these any good Mini Lathe - Brand New 7x14 Machine Plus Accessories

[grandads_shed]

Mini Lathe - Brand New 7x14 Machine Plus Accessories

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Lathe-Brand-New-7x14-Machine-Plus-Accessories_W0QQitemZ260474606091

i have never used a lathe but would like to learn,

or would i be better getting another type for the price.

i know i will have to buy cutters and other bits as time go on,

any idea what is the widest bit of metal i could turn on this?

as for any other questions and answers i will let you post as i think people on here will know what i need to know about,

 

[penfold]

The answer is in the name. This lathe can spin something up to 7" in diameter; that's what the 7 in 7x14 means. The 14 means it can hold work up to 14" long between the spindle(the bit holding the chuck) and the tailstock(the bit on the right)

These lathes are okay, but struggle with large diameters due to low power motors. You need sharp tools to get the best from them. Make sure that whoever you buy from offers reasonable backup. Arceurotrade and Warco have good reputations and stock lathes all but identical to this one.

 

[stormin]

Many chinese companies make these lathes I believe and quality varies.
Many treat them as a project in them selves with many a modification and improvement to be made. Most parts from similar models will fit as they are all basically copies of the old Emcomat lathe.

There's some good forums and users groups if you google 7x12 or 7x14 mini lathe. There is a similar lathe next size up 9x20 which again needs improvements. They are a very small machine and not very rigid, designed for light cuts and better on aluminium than hard steels.

I considered a 9X20 before buying my lathe, a Colchester student (Equivalent to a 12x24) figuring you can always turn small jobs on a big lathe but not vice versa.

If it's all you've got room for or all you can afford go for it! It'll be a great introduction to machining for not much money. Masses of support on the internet user groups and probably the cheapest lathe to tool up.

Lots of the small tooling can still be used on your next bigger lathe until you can afford to upgrade it all.

 

[astro_al]

Looks like a mass produced piece of rubbish to me. I've used lathes like this and they all suck compared to larger / heavier items. If you are really stuck for space then go for it, and learn to work around it's 'idiosyncracies' (read: deficiencies), if not you can get a decent South Bend or some other older lathe of known quality for less/same money (used of course) - that's where I'd be looking.

There is a for sale section on lathes.co.uk for a start. Either way will get you started. Good luck, Al.

 

[JimM]

What are you looking to use the lathe for ? For small stuff they are fine

I'm a member of a couple of model engineering forums and a lot of the members knock out some great work on this sort of lathe. Apparently the quality of these Chinese imports have come up in the last couple of years. They're not perfect and may take a bit of fettling to get 100% accurate but for the money they're certainly not a no-no.

A larger older machine would obviously be more rigid, but you then face the battle of finding one where you're not constantly battling with the inevitable wear to the slideways etc There's a lot of junk out there.

As others have already suggested have a look at Yahoo groups and check out the dedicated forums there.

HTH

Jim

 

[Archie]

I have had the very questionable pleasure of using the Warco equivalent of the above this week. While the Warco looks a better machine than the above it suffers, as has already been mentioned, from a serious lack of oomph. I was able to bring it to a complete standstill while trying to drill a piece of nylon. Another guy who was using it reported that the chuck is not correctly centred such that turning a piece around results in it being off centre. IMO don't touch these things with a barge pole, especially if you want to learn. For the same reason as Malcolm (and others) recommends not learning with a cheap welder, the kinks /issues with the machine will likely make it more difficult to learn and may well end up putting you off.

 

[Arsonista]

It all depends on your views on buying Chinese products...................

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I looked at getting one a while back. There's another company selling them on ebay, somewhere in London, and they have links to other sites that list all of the mods. Apparently when they arrive you need to strip & clean the gearbox to sort out the 'swarf' from manufacture. Plus there's said to be next to no grease on the gears.

A lot of people also change the headstock bearings to make it better, take sout the 'slop'.

If you're going to be pottering around like that then you might want to look for a small Myford, ML4, etc, on ebay at half the price and probably with a box of tools, etc, thrown in. They tend to go for around £200 while the larger Myford, ML7, or others such as the Boxford, would be double that or more.

With luck, if you find the right seller, you might get a run-through on the basics of using it when you pick it up!

