Author Topic: Advice on small lathes  (Read 15342 times)

Offline nats

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #30 on: February 12, 2019, 10:10:29 PM »
Hello,
I made a list of what I want in my "Taig kit of dream !"  and will contact peatol to see if it's ok and what are their opinion.
I guess I'll buy the lathe next month (I need to save a little because it'll not be cheap).
I'll let you know :)

Online Kim

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #31 on: February 13, 2019, 12:26:25 AM »
These are exciting times! :)
Make sure and keep us posted.  And show pictures of your new additions!!!
We all like new tools!

Kim

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #32 on: February 13, 2019, 12:32:32 AM »
That is great.i hope the supplier can fulfill your dream machine. Excited for you.

Bill

Offline MJM460

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #33 on: February 13, 2019, 11:04:36 AM »
Hi Nats, our local supplier of Sieg machines has metric lead screws on the C2 and SC3 series.  I don’t know if this is something special he orders for sale here, but got to be worth asking.

It’s worth saving up to get the best lathe you can afford.  In my experience, over a few years you can easily spend more than the lathe cost on accessories and tooling, even without going overboard, so might as well have as good a lathe as you can get.  It is quite hard to upgrade for most of us, other than total replacement. 

Just my 2 cents worth.

You are in for an exciting time, and we are all interested to see how you go.

MJM460

The more I learn, the more I find that I still have to learn!

Offline nats

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #34 on: February 14, 2019, 04:13:24 PM »
Hello,
While digging on the internet I found that: https://www.leboncoin.fr/vi/1567266474.htm/
I'm wondering what it worth, the price is low and it seems in good shape, but I red that unimat 4 is a low quality copy of unimat 3...
The price is tempting...

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #35 on: February 14, 2019, 04:35:14 PM »
For what it's worth, I would stay with one of the known brands, be it Taig, Sherline, or Seig, mainly for the availability of accessories which will be needed as already noted. Make the decision based on capabilities and what you desire to do with it and not on price alone. All of the brands mentioned are what I would call moderate for getting started. But again I would stay with one that can grow with you as your skills and needs develop.

Bill

Offline Roger B

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #36 on: February 14, 2019, 05:40:18 PM »
That doesn't look too bad. From the picture the bed looks ok and there is some tooling to get you started. For that price you could always sell it on later if you find the need to upgrade.
Best regards

Roger

Offline Florian Eberhard

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #37 on: February 15, 2019, 01:53:27 PM »
. For that price you could always sell it on later if you find the need to upgrade.
Just what I was going to say. Also, you will get a feel for what you need and you didn't spend lots of money to get there if you buy this one.

Florian

Offline Flyboy Jim

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #38 on: February 15, 2019, 05:04:52 PM »
For what it's worth, I would stay with one of the known brands, be it Taig, Sherline, or Seig, mainly for the availability of accessories which will be needed as already noted. Make the decision based on capabilities and what you desire to do with it and not on price alone. All of the brands mentioned are what I would call moderate for getting started. But again I would stay with one that can grow with you as your skills and needs develop.

Bill

I concur with Bill.

As you can see there's different opinions on how to approach this. To reinforce what Bill said, I'd urge you to spend some time defining the sort of projects you'd like accomplish with a lathe (and hopefully a mill). That will help define the sort of accessories you'll need and you can evaluate your lathe and mill needs based on that. What I tend to do with purchases like this is start from the end of "money is no object" and work backwards. This lets you then learn what the capabilities of "top of the line" equipment are and then can evaluate what of those capabilities you want and need. This will let you evaluate if the lower priced equipment will be able to do the operations that you want to do.

OH yeah............one last bit of input.............when looking at prices I've discovered that if you say the number (price) real fast it's easier to swallow!  :ROFL:

Jim
Sherline 4400 Lathe
Sherline 5400 Mill
"You can do small things on big machines, but you can do small things on small machines".

Offline steamer

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #39 on: February 15, 2019, 05:16:41 PM »
For what it's worth, I would stay with one of the known brands, be it Taig, Sherline, or Seig, mainly for the availability of accessories which will be needed as already noted. Make the decision based on capabilities and what you desire to do with it and not on price alone. All of the brands mentioned are what I would call moderate for getting started. But again I would stay with one that can grow with you as your skills and needs develop.

Bill

What Bill said   The Taig and Sherlines lif cared for well, rarely sell for a loss, so the risk is low
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline Neil-Lickfold

