HF metal lathe question

[rcarman]

I am in the market for a metal lathe. I see that HF has 3 in my range. A 7 x10, 7/12 precision, and 8 x 12 precision. I have heard the 7 x 10 get some disappointing reviews. I have not heard anything about the other two. Anyone have any direct experience with these or some good advice about small metal lathes. Thanks.

 

[its_virgil]

If you haven't already, then you may want to poke around on this site: http://www.mini-lathe.com/ . I'm ready to get one also so I'll be interested in how this thread develops.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by rcarman
<br />I am in the market for a metal lathe. I see that HF has 3 in my range. A 7 x10, 7/12 precision, and 8 x 12 precision. I have heard the 7 x 10 get some disappointing reviews. I have not heard anything about the other two. Anyone have any direct experience with these or some good advice about small metal lathes. Thanks.

 

[ashaw]

I have also been looking at these. After doing some looking around HF, Little machine shop, etc. The mini macninest lathes are all made by the same company in china Sega(?). The lead screws are in metric for the little machine shop were as the HF is in inches. Check out this site http://bedair.org/9x20camlock/9x20project.html

 

[skiprat]

Bob, I'm lucky enough to have a 10 x 21, so don't have this problem. On a recent similar thread, Bruce Boone ( I think ) pointed out that you need to take into account that a lot of the mini lathe bed length will be taken up by chucks and perhaps even morse taper adaptors etc. Add the length of a drill bit and you don't have much space left for the workpiece. Depends of course what you will be using it for though.
My suggestion would be to get the longest one you can afford.[]

 

[jcollazo]

Originally posted by ashaw
<br />I have also been looking at these. After doing some looking around HF, Little machine shop, etc. The mini macninest lathes are all made by the same company in china Sega(?).

Little Machine Shop has a chart showing 4 or 5 of the most common mini metal lathes. I plan on getting the model sold by Cummings Tools simply because it comes with a few extras. I thought about importing some of these from the manufacturer but I don't know if I want the (potential) headache of product support. I revisit this idea every couple of weeks. Maybe at some point I'll find a trading company that will offer drop shipping and good tech support. Until then I'm saving my pennies for the Cummings model.

 

[Stevej72]

I just got my HF 7 x 10 last week. It was an sale plus I had a 15% off coupon. So far I love it and the short bed hasn't been a problem drilling what I have been making so far. But, I'm sure I will wish I had a bigger lathe at some point. This is all I could afford at this point and it was either this or nothing. I would suggest that you buy the longer one if you can.

 

[BRobbins629]

I got the Cummins several months ago and couldn't be happier with it. Like others said, most of them in this price range are made by the same factory in China with only a few small differences. At the time I bought, the Cummins had the most accessories included in the price. Be prepared to spend about another $100 in tools and other accessories. I was able to use all my ER32 collets from the Beall chick, but did need a 3 MT holder - from ebay. If you can grind your own tools (alot easier than I thought) you can get blanks from Enco for less than $1 each. The things that didn't come with the lathe that I use the most often are the collet chuck, the tools (although a starter set is included), a band saw (hack saw gets old but will work), and an air compressor to clean up.

 

[MikeM]

I also bought the 7--10 mini-metal lathe. I like it a lot and so far have turned 200 pen blanks of corian and different type of wood. I got the 1/4 carbide set when I got the lathe and have yet to change the insert.
If later on I feel like I need a igger one I will go for the 10-21.So far all is well and just turn one blank at a time and make three passes to hold .342 Dia. mikem
.342 dia is for slim/line pens

 

[dfurlano]

http://www.lathemaster.com/LATHEMASTER8x14Lathe.htm

Lathemaster makes a very nice system. A little more but I think worth the money.

 

[rcarman]

Good info. I will keep looking and reading till I decide what to do on this but the Cummins and the Lathemaster look like good products.