Speaking of cheap hobby lathes...

[nscaler711]

Oof maybe I should start a gofundme for a small lathe, even the Horrible Fright lathe is priced out of my range...
Only thing is I need it for aluminium and brass, maybe dead trees...

[Boilerman]

I have a Sherline lathe and milling machine and they do everything I have needed to do such as machining down wheel flanges and machining loco frames to accept decoders.
The cost for both back in 2004 was right at $800.00.
My only complaint is that the chuck on the lathe is of their design and type which takes 2 rods to open and close rather than a chuck with a key or chuck wrench.
I took welding and machine shop courses in high school and ran a machine shop for several years both helped me in my present employment.

[MK]

Crap.

Now I want a lathe, though I'd have to have someone teach me how to use it . . .

When I was in high school, I desperately wanted to take two classes: typing and machine shop.  But back in the early 70's, you couldn't do that if you were designated on the "college track."  Instead, I had to take a high-school physics course that taught me literally nothing I didn't already know or could easily learn from science treatises.  Typing and machining, on the other hand were skills that you had to learn from someone that knew what they were doing, and required repeat practice on the appropriate machines.

Maybe 50% of my "college track" courses in high school were useful in college.  A few (actually, trigonometry was one of these) were useful for adult life.  Typing would have been MORE useful, for college and now everything we do on computers.  Machine shop would have been a useful skill for life.  If I were king, everyone - male/female/gender neutral - would be required to take typing, machine shop and a basic course in auto repair in high school.  No exceptions.  Even a kid who ended up being a neurosurgeon would benefit from these courses.

Sigh . . .

John C.

I had the luxury of a typing class in junior high school which, at the time, I thought it was a waste of time.  Boy was I absolutely, totally, wrong!  Then in high school I got to take drafting, photography (with real dark room) and wood shop.  I ran out of time and couldn't fit in metal shop.  Close enough with the wood shop.

We were all "college track" but the school insisted on trade skills.  This was in NYC.

[peteski]

Crap.

Now I want a lathe, though I'd have to have someone teach me how to use it . . .


Sigh . . .

John C.

Read a good book. I now that it is no substitute for hands-on experience, it is still quite valuable.  While there are many books about machining (some are as thick as the old Yellow Pages), I recommend:
https://www.sherline.com/product/5301-tabletop-machining/


Yes, it was written by the "Sherline guy", but it a good primer for machining in general.
Available from Shrerline, Amazon, and other vendors.

Also, if there is a Technical High School (or similar vocational school) near you, they often offer night-courses. They probably offer a course in machining.

[jdcolombo]

Thanks Pete.

Ordered.  I’ll read the book first, then see . . .

John

[rodsup9000]

 Tubal Cain also has some great books on machining and also has a series of videos on youtube under "mrpete222"
All though I went to machine tool in vo-tech and the military machinist school, I've learned a lot from his teachings.   

[PaulP]

Check out Luiz Ally’s videos on utube. Amazing stuff he does on Sherline machines.

[mmagliaro]

I've watched some of Tubal Cain's YouTube videos.  Yes, they are really excellent - great for teaching basic milling operations.

[Chris333]

If it matters. My Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner is currently shitting the bed. Think I got about 2 years out of it.

[robert3985]

I bought my 6" Atlas lathe way back in 1974 while stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station to make yards, blocks, masts, stanchions, deadeyes, bollards, binnacles, bells, and all those hundreds of belaying pins I was using on my museum quality sailing ship models while still on active duty.

I had been trained during my middle teen years as a machinist, so I wanted the same lathe I had while working at the eddy-current non-destructive testing manufacturing company who hired me before I could drive a car.

If it were me, I would pay the extra bucks for the new MicroMark 7X16 lathe.  Much of the cost of your lathe and/or mill are the accessories and tooling you need to do your jobs and MicroMark has a pretty good selection for this lathe.  The 16" long bed will make you happy when you have a non-modeling job to do in the future and you'll be happy you dug up the bucks to pay for screws and dials which measure things in inches rather than centimeters...or millimeters or whatever.

I've been more than happy with my now-antique 6" Atlas lathe, except there have been a few times I needed more clearance for what I was working on, which the MicroMark 7" lathe would have provided me.

The Central Machinery tools are okay in most instances, but require a lot of clean-up and some filing and fiddling to get them exactly right.  With the MicroMark lathe, you'll be up and running the same day you get it on your doorstep.

