Contemplating My First Mini Metal Lathe Purchase

i have always had big lathes at work. what i miss the most is the bore size...i am limited to 7/8 at home. ;-(
 
I haven't used a Sherline or Taig, but used to have a Emco Unimat at work. Great for turning small parts, but I think you would feel really limited if it was your only lathe. The 7x16 size mini lathes can handle larger parts, but still aren't that rigid. I would go for something like that PM 10x22 mentioned above.
 
Tony, You will get advise on getting a large maybe 12" lathe. I drive a Mazda B4000 pickup. the largest load that ever was in it was a Sheldon 10" lathe. Why do I need a Peterbuilt semi? I think that you got the right idea of getting size of lathe to fit your needs. There is also another reason which is even more important. If this is your first lathe, then start small. You need to learn how to use this tool and learn how to use it "safely". If you decide that you want to go bigger, you can always sell what you got. The other thing is tooling. You will have to add that to the price of the lathe. LMS has nice lathes and you can get a tooling package which will save you money. you can also check out Taig, Sherline, and Grizzly. All of these companies have tooling available.
 
TOOLMASTER said:
i have always had big lathes at work. what i miss the most is the bore size...i am limited to 7/8 at home. ;-(
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Ain't it the truth? I can pass 1-3/8" and that isn't enough sometimes.
 
TOOLMASTER said:
where are the Precision Matthews made?
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Most of their machines are made in China, if the model number ends in a T then it is made in Taiwan. The 10x22/30 mentioned above is made is China. Matt typically specs his machines with higher quality bearings, and cast iron. He also includes many small features that many other importers do not.
 
brav65 said:
Most of their machines are made in China, if the model number ends in a T then it is made in Taiwan. The 10x22/30 mentioned above is made is China. Matt typically specs his machines with higher quality bearings, and cast iron. He also includes many small features that many other importers do not.
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Matt also offers great customer service and will take care of you down the road.
 
Thank you for the sharing your experiences and advice. I can easily double my budget or buy a second larger metal lathe if I find that I really like cutting metal. I also have plenty of room, I just don't want something big to make pen, pens bushing, etc.. I do like horsepower and speed though, but not an the expense of quality and accuracy.

The only thing that "bothers" me about the Sherline is the 0MT tailstock and possibly not having much weight to it. I have been turning pens for over 2 years, but over 700 of them. I have several Jet wood lathes, and have bought bottle stopper kits and the like, but still have not had a desire to turn anything else. It appears that I can't go wrong with any of the ones that I have been looking at or that have been recommended. I should probably see if there is any one local to me that wouldn't mind showing me theirs. Presently, I am limited to YouTubes (which are excellent!).

Thanks again and please continue to share your thoughts. I had some family from out of town visiting and didn't get to read many older posts. I did stay up until 3am this morning watching YouTube tough!
 
The Taig gets high marks for rigidity and function in this size range. Given the work envelop and speeds your are looking at, I do not think a larger hobby lathe would work well for your application which requires higher speeds and high precision over a shorter distance. Haven't made pens, but my understanding is the threads are usually very fine/odd pitch, so a larger hobby lathe would most likely not benefit you for cutting threads (assume dies are most commonly used). Taig reviews indicate that they have high rigidity for the size and construction. Taig also seems to offer lot of innovative features in this size, like power feed, ER16 chuck system, quick change tool post system, high precision tolerances, 2 year warranty, etc.

What is the most intriguing offering from Taig is there CNC models which can do threading and machining with multiple tooling with high accuracy in this size range. The pricing of their CNC lathe would be similar to a 11x30 or 12x27 range lathe. Might be a fun to learn the CNC aspect given your extensive experience in making pens.
http://www.taigtools.com/
 
Thank you. Looking forward to conducting the research.
 
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