7x10 Mini Lathe

[Bob Cline]

Has anyone had experience with this type lathe? On sale at Harbor Freight for $400.

Is the size OK for 1/8th stuff. The HF 7x12 is $100 more.

[Bob Cline]

Here's a link to it...

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

[hot ford coupe]

I think that Guido has one of those or was looking into it. I guess as long as you don't over load it, it should adequate.

[Deuces-wild]

Yep! I sure did!! Check out www.mini-lathe.com This site should answer all your questions. The lathe that's pictured on the web page is the same one that Harbor Freight sells... It's just the color that's different.

[DonnyW]

With any tool..I think you are best spending as much as you can afford at the time. Hopefully it will be a life time investment and you may regret later on not getting a more expensive one.

So saying.. I could only afford a 7 x 10 lathe ..a cheap and cheerful chinese model and it serves me well. Not as precision an instrument as a larger, better quality lathe but fine for my needs and it is used a lot.

As someone else said..just dont over load the motor. I tried spinning a small cowl out of sheet aluminium with mine. It required a fair amount of pressure to shape the aluminium and I burned the electrics out. However it is very up to the job of turning brass and aluminium in the normal way

The best advantage of a 7 x 10 lathe is you can lift it and move it from room to room .. great when you dont have a dedicated workshop .. anything larger and it needs a more permanent place .. hope that helps some

[Bob Cline]

Thanks for the info. As a complete novice (at 62) to lathe work, I need all the input I can get. I'm not sure what's involved with "spinning", for instance, and would I have a need to do it.

As I see it, reasonably priced (for me) mini lathes are available in 7x10, 7x12 and 8x14.

For those of you who do 1/8, is 7x10 big enough?

[Deuces-wild]

Hey Bob. Do what I did.... Wait till the 7"X 10" lathe goes on sale for $369.00 Or, you could buy a smaller one (4"X 5") for about $249.00 Part # on that one is 95012. Harbor Freight just came out with this one for the first time.

[DonnyW]

This link will give you the heads up on spinning. Not sure if its applicable to cars or not as I haven't made any. I wish I could do it on my lathe though.

spinning

Also Im not sure how much "precision" you will need for what you want to do but if you intend making working engines etc you want a decent lathe. Generally the smaller variety are not "rigid" enough for very fine tolerances. The cast bases can twist etc. Im not sure if you want to turn your own wheel hubs etc but be aware that the smaller chucks wont hold large diameter rod.

Something else that you may consider is that some lathes come with a "milling" attachment. Mine has it and the whole thing was about the same price as the one you refer to ? To be honest..its useless for milling work but it is great for precision drilling especially small holes in brass. The controllable turning speed of the drill ensures the small bits dont break so easy

It is a difficult choice you face because i was in your position a few years back. Im reluctant to recommend anything because one mans meat van be another man's poison. However I think I would be very wary of the 4 x 5 ..unless it was very small and light fixtures you wanted to make..like the little brass fittings for model boats etc

Good luck with your choice

[Bob Cline]

Hey Bob. Do what I did.... Wait till the 7"X 10" lathe goes on sale for $369.00 Or, you could buy a smaller one (4"X 5") for about $249.00 Part # on that one is 95012. Harbor Freight just came out with this one for the first time.

I saw the 4X5 and it really looks dinky next to even the 7x10. I think that I'll go for the 7x10. If I get in a jam, I have friends with bigger lathes...

[fuzzy]

I bought the 7x14 from micro-mark (most of these machines are chinese in mfg) a couple years ago. If you put the time and a little effort into tightening up the tolerances they work quite well. There are numerous sites on the web for these machines with a lot of upgrades that are simple and easy to do. A great place for tooling, parts etc is Little Machine Shop. I have purchased quite a bit of equipment from them and have been very pleased. Shars is another that has a lot for small machines. I also bought the mill and did the same to it and adapted Herbor Freight electroinc dial calipers to get 3 axis digital readout. Doing the same with the lathe. Feel free to contact me with any questions and I'll see what I can do to answer them.

