Pistol Barrels but none of my Rifle or Shotgun Barrels will fit thru the spindle. The Hardinge machines are among the best ever made and will do most of what I need to do. But if you are looking for a Gun Smithing Lathe you should be looking at least a 12x36 or 48' machine with a 2" Spindle Hole.

If all you are going to do is turn brass cases and make very small parts a nice Unimat would be a good way to go.

My .02

Randy

[uscra112]

So...I've been chewing on this for a while now, and I think it's time to get into a table top lathe. Uses, for now, would primarily be for brass forming (thinning rims, bases, etc.) but at the same time, I'd like to have something substantial and accurate enough that I could take on small machining projects either for my own use or as a service to others in the future. I don't see barrel work in my future, so don't need a super long bed....I was thinking a 7x12 or 7x14 size machine.

Anyone have experiences...recommendations?

Thanks! Trails...

This was the original post.

[justindad]

Does anybody know much about Taig?

https://taigtools.com/shop/

[ulav8r]

The Taig is a neat, small lathe that would be suitable for modifying brass. I bought a Taig headstock about 12 years ago to make a second op machine in a production process. It does have limitations but for benchtop use in a reloading setup it could be very useful.

A little study at https://www.cartertools.com/ could give you much more information.

[uscra112]

It has the virtue of being American made, but that wide flat dovetail bed design isn't the best for controlling cutting forces, and ultimately the position of the tool tip.

There's a reason why almost all lathes from the beginning of time have relied on the vee-and-flat bed way configuration.

The Taig will do for very light work such as brass modification, and small parts of aluminum or plastic, but not much more.

[trails4u]

Thanks to all for the comments and discussion. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, but leaning toward an 7x14 or 7x16 from littlemachineshop. I think for the foreseeable future either should do everything I need.

[country gent]

The taigs are a nice little machine and if I remember the feed hand wheel is at the end of the bed. While its a smaller dovetail its basically the same as the hardrige speed lathes and they are very accurate machines and have great life. A lot of jewelers use the taigs. I would mount it on a heavy board so when in use it can be clamped down. The Taig with a small digital readout on x and y would be very handy for case mods and small work

[W.R.Buchanan]

Here's a pic of my contribution to the Machine Tool Industry. Yes,,, I designed the Omni-Turn CNC Lathe! Here's a pic of the Prototype machine which is sitting in my shop right now. It used a Hardinge Speed Lathe as the basis, mounted at 75 Degrees for chip and coolant dispersal into a basket underneath. Also a 1 HP DC drive , Air Operated Collet Closer and Parts Catcher, all running off 110 Volt power.. The machine could be used as a Chucker or could be Bar Fed and would run unattended for as long as the bar of material held up. I had one job that I would start a Fresh Bar before lunch, tell it to do X number of repeats (at 5 parts per minute!) go to lunch, and come back 45 min later to watch the last part being made. At $6.25 a minute that was good money!!!

I designed the machine to be a "CNC Brown and Sharp Screw Machine" and I made a lot of money with it. There are about 30-40 of them out there and Carlson's Choke Tubes were originally made on 3 of these machines. As of last year, Carlson still had the machines in house. They sold for $29,995 in 1995, and were the most inexpensive Small CNC Lathes made, that actually worked like they were supposed to.

I should have made about $5Mil on that project based on the number of machines that were sold over the next 5 years (Over 5000) but Omni-Turn made a few changes in the way it was made to avoid any patents I would file, and gave me the finger. Still hate their guts!

Randy

[Alex Johnson]

The Taig uses a small carriage mounted handwheel with a rack and pinion. They also have an option now for a powerfeed option with a leadscrew. Sherline lathes have the handwheels at the end of the bed.I own both of these and they are both very precise machines. I purchased 10 of the Taig lathes with the 5C headstocks last year for my University lab and these are very nice machines also.

[uscra112]

The Taig uses a small carriage mounted handwheel with a rack and pinion.

For the only Z-axis feed? How could you manage any precision along the Z-axis without a screw?

The Taigs look in the catalog like the bed is anodized aluminum. True or false?

[Dave H]

I settled on a Monarch 10EE for most of the work in my shop but I have a Summit 16x60 gap bed and I find I have a good setup ran the shop as a general machine and repair shop for about 20 years

[jdsingleshot]

If I were in the market for a small lathe, I'd strongly consider the Craftsman/Atlas 618. They get a lot of dissing for their small size and need to change the gear train for feeds and threading. But they are pretty rugged, accurate and consistent.

I learned lathe work on my dad's 618. Made lots of things on it and threaded a 26" long Mauser barrel on it. I removed the tailstock and placed the steady rest near the end of the ways. I made an expanding mandrel to tighten in the chamber, chucked the mandrel in a 4-jaw chuck, adjusted so the barrel ran true.

A lathe that just meets your current needs is constantly a barrier to anything that needs a larger lathe. Better to have a lathe that somewhat exceeds what you need.

I now have a Logan 922 and wish it were a little longer.