Recommendations for small hobby lathe

If you really need to turn 6 inch diameter parts, a "small" lathe isn't up to the task. Its difficult to turn 6 inch diameter parts on a 6 inch lathe.

My advice is to buy a real lathe ( Clausing, Rockwell, South bend etc) if you have the room. You will eventually end up there anyway. I started with a tiny sherline lathe

and kept moving up in size over the past 8 years.

I have owned seven lathes in 8 years. I currently own three (sherline, myford super 7, rockwell 11x24). If forced to keep only one, I would keep the rockwell. However this is a 1000 lb machine and my not fit your living quarters.

A 12 inch atlas/craftsman is a good starting point, but it cannot compete with an industrial lathe. On the plus side is that it only weighs about

300 lbs and would a lot easier to move and maybe cheaper depending on the condition.

The import 7x12 or 7x20 lathes are useful and very popular too.

chuck

Sounds like you are biased against the 7x12 Asians, but I'd expect this to be the best bang-for-the buck with the conditions you specified. You might also look at the 8x14 variants, such as Lathemaster.com and others sell. Next step up would be the 9-inch old iron. I have a Logan 9x17 that does everything I've needed, and is a quality US machine. Other good choices include Southbend. Avoid the 9x20 Asians unless you find a bargain ( I'd like to get a small metal working lathe to use for my robotics hobby,

Dallas area (Texas).

I'm not personally biased against the imports, I just got the impression that a lot of the Asian imports are not as good quality for the dollar as other sources. If that was a wrong impression, speak up! I'm all ears - that's why I asked. I want to make sure I have some facts to work from before I start spending money. ;)

Several things you might consider before buying anything:

1) Tooling and accessories will cost you a lot more than you expect. It's easy to spend $500 on tooling to set up and run a 9" lathe. 2) The most important part of a lathe is the tool holder. If it's not solid, then nothing else really matters. This is the biggest problem with many small imports. 3) Heavy old lathes are just that, old and heavy. Legendary cast iron tends to lose its magic when it travels up or down a flight of stairs.

One consideration is how *long* the workpiece needs to be at 6" diameter. While most of the above will swing 6" above the bed, check the spec for how large a workpiece it will swing above the cross-slide. This is *always* smaller than the swing above the bed, and sometimes as little as half of that size -- especially on a strong machine.

That sounds good to me.

And what *I* settled on is a 12x24" Clausing, which I can certify does allow turning a 6" diameter workpiece above the cross-slide, as I have done so.

Good Luck, DoN.

I'm in Keller, shop is in Azle. I have a Logan 9x17, and an Atlas 10x36 You are welcome to come look at them and discuss what to look for when shopping.

By the way, there is a 10" older Wards (Logan) lathe on ebay right now.

is located in Fort Worth. Currently at $255 with 4 days to go. If you are interested, I can run look at it for you.

Rex Burkheimer

W.E.Cole wrote:

FWIW (I'm a newbie, so it's not worth much...) I've got a Sherline and I find that it really is very limited in terms of what it can handle. The issues are: (1) when you put a chuck and drill bit into the tailstock, to center-drill a piece, there is very little room left for the piece; (1a) the chuck capacity is 1/4", which is a bit too small for a 1/4" square boring tool to fit, so boring holes is kind of problematic; (2) the diameter that can fit through the spindle is very small, so for almost any workpiece you're limited by the length of the bed; and (3) not being able to thread (without an attachment that costs as much as the lathe did and that is turned by crank rather than by motor) is a bit of a pain.

It's a great little lathe for doing very small work, but when working on anything bigger than about 1.5"D x 3"L I start running into limits. I'm sure a smarter machinist than me would know tricks to get around those limits, to some extent, but for me they're a problem. If I had the space I'd be seriously thinking about something bigger.

Walter,

Get a set of screw machine length drill bits (stub drill bits) for drilling from the Sherline tail stock. Always start drilling with a center drill. The short stub drills work well for small jobs in your drill press or small mill, also.

Don't bore with the tool bit in the tail stock. Put the boring tool bit, on center, in the tool post instead.

For holding work larger than the spindle through hole, reverse the jaws in the Sherline chuck. Also, note the reversed jaws can be used to hold hollow round pieces with the jaws opening out rather than in. Mark the jaws and be sure to always replace them in their original location.

Screw cutting in the Sherline was "designed in" as an afterthought, I'm sure. However, with the Sherline screw cutting attachment one can cut very accurate screws, centered on the spindle. This is a bit awkward, requiring the headstock to be turned with the left hand; however the reward is a screw of "machine quality". For more ordinary work you can do internal tapping with the tap held in the tailstock and turning the work in the headstock by hand. For external threading small 13/16" diameter dies can be held in a die holder in the tailstock - or - started "square" by placing a small plate (parallel) between the die and the flat front of the tailstock. Of course, the spindle is revolved by hand whilst the die and its guide plate are advanced via the tailstock. After starting, the die can be turned with the fingers to complete the cut.

Bob Swinney

Also -- you may be able to get drill bits (including center drills) with a shank to match the taper of your tailstock. I use MT-1 tools in the tailstock of my Compact-5/CNC -- especially when I need a long drill bit for a through hole.

You mean "drill" here, don't you? All boring on a lathe is done from the toolpost -- except for line boring, where the boring bar is run between centers and the workpiece is mounted on the cross-slide.

And -- for larger machines (e.g. my 12x24" Clausing), there are available quick-change holders with a Morse taper socket for this sort of operation. I presume that something similar is available if you have a quick-change toolpost for the Sherline -- it just needs to match the taper in the tailstock -- unless your tailstock is like the one on the Unimat SL-1000 -- an external thread on the ram which matches the spindle thread, so you can put the drill chuck on either end -- or the regular lathe chucks, too.

And -- pick up the 3-jaw chuck for the Taig (which will fit the spindle of the Sherline) and use the two-piece jaws to make a custom jaw for your task. The top jaws for that are aluminum, and easy to machine.

Much better than the afterthought for thread cutting on the above-mentioned Unimat, at least. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.