Regards
Peter

 

[gavuk]

I have looked at these lathes before and considered them ,i've been watching a few lathes go locally ,a boxford for £200 a clarke mill/lathe for £300,neither of which i could get to due to work commitments,yesterday finished nights and spotted a Harrison L5,not sure if its an "a "or not?,for £250,15miles up the road ,converted 240v,unfortunatley no 4 jaw or faceplate ,although they can still be sorted ,so now i have to sort out transport to get it back here ,......hopefully not a lemon ,but much larger and sturdier than the chinese table top lathes .
If you have the room wait for a boxford ,harrison or colchester ,if not the myfords then chinese copies seem to able to produce good work but may require some fettling and lighter cuts ,ideally though you would benefit from fwd/rev,screwcutting and a min speed or brake to be able to screw cut to a shoulder....good luck

 

[the artfull-codger]

''it looks rubbish'' (astro al)well it all depends what you are making with it,if you are only doing small items well it's o-k, if you are turning large castings, spindles etc then you'll need perhaps a harrison or colchester, or in between perhaps a myford or boxford generally a larger lathe will turn small parts but not vice versa. but it all depends on how small,I woudn't turn small injector cones for example on a colchester, because of the high top speed needed, the same for really small drilling, it's horses for courses.


slan go fol

 

[Wedg1e]

"Do not change the high/low gear while running".

I was taught never to run in the workshop...

 

[Richm]

You tend to get what you pay for as with alot of things.. I dont have one of these cos too small for what I need, a mate has one and after sorting out few problems its "ok" for what he makes (small model bits) because small items need a high rpm to get right surface speed to cut properly. Personally I would look for a second hand bigger lathe if you have room? If you can always try before you buy cos there is a lot of worn out kit out there..

 

[the artfull-codger]

re wedg1e, ''running in the workshop'' ha ha ha nice one your lordship,yes we bo**ock the students at work for running in the workshops [as we were when we were at college!!!]


slan go fol

 

[Highway_Star]

For that kind of money you might pick up something decent secondhand.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Myford-Lathe_...Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM?hash=item35a769a0ac

Try you local education dept, mate of mine recently picked a Colchester Student, seen little real use, for not a lot of ££, actually it cost him more to hire a vehicle to collect it. The schools were getting rid of manual lathes, as the cost of fitting all the guards etc that the H&S Nazis wanted was too high.

 

[astro_al]

...well it all depends what you are making with it

No it doesn't. It lacks power, it needs stripping down and re-assembling from day one just to give it a fighting chance, it lacks mass and rigidity, and no doubt it lacks accuracy in most areas.

I'd still suggest spending that not inconsiderable sum on something of known quality.

Al.

 

[brightspark]

No it doesn't. It lacks power, it needs stripping down and re-assembling from day one just to give it a fighting chance, it lacks mass and rigidity, and no doubt it lacks accuracy in most areas.


stripping down and reasembling it wont give it anymore power .as said in previous threads it depends on what purpose its being used for .ive got a harison also a myford delicate work is done on the smaller machine bigger stuff on the larger of the two. it all depends on what the guy is going to use it for and how often . not everyone can go to the sales or buy a decent second hand one as they dont know what they are looking for. billy bull sh,..,t comes along and sells u a lemon or u might be lucky. if i wasnt in the know and didnt want to spend a lot. id probs opt for the cheap new one

 

[eil]

Theres a thread about erm, 'fixing one' on here
http://madmodder.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=91ec4134174e62deb5ae35f4351d22fd&topic=627.0

 

[shenion]

I call them watchmaker lathes. Fine for small stuff. Can do some accuracy if you fix the slop in the design. Add a better chuck (collet chuck) and other mods.

I had a Sherline 4K that is in the same class. Worked fine for small brass stuff. Steel was just too hard; the bed flexed and it chattered. I also had to replace the speed control with an industrial DC control as the stock (light dimmer) gave no torque at low speeds.)

I'd take a used "old-school" lathe any day over these Chinese ones.

 

[Angusdog]

I have one and agree with most of the comments here. It has a reasonable amount of grunt for such a small machine and it quite capable. The limitations are (apart from lacking the rigidity of a much more expensive machine) you need to get really familiar with setting them up initially and know their limits.

Little Machine Shop has a fantastic array of tooling for these machines including indexable tools, quick change tool posts and much much more.

Essential site: Mini-Lathe.org.uk

Best site for these lathes: Mini-lathe.com

My workshop lathe needs are pretty small, the space even smaller, so this fit the bill perfectly. Google Swarfrat as well for instructional DVDs etc.

The best resource on the net for metal turning is MIT. Their robotics lab has 10 great videos (about 45 mins each) on using lathes, mills, marking out,etc etc. Linky

 

[yarpap]

personaly wouldnt touch one but thats only my opinion, save your pennies and be patient wait for myford ,colchester harrison etc.
ive used a clark lathe /mill once and put it back on ebay, you pays yer money ...
you can do very small stuff on a colchester i use one daily in my business just dont get sucked in to flea bay auctions search around and be patient
Dave