Micro Lathe

I don't think I'd buy it. I think it's made in China. Randy

Well, that's certainly not enough to put me off, for a beginner's lathe. Your suggestions for alternatives?

That's a 5x10 and a fairly new product.

The Chinese 7x12 or 7x14 made by Seig is used by a lot of hobbyists. There are a lot of places to learn more about it.

See

for a store that provides accessories and support.

There is a Yahoo group dedicated to that series at

- Bob Headrick

On 11 Sep 2007 22:14:04 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Maxwell Lol quickly quoth:

also has lots of info for the 7x10/12/14 mini-lathes and mini-mills.

-- The only place you will be accepted is the place you make for yourself. -- Holly Lisle, Fire In The Mist, 1992

The Seig sold by Harbor Freight, Cummins Tool, Grizzly, ect. Power feed and threading, loads of accessories, and tons of support- both parts and moral- from littlemachineshop.com. I have one and have zero complaints.

-Carl

One thing to consider is that you aren't just buying the lathe, you're going to need tooling. Don't know where you're going to find a 4 jaw chuck, faceplate or collet set for that one, for instance. You can probably adapt Sherline or Taig stuff to it, but it's always a pain.

Didn't see a price on that page, either.

With the chink 7x lathes, you have support from a number of different companies,

has all the parts for them and a whole raft of accessories. A 7x10 can be had from HF for as littlle as $220-250 with sale and coupon prices, sign up online for them. Wait for the sale and use the 50% off coupon. Buy from a store and save shipping, also you have a ready outlet to take the thing back, if needed.

These chink lathes are crapshoots, you may get one that plays right out of the crate, another may need some tweaking, just a head's up. Pay more from a different vendor, you may get a product with better Q.C. Lots of sites out there on care and feeding. The design is more like a larger lathe writ small, the spindle has a #3 Morse taper, for instance, most of the competition is like a #0 or #1. You want a big spindle hole and a large spindle, too. You don't need flex in the spindle.

The 7x is about the largest one currently made that you can sling onto a shelf after you're done.

There's a chink 8" lathe out there, too, wasn't too impressed with its looks in the store. Don't know if 7x parts and tooling swap or not. If not, you'd have the same problems with tooling as the the little one you dug up. Costs more, too.

Stan

Well, I guess I'm the only one who thought this was funny......I thought this was SPAM and since the OP hasn't returned I am still not convinced otherwise. Randy

For some reason I can't find a single listing on those sites for "seig" or "sieg". I found what looks like the manufacturer's site, but no retail source.

It's the "7 X 12" lathe that Harbor Freight, Cummins Tool, Grizzly, ect. sells. There are minor differences between them so shop carefully- I bought the Cummins because A) at the time, there was no other nearby retailer and I wanted to inspect the one I was buying, B) the cost was lower than Harbor Freight or Grizzly (no shipping charge either) and C) it came with lots of useful goodies like a steady rest, an OK QC toolpost, live and dead centers, drill chuck, and a decent 3 jaw chuck. I found out later that the Cummins variant accepts a four jaw chuck without modification- some don't and require the mounting flange to be drilled. I like it- I've cranked out a ton of work on it and never felt that it was too small or didn't have enough power. I like it so much that I bought the companion mini-milling machine. For about $1000 I have enough machining capacity in my basement to keep me off the streets for years.

-Carl

It's "sieg" - my error. Sorry.

Go to

for a comparison table of mini-lathes.

The "top-of-the-line" is the MicroMark 7x14. I bought one of these. The problem (besides the price) is that the warrentee is only

90 days. However, littlemachineshop has all of the spare parts you need. It does go on sale once in a while - Current price $619+$50 shipping.

The 7x14 has some additional features. I think it's the C2 Model 300 instead of the model 200 (see

)

Longer, (hardened?) bed Inch, not metric Metal drive gear 350W motor Level lock tailstock

You can upgrade your 7x10 to a 7x14, using parts from littlemachineshop,com: (looking up prices) Tailstock is $81 Bedway is $90 chip tray $22, compound rest $15 gear $10 headstock casting $35 lead screw $35 Motor controller $150 ` Motor $150 etc.

That's $566 to upgrade the HF/whatever. So if you want the model 300 (exclusive to MicroMark), you might as well buy one from them directly.

That's all we can ask of any machine tool! ;-)

Oh, thanks.

What about the combo machines? Can't they do some things the separate units can't (but maybe with less travel)?

======== If space and/or cost is an important factor consider a lathe with a milling attachment. This converts/adapts your lathe to a horizontal mill.

see

$ for Seig to $ for Tiag.

You will also need an endmill holder or MT collet to fit your lathe spindle. A drill chuck is not a good idea.

see

sets are available you will generally use only the 3/8 and

1/2 and possibly the 1/4. All-thread or a long SHCS w/ washer will do for the drawbar. Holders are easier to change [set screw retains end mill] but have much greater overhang (as do the more expensive ER collet holders). I suggest a #2 or #3 MT collet @ 9.00$ each.

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

The three-in-ones have less capacity a separate lathe-mill-drill press does. You have to plan your work out carefully because changing over from one tool to another is time-consuming. They only make sense if you are very tight on space (I've seen them on race car trailers).

-Carl