Re: Lathe purchase advice sought
- From: stans4@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 08:07:49 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 2, 8:39 pm, spamb...@xxxxxxxxxx (Doug Miller) wrote:
I need a lathe with a little larger capacity than the Sherline that I've been
using for a while, but don't have very much of a budget for buying a
replacement. Several months' worth of patient scanning of local advertising
has not panned out, so it's looking like I'll need to buy new. I'm considering
the following, any of which would be large enough for my needs for the
forseeable future:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=22082712http://www.grizzly.com/products/7-x-12-Mini-Metal-Lathe/G8688http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7X14-MINI-LATHE,8176.htmlhttp://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem..taf?Itemnumber=93212
Any of these that I should *not* be considering? Any others that I *should*
be? Things to be aware of with any of the above? All advice is gratefully
appreciated. *Good* advice will be further appreciated with a cold bottle of
homebrewed porter (if you can come to Indianapolis to get it). TIA...
These are all variations on the same lathe. I have the HF 7x, was on
sale and I had a 50% coupon, so ran me in the neighborhood of $200.
It's had some additions made and a stretch bed kit added to it from
www.littlemachineshop.com. These guys have all parts for the thing,
usually on the shelf, although they run short of some things
sometimes. Check out the accessories. A metric conversion kit is
available, leadscrew, half-nuts and indicator included. Beats trying
to make-do with wacky change-gear clusters. The 7xs have a healthy
spindle, takes a #3 Morse taper, the tailstock is #2. IIRC, the 6"
Atlas uses something like a #1 or #0 taper, spindle is really skinny.
Change gears for the 6" are zinc and they tend to crumble with age.
Downsides:
Some of the early ones would pop the motor control MOSFETs, easy to
fix, parts readily available. Chips would filter into the motor
control box, shielding was needed. You kind of shoot craps with
these, one will be great, another will need a lot of work. If you buy
from the HF stores, they will take them back for exchange. The motor
control on mine produces so much EMI that the UPS was complaining on
the computer. Had to put a filter on the lathe.
I've been satisfied with mine, it's about the largest lathe you can
pick up and sling back on a shelf, if that matters. I run mine on top
of a Workmate, can actually be run off a car battery with an
inverter. Back-country machining, anyone? There's a relatively new
book out on just the 7x mini-lathes, British, Amazon has it.
Stan
.
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