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #40 on: February 15, 2019, 07:56:07 PM »
The biggest issue I have seen with the Taig type lathes, is the roundness of the bearing assembly on the small lathes.
At best they are not as good as they could be, the one I saw had a roundness error of about 0.008mm  which really is quite a lot.
The new bearing set it was about 0.006mm . Still not that great really. The problem is, a precision set of spindle bearings cost nearly as much as the base machine does. A real catch 22 for sure. For a lot of people, the 6um roundness is not an issue to them. It would just drive  me nuts . That is why so many people need to make laps or other bore or shaft correcting measures, is to compensate for poor bearings.The rest of the Taig and Sherline gear is actually quite reasonable stuff. Easy to adjust and set up and you can take small cuts with quite good control. Sherline make some really nice accessories and great little 4 jaw chucks and small rotary tables, and indexing heads.  The taig type systems are used as the basis for a lot of cue making lathes. I made my own spindle pack for a cue lathe. Used some taper roller bearings in one headstock, and was not happy with the roundness of it. So made another and used good angular contact bearings in that one. It is not perfect but is within 0.003mm for roundness. I replaced the timken rollers and put angular contacts in the spare spindle. Now I have a long bed lathe with 2 work heads. 
Anyway, buy the machine with the biggest through spindle bore hole you can afford. If you can only afford 1 chuck with it, get the 4 jaw 1st. Some 4jaw chucks come with a set of T slots on the face, and can double up as a faceplate as well. The T slots are actually for adding balancing material for odd off centre turning.
Any lathe is always better than no lathe.  Thread cutting , although is a nice to have , is not always totally necessary. Good taps and dies are in my view the cheapest they have ever been, and most are of very good quality.  Sherline and others make really great tap and die holding attachments as well. These allow you to hold by hand the tap or die, as it feeds in. When it gets to depth,just let it go and it stops feeding and will rotate with the workpiece.
As for the power needed, it just determines the volume or metal removal rate. Drilling 4340 for example is not easy on a low powered spindle.  Something with 500w to 750w will do a hang of a lot with sharp tools. The ability to run it in reverse is also extremely handy. If you buy a lathe with thread cutting ability, adding a VFD, Variable frequency drive, has just so many advantages, especially when thread cutting.
Often slide ways can be adjusted etc , so in my view the headstock spindle assembly is the most important part to look at .
Neil

Offline steamer

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #41 on: February 15, 2019, 11:56:41 PM »
OK    enough...

Listen everyone.    This post should be about helping a new person get into this hobby, to get started...Not a dissertation on high end machine  tool design and construction.

A new person to this hobby has the unenviable task of sorting the real from the esoteric.   That's not fair.  Unfortunately...its reality.   

People are not taught the basics of machining anymore.   As a person with no experience, you don't even know what you don't know!!  How do you choose?

Well  Listen....it's not that hard.   I'll Show what can be done with the tools that are affordable, and available, and don't require a masters degree in machine tool design and three decades of experience

The Sherline and the Taig have and will continue to be great lathes to get started with.    Many wonderful engines have been made with both.  Many of those engines can be found here on the pages of this forum.

Are they a Schaublin 70 hand scraped by the trolls of the black forest?   NO!    That' doesn't matter!

What matters is learning to use the tool!  Case in point the following I present as exhibits of proof to my argument.   

Bill Lindsay's Briggs and Stratton  in 1/2 scale done nearly exclusively on his Sherlines    Yes it does run quite nicely   There's a great video of it running on the front page

 http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,350.msg2247.html#msg2247

Bill Lindsay's  "Tiny" Engine... done on his Sherline and Cowells   It's a little thing!!!

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,6908.0.html

The Taig and Sherline work just fine, hold their value, and have parts availability and frankly are very affordable.

You need a Headstock for either?   Call and it's be shipped ....Over night if you like!.    Try that with a Southbend, Lorch, Myford, Logan, Monarch,.......don't bother   it's not happening.

If you decide to get into this hobby, they're a great jump off point.   You can have a full machine shop, and have money left over for the books you SHOULD have to further your education.

LIKE

https://www.amazon.com/Tabletop-Machining-Joe-Martin/dp/0966543300/ref=asc_df_0966543300/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312021262032&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6581675120559184749&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001782&hvtargid=pla-584692406815&psc=1

And the "Good Book" itself

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=machinery%27s+handbook&i=stripbooks&crid=3M4FNPO7HP66T&sprefix=Machinery%2Cstripbooks%2C132&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9


If you grow with the hobby, at some point, you will decide you want bigger, badder, more power super duper assembled by the "Chief Wizard"at the Voldemont Lathe works!!!!....GREAT!    by then you'll know enough to know what you want to do with the hobby, and what you will need.

The Flip side of this argument, is you decide that you DON"T want to pursue this hobby, and you'll sell the equipment.    the Sherline and the Taig hold their value well...and there for, you have very little to loose.

Ive not used the Seig lathes.    I can't speak to it.    So I won't.  No disrespect.

Listen  Nats    this is a very rewarding hobby.   It will try your patience, it will challenge you to be better!  It will teach you new skills and abilities that you never thought you would every know about,  its so cool when you finish the last part, and all of a sudden that pile of parts starts!..and Runs...   It's hard to put words on that.  but it's satisfying I can tell you!

So Lots of advice here.   My biggest piece is invest in your education,    Buy the books.   You won't regret it, regardless of which one you go with..  It will teach you the basics....then...KEEP READING!

Respectfully,

Dave   aka steamer    Global Moderator.....and just another guy who started 35 years ago not knowing much, but was just too stupid to quit.   8)

"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline 10KPete

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #42 on: February 16, 2019, 12:06:01 AM »
Thank you Dave!!!

Listen to the man, he knows.

Pete
Craftsman, Tinkerer, Curious Person.
Retired, finally!
SB 10K lathe, Benchmaster mill. And stuff.

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Advice on small lathes
« Reply #43 on: February 16, 2019, 12:44:19 AM »
Well said Dave. I agree wholeheartedly. Most of us started with lesser equipment and still use it effectively. Heck, I would love to have a factory fresh hardinge or monarch but that ain't happening anytime soon if ever. That said, I have had many years of happy and productive use of what I started with. As much as I love the little Cowells, the sherline in my case is still the go too machine for many things. I feel sure the Taig folks feel much the same.

Bill

Offline steamer

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"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

 

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