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Advice on purchasing a metal lathe...
I have been toying with the idea for years of purchasing my own metal lathe, which usually involves periods of looking on eBay and CraigsList for a deal, getting frustrated at either the lack of what I want, or even confusion about what I want/need, and then shelving the idea for a few months.
First, a little background...
Well, one again I am interested in purchasing one, but I am still a little confused about what to buy. I suspect that most of what I build could easily be made on a mini-lathe, and then relying on TechShop for the larger toosl when needed. However, in my research online, I find case after case of people who buy a smaller lathe, only to get frustrated with it and sell it (often at a huge loss), to buy a larger lathe.
The big issue to me is that my 'shop' is currently a 2-car garage, so I am a little limited on space (but I don't have to reserve room for a car, so all of it is mine). I already have a few larger tools such as a radial arm saw, table saw, floor mount drill press, benches, grinders, etc, but I have allocated space for two new large tools - a lathe and a mill. I have ready access to 120v outlets, and could drop in a 220v single phase if needed (the junction box for the house is in the garage), but 3-phase would require an external converter, so I am trying to avoid that.
Now on to the real purpose of this post...
I am looking for any advice on lathes to buy, lathes to avoid, pointers to one you know is being sold, etc.
In the last few weeks, I have followed a couple lathes on eBay, including:
SB 14.5" lathe - way bigger than I want/need, but the price seemed very good, and it was reasonably close by (Virgina), but I did not bid.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350368410413&ssPageNa...
SB 10" lathe - also close by (Virgina), reasonable price, but this is one of about 100 SB lathes made in Australia and it seems parts for it are hard to find anywhere in the US.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350370025098&ssPageNa...
Atlas 6" lathe - better size for me, 120v, not close but reasonable shipping charges, and seems like a good lathe
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220626482687&ssPageNa...
Logan 10" lathe - nice lathe, a bit too far for an easy drive
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190407984502&ssPageNa...
So now that you see a couple I have been looking at - any thoughts on any of them, or any others you know about?
And, if you happen to have a smaller lathe that you like, please chime in and offer some opposing views about why I should consider one of them as my first lathe instead - especially considering my limited workspace area.
How and where did TechShop buy their lathes? Were they eBay as well, and if so, did you find them locally or pay for shipping (or did you pick them up), etc?
Basically, help.... ;-)
Thanx,
Rodney
Who's online
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- Erick Saxon
Opinion.....
Hi Rodney,
Actually, you should just buy TechShop memberships and forget about all this home shop talk. (:^) Just kidding.
There are a bunch of good reasons someone would want to have a machine in their personal workshop. Perhaps someone else will chime in here and give their opinion. There are several things to look for and others to avoid. I will be happy to share my opinions with you but there is more to say than I have time for tonight.
Shipping is never a problem. Check out uShip dot com
Scott
Metal Lathe in a home shop
Rodney,
I'm a novice at machining, so take my advice with a couple grains of salt.
For me, the 20 minute drive to TechShop cut into my limited time. I hated having to unchuck a half-finished workpiece because I didn't have time to finish the job. Of course, an experienced machinist could have finished the job much more quickly.
So I took the plunge and purchased a lathe and mill which now sit on a bench in my two-car garage. A portable band saw rounds out my "big" tools. Given the small size of the parts I wanted to make, the limited space in the garage, and the realization that buying the machines is only half of the expense (tooling adds up quickly), I decided that a mini-lathe and mini-mill were the way for me to go. Like you, I figured that I could get to TS if I had larger workpieces.
I've been happy with the lathe. I can turn small (usually OD 1" or less) parts quickly and accurately and get decent finishes. I work only with aluminum, and I haven't tried interrupted cuts or other techniques that may place more stress or introduce a lot of flex on the lathe. I did turn a couple of larger pulleys (2" +) and cut keyways on the lathe with good results, but that would have been a lot easier at TechShop. Parts and tools are readily available, and there's an active user community out there on yahoo groups that offers what I have found to be useful advice.
On the other hand, I wish I had a heavier, more rigid mil. The mini-mill requires shallow cuts and small cutting tools to do accurate work. I often think of how much more quickly a job would go on the Acer at TechShop as I make what seems like an endless series of 0.015" cuts on the mini-mill. But maybe that's the price of convenience.
Scott Lindroth
Lathes and milling machines
I'm not sure if room for the tools or budget is the problem when it comes to mills/lathes. I have the proverbial 10# in the 5# bag in my 2 car garage and still manage to put one car in the 2 car garage. Literally 95% of the wall space is filled and 90% of the floor space, excluding the place to put the car. I'm into woodworking, welding, fabricating, car repair, etc.
Two years ago I got a dovetail column table top mill that weighs about 700#. Sits on a steel stand. Then I found a 14x40 2600# takisawa metal lathe and stuffed that right next to the mill.
My experience says to get the biggest machines you can fit in the space you have. Weight is important with lathes/mills. I have pushed both machines to their limits (and beyond). Just because you can chuck up the piece of steel doesn't mean the machine will be able to reasonably machine it. Or that you want to be anywhere near it when you spin it up in a lathe.
Spinning a 2" thick chunk of steel, 8" in diameter at 500-900RPM is not for the light hearted hobbiest. At the other extreme I have had both machines do 1" cubes or smaller.
You will find that the tooling for both the mill and the lathe will be more expensive than the initial cost of the machine.
Then there are power drives, tool holders, micrometers, verniers, dial indicators, holddown bolts/fixtures, various faceplates/chucks, spin indexers, expensive vises and thousands and thousands of cutting tools to decipher. EBAY, Enco, Travers tool, MSC and a host of other places are my new found tooling sources. there are expensive chucks and cheap chucks for the lathes. Luckily I have an expensive 3 jaw one that came with the lathe. I bought a cheaper 4 jaw to complement it.
Bigger machines typically need 3 phase power so I went through the build a rotary converter learning curve for my lathe (another expense).
$200 here, $500 there, $100 here/there/everywhere. What the heck, its only money.
I consider myself a very competent woodworker with 40+ years of experience. Metal working is a whole new ball game for me. Thousanths of an inch and I don't get along quite yet.
If you live anywhere near northwest Raleigh we could get together for breakfast/lunch and I could bend your ear some more.
Just tell me how to contact you.
Dave