New mini lathe suggestions?

DanF

DanF

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
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I have been vacillating between a forging press or mini lathe as my next shop purchase. After giving it a lot of thought last night as to the use I would get from each machine I have decided that a mini lathe would be a bit more useful to me.
For those of you that have and use mini lathes in your knife, making shops, what works for you, or could work in the $2000 or less range
Thanks!
 
I have a big lathe and had a mini lathe. I gave away the mini lathe because I hardly ever used it. The big lathe is a shop decoration. It does not get used either. Most turned work is done on my small wood lathe or on the milling machine.
I think a combo mini-mill/lathe might be your best option. But, I bet the forging press would get a lot more use.
 
I have a mini lathe (equivalent to about 7x16), it's a typical import machine, but sold by Paulimot.de - they give it German electronics and motor, maybe it has better QC, who knows. So it's one of the nicer chinese mini lathe variants. I think in that respect it will be the equivalent of what e.g. littlemachineshop sells as the HiTorque line.
Generally I often wish the machine was bigger, but even in this size it is useful for various projects. As is generally the case the accessories is what will determine the usefulness - you generally want to end up with a 3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, ideally a collet chuck. You want a quick change tool post, good assortment of HSS blanks for making your tools, some tailstock drill chuck, live center, tapping die holder... You probably know this but the tooling will cost you more than the machine, so adjust your budget accordingly. $2000 is definitely good enough for such a lathe and some starting tools, but I think over time you may spend a lot more.
I would advise against milling on the lathe, unless it's a bigger machine. I did it at some point but it was a huge pain. Mini mill if you don't have it yet will be much better.
 
im lucky as i have both a dedicated lathe and mill...
i use the lathe several times a week...the mill several times a month
i guess it depends on what you need to build ???
nuts to thread onto a fixed blade ????not too hard to do
folding knife parts ??? can be fun to make... Pivot pins, Bushings stop pins etc
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I have a big lathe and had a mini lathe. I gave away the mini lathe because I hardly ever used it. The big lathe is a shop decoration. It does not get used either. Most turned work is done on my small wood lathe or on the milling machine.
I think a combo mini-mill/lathe might be you best option. But, I bet the forging press would get a lot more use.
Click to expand...
I would have already had a press a month or two ago but it chafes a bit to buy a 12 ton that is actually an 9 ton. The 25 ton from a different manufacturer is nice, but I’m not driving 8 hours one way with all the expenses of a two day trip for me to make things easy for him (not to mention the lack of response from emails sent). And, I would only use a press once quarterly whereas I can use a metal lathe almost weekly.

I have a mini mill and that suffices and the combo units never seem to do any one thing well until you get into the big boy unit with a really big price tag.
pafka said:
I have a mini lathe (equivalent to about 7x16), it's a typical import machine, but sold by Paulimot.de - they give it German electronics and motor, maybe it has better QC, who knows. So it's one of the nicer chinese mini lathe variants. I think in that respect it will be the equivalent of what e.g. littlemachineshop sells as the HiTorque line.
Generally I often wish the machine was bigger, but even in this size it is useful for various projects. As is generally the case the accessories is what will determine the usefulness - you generally want to end up with a 3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, ideally a collet chuck. You want a quick change tool post, good assortment of HSS blanks for making your tools, some tailstock drill chuck, live center, tapping die holder... You probably know this but the tooling will cost you more than the machine, so adjust your budget accordingly. $2000 is definitely good enough for such a lathe and some starting tools, but I think over time you may spend a lot more.
I would advise against milling on the lathe, unless it's a bigger machine. I did it at some point but it was a huge pain. Mini mill if you don't have it yet will be much better.
Click to expand...
7x16 would be plenty big, I’m looking at a model slightly bigger that has DRO. I’ll check out little machine shop and see if they have something comparable to that but closer to the 7 x 16 Size.
Pinoy Knife said:
im lucky as i have both a dedicated lathe and mill...
i use the lathe several times a week...the mill several times a month
i guess it depends on what you need to build ???
nuts to thread onto a fixed blade ????not too hard to do
folding knife parts ??? can be fun to make... Pivot pins, Bushings stop pins etc.
Click to expand...
That would be very similar to my needs/uses and I really like dedicated machines for a given purpose. so much so that I have four benchtop drill presses side-by-side so I don’t have to change out bits.
 
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you sound like me !!!! (he he)
My Lathe is a old Atlas 10-12 swing ...i got it from another knife maker who could not be bothered to fix it (it had several issues)
i re built the (Apron) moving part of it ,added a correct motor and pulley set up, replaced the chuck (now have 3 of them..
put a quick change tool set up on it. dialed in in for 1/2 thou in runout.... i will die using this now...
there are lots of Southbend/Atlas/Sears machines out there for the area of your price... im only a phone call away if you want (Help)
 
I found a pic of the same model lathe I worked with a lifetime ago.
From that to a mini lathe today, lol.
IMG_7070.jpeg
 
Don’t do a mini lathe I had a small atlas 6 by something that I glad is gone. You want big and heavy for rigidity. This will give you better parts. Look for something with a quick change gear box so you don’t have to keep changing gears when you learn how awesome power feeding it.

My south bend heavy 10 cost me $2K with collets, tooling, and other stuff.

I would say check Facebook market place in your area. There are always a good number of lathes for sale around me.
 
I really think sourcing tools matters a lot where you live. It's really challenging to find a lathe out here in S.W. Texas.
But if I wanted used arc welding equipment it's a lot easier to find. Not Oxy-acetylene equipment though, that's tough to find.

I makes me wish I lived in MI or WI or OH, where all those big machines are a lot easier to find!
 
eventually I will inherit my dad's old South Bend lathe and Browne and Sharp surface grinder. He left the old Bridgeport J-head up in CT with the old shop many years ago.
For what I do with it, the Sieg C3 is plenty, even used it to fabricate a damascus reverse plug for 1911.
 
Through the past seven or eight years, I have looked all over marketplace for different knife making pieces of tooling and equipment with marketplace showing me no love. Finding all kinds of use South Bend and Atlas lathes right now but don’t have the space to put them.
 
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Dan,
I have a pristine (museum grade)1886 Star Lathe with all the gears, extra chucks, lots of tooling and holders, etc. It has been converted to motor drive from the earlier Overhead Belt drive. I have it on a rolling base to move it around. If you want to come with a big truck or a flatbed wrecker, I'll give it to you. I have been told it is worth close to $10,000.00
I don't use it, and it takes up precious shop space. It probably weighs 1000 pounds. It took four guys and a flatbed wrecker to move it to my shop. I can get the wrecker, a few guys, and we can load it in a U-Haul or other truck if you need.

If Dan isn't interested, anyone else who wants to come and get it ... let me know.
 
A very generous offer Stacy, and much appreciated. Unfortunately the size and weight would not work for my small space.
 
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