Just sayin'

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[rodsup9000]

  I know that this is about a lathe, but there has been a lot has been asked about milling machines. If any of you are thinking about a mini mill, make sure you get one with a R8 spindle. There is so much more tooling available of it over the others. And then plan on spending a lot more on tooling. I've spent about 4 times the amount for tooling as I paid for my machines.

[peteski]

  I know that this is about a lathe, but there has been a lot has been asked about milling machines. If any of you are thinking about a mini mill, make sure you get one with a R8 spindle. There is so much more tooling available of it over the others. And then plan on spending a lot more on tooling. I've spent about 4 times the amount for tooling as I paid for my machines.

Max (who started this thread) already owns a small milling machine (which he was actually using as a lathe while building his incredible steam loco).   

[narrowminded]

The Central Machinery tools are okay in most instances, but require a lot of clean-up and some filing and fiddling to get them exactly right.  With the MicroMark lathe, you'll be up and running the same day you get it on your doorstep.

Just sayin'

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

If you're talking about the 7" x 16" it's important to know that these are the exact same manufacturer.  Each marketer gets to select options such as color, badging, and peripheral options including motor and control.  In all other respects they are identical so I'm not sure the fiddling that you're concerned about is avoided when purchasing from one supplier to another.  Maybe there's a supplier option for getting the good guys to assemble yours, from parts cleaning to final adjustments, while the newbies just slap the other ones together.   I wouldn't count on it. The real key parts are manufactured fine.  It's the parts cleanup and final assembly work that can be from suspect to atrocious.

In light of that, regardless of the vendor, it would be wise to expect some fiddling to be required.  While this should not be expected from any manufacturer on new equipment, I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing as it forces becoming familiar with the machine construction and adjustments, all things that you'll want to know for successful operation and maintenance, all knowledge important to getting the best performance from the machine and regardless of the machine brand or design. 

My main reason for suggesting the C2 or C3 machines (the base designation of these lathes) is the basic capability and accuracy, the price, and the extensive availability of parts and especially tooling.  Much of the tooling available is standard machine supplies, not specific to this machine.  Chucks, tool posts, collet adapters, etc, for the most part can be purchased as standard machine tool supplies, not made specific to this brand.  That helps with variety as well as price and is how the bigger machines are tooled up, giving the customer the option to best adapt his machine to his needs.  You purchase your basic machine, built to accommodate industry standard tooling, and then tool it up from a variety of tooling manufacturers and suppliers.  And as has been mentioned by me and others, tooling is the key to production and capability once you have a decent basic machine. 

I offer this information from experience to help an inexperienced person get started in the proper direction.  It's all stuff that you will learn as you go but the intent is to help someone not get caught down the road wishing they could get something for their machine or discovering that their machine doesn't accommodate the tool they would like to use. 

An example of this would be from my specific suggestion list above of tooling to purchase from the start.  Things that probably won't make sense at a glance before a person has run a machine, but at some point may be a source of frustration when the needs, importance, or benefits are discovered. The quick change tool post recommended is a good example.  It is repeatable, easy, and first time every time accurate.  There are many that will look the same from a galloping horse but there are subtle differences that make a huge difference in that repeatable accuracy.  Two of the most popular designs are a moving wedge in the dovetail or a piston pressing outward.  The piston design is decent and any quick change post is better than none, but for accuracy and then the infinite variety of available tool holders, made to an industry standard, and available from most machine tool suppliers, the dovetail wedge design becomes the best choice and none of that is something that would jump off the page to someone who hasn't been there. 

But it is something that will surface and will be a source of frustration especially if it's discovered that you'd like a quick way to change tools (you will ) and then discover that a post like that isn't available or readily adapted to your machine.  Or even worse, not being aware that something is out there that helps in quickly changing tools, for example from your turning/ facing tool to your parting tool, a function you will repeat on many if not most of your parts, so you tolerate and struggle through, changing tools, resetting center, not necessarily taking the time to get it right because it's tedious, and then becoming frustrated because the cut is running terrible or the part is scrapped.  Don't let the tooling be a limiting factor in the operator's success making good parts.  I'm sure many hobby lathes are sitting silent because of things just like this.  The operator either gave up or doesn't care to go through the time consuming effort after repeated frustrating experiences. 

Hope that helps.