[Rick]

There is some very valuable chatter going on here guys, thanks. How about posting some tutorials on some of the things you are talking about. Perhaps, when you are doing your next project(s) we could follow along here and learn from what you are doing.

I'm one of those modelers who has been sitting on the fence about whether or not to buy a lathe. Bob, when you make the purchase, (you know you'e going to don't you), start your own tutorial from opening the box to makeing your first part. With input from Donny, DW and others we'll all benefit.

[Tage]

I purchased an Austrian Unimat via E-bay, will do light duty milling also.
I have a tool post that allows me to mount a Dremel tool as well.
I used that combination to hollow out the alternator on the Hemi I have in the Show & Shine.
the only gripe is that the cross slide is 90 degrees only, for tapers, you need to rotate the head stock.

there are two models to consider, the SL1000, and the DB200.
The DB is cast iron, the SL is cast aluminum.

Power feed is an additional purchase.

Wonderful toys.

[Bob Cline]

Thanks for the additional input. My wife doesn't know it yet, but this is going to be my Christmas present.

Don't expect much in the way of tutorials, as I'm in the cellar of the learning curve.

[xken]

Mini Machinery in general

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Based on my experience it is a combination of operator and machine that gets results. I have right now Central Machinery table top Lathe, and Milling machine which were acquired from machine swap meets. I have also had the opportunity to work with Sherline machines.

The major difference is not the intial cost; it is once you learn how to use the machines you then want to buy more toys and tools for them. That my friends is the rub. I cannot find suitable accessories for the Central Products, they sell machines, other places like MicroMark will sell you accessories that may or may not or you may have to shoe-horn to work. I wish I knew what I now know after a few years of self teaching and trial and error; I would have bought their(Sherline's) top of the line bundled package of lathe and mill with all the goodies and accessories. Which in time I will do.(Have a daughter getting married in Oct. in Calif.)

Sherline gentlemen is a one stop shop. They sell the machines and all accessories for their machines and they will all work together. They also have a tremendous book about table top maching that was mentioned above. The biggest decison one would have to consider is the end purpose and size of machine to buy.

I would suggest that you study their web site for the various packages they offer. Look at their operating manuals and instruction manuals. Locate a dealer near you and get a demo. Shop the competition as well. Mostly look for the smoothness and precision of cutting bar stock.

Personally I do very small things and their are people that do things even smaller. Do not equate quality with size; the real issue is how small do you want to machine, for it is at the small end of machining where the precision and smoothness come into play.

Just my two cents! Visit them The Sherline Lathe, Milling Machine and Precision Miniature Machining Page

From a previous thread but still good. I have the 10" machine and would have bought the
14" but it was not available when I bought mine. The extra length is handy if you need to use the tail stock for drilling.

Also read the "Similiar Threads " section below.

[Nortley]

That is a very good point about accessories and further tooling availability. While one can make a lot in this department, there is a lot to be said for the convenience of simply buying a tool. Sherline tools are very good quality, and they do indeed have a lot of accessories available. That is the plus. The minus is that they are light duty and restricted in size of work that can be handled. So if you plan on doing only model - or model sized - work, given plenty of patience one can do a lot of work on a Sherline. If you plan to do a variety of work, and are considering one of the asian imports, I would recommend looking at the Grizzly tools catalog. They have a range of sizes in their machine tools, and also a good selection of tooling and accessories. What really separates Grizzly from the quick buck importers is that their warranty is excellent and they have real after-sale support. This is not to say that buying from Harbor will leave you with an orphan. The parts of a lathe that interface with the world are generally to standard shapes and sizes. For example, a 5/16 tool bit will fit any 5/16 tool holder, and head and tailstock tapers are usually numbered Morse tapers, which will accept tools of that number taper. For such standardized accessories, there are a number of sources, such as Grizzly, MSC, and Enco.