New or old small lathe?

Even new machines can be a project before they can be used.

Best Regards Tom.

I would suggest you would be better served with a new import small lathe. Go to

and look at item# 82710. This is a 7x14 lathe with standard american screw theads. ie you get a true 50 thousands on each turn of the cross feed dial. The price is 574.95, less than you will pay for a old beat up Atlas 6 inch lathe. I owned a

7x12 Micromark lathe for two years and was very happy with it. I have since moved up to a 12x36 gearhead. Another site to check out is for opinions on the various 7x10 and 7x12 mini lathes available. Be aware of one strange thing, a 7x10 only has 8 inches between centers! The 7x12 and 7x14s are true 12 and 14 inches between centers. All of these lathes will need some clean up but nothing too bad.

The 109-xxx lathes sold by Sears are NOT Atlas Press Co. built. They were produced by AA Manufacturing.

These lathes are not as sturdy as the lathes produced by Atlas.

If you can find a Sears or Atlas, these are still supported by Clausing.

The Sears number will be 101-xxx. They are 6" swing and 18" between centers. I have one bought new in the 50's. It can produced some fine results, if handled properly.

Leo (pearland, tx)

The main attraction for those AA Products machines is, they're small and don't look very intimidating. So many neophytes are attracted to them because they think a) won't take up much room b) not very powerful c) does not make much noise, d) easy to use.

The first three are certainly true, but for the dyed in the wool metalheads those are deficiencies, not benefits. The last is not really true, a somewhat larger machine is easier to learn on I think.

Also most of the AA machines are fairly old and most have had a tough life. Parts are expensive because they didn't make many, so unless the machine comes with a full set of change gears, for example, it's a bit crippled.

Jim

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That's a Craftsman AA-109, and while they do work, the outside diameter of the spindle is only 9/16 inch, spindly to say the least. I had a couple of them, but I'm not in a hurry to get another one. You might want to check out

they have about the cheapest price on a 7 x 12 that I've seen. It's usable, does well on small work, but limited by it's low speed range, not slow enough. Takes a couple of hours to remove the burrs and the sharp edges, but not a big thing, taking it apart to remove all the grease it's packed in is the easiest way. Not what I'd want for my only machine, but my 12 X 36 Grizzly takes most of the work. It's a good buy for the money.