Recommendations for a small lathe please

[pntr]

Hello all.....
I have a mini-lathe, Sherline but the spindle bore is way to narrow for projects I want to work on. Does anyone know of a mini lathe, bench top/table top type of machine with a spindle bore in the .750 range? I need to turn long thin pieces that need to fit through the headstock. Suggestions??? Thanks in advance.

 

[WobblyHand]

I know that the mini-lathe I have from LMS has a 20mm spindle bore which is 0.787". I have often turned 0.75" stock which was inside the spindle bore. I believe all the mini-lathes that LMS carry have a 20mm spindle bore, but I would check their specs. https://www.littlemachineshop.com

 

[markba633csi]

Grizzly has a number of small lathes with 3/4" or larger bores and they have good service and spare parts departments
Resist the temptation to buy one of those "bargain" machines off Amazon-

 

[pntr]

Thanks for the leads gents. Much appreciated.

 

[addertooth]

I will also suggest the Little Machine Shop (LMS) 7350 deluxe lathe. It can do 3/4 pass through spindle work, and LMS also sells a "spider" for the lathe to support the back side of the rod stock which is passed through the chuck and spindle. I have had mine a couple years now and it has worked rather well. I like the fact it comes from the factory with a rotary DRO for most of the important axis (except for travel towards and away from the chuck). The motor has surprising torque for a 500 Watt motor, more than I expected.

LMS has a wide variety of upgrade parts available for their lathes, to include an extended saddle to gain the ability to machine an additional inch in diameter. They sell multiple chuck styles and sizes (I have the included 3 jaw chuck, and bought the optional 4 jaw chuck for it as well). The seller also has an all-metal gear-set available (which was purchased along with the spider). You are getting a source which stocks some good options and spare parts for their products, which is an additional value to me. The chuck-side is a #3 Morse Taper, and the Tailstock is a #2 Morse taper. There is even a tapered bearing set for the headstock available, which many people like.

I view this as the king of the 7 inch by X family of lathes. This model has a 16 inch bed, as versus the standard 10/12/14 inch bed. This gives room to use longer tailstock drills and accessories.

 

[WobblyHand]

I will also suggest the Little Machine Shop (LMS) 7350 deluxe lathe. It can do 3/4 pass through spindle work, and LMS also sells a "spider" for the lathe to support the back side of the rod stock which is passed through the chuck and spindle. I have had mine a couple years now and it has worked rather well. I like the fact it comes from the factory with a rotary DRO for most of the important axis (except for travel towards and away from the chuck). The motor has surprising torque for a 500 Watt motor, more than I expected.

LMS has a wide variety of upgrade parts available for their lathes, to include an extended saddle to gain the ability to machine an additional inch in diameter. They sell multiple chuck styles and sizes (I have the included 3 jaw chuck, and bought the optional 4 jaw chuck for it as well). The seller also has an all-metal gear-set available (which was purchased along with the spider). You are getting a source which stocks some good options and spare parts for their products, which is an additional value to me. The chuck-side is a #3 Morse Taper, and the Tailstock is a #2 Morse taper. There is even a tapered bearing set for the headstock available, which many people like.

I view this as the king of the 7 inch by X family of lathes. This model has a 16 inch bed, as versus the standard 10/12/14 inch bed. This gives room to use longer tailstock drills and accessories.
View attachment 438385View attachment 438386

I have this lathe also. For the most part it is great. You do have to watch out for the compound DRO fouling the cross slide DRO when single point threading. Sadly I broke the cross slide DRO and it took a year before I could get a replacement part. Also the DRO's prevent one from doing an 11 degree crown on a barrel, (89 degrees) because the DRO's interfere with one another, at least in a "normal" configuration. Once you tighten things up, i.e. the gibs, it's surprisingly good for its size. It's no big boy lathe, but it is quite capable within its work envelope.

 

[Aaron_W]

Taig offers a 5C head stock for their Micro lathe, that has a 1-1/8" spindle bore. This does however pretty much limit you to using 5C collets as I don't think they offer a chuck for this head stock.

There are some 8.7x16" and 8.7x29" lathes with a 38mm (1-1/2") bore, but from most reviews you will need to spend quite a bit of time fixing them up, to make them work well. Sold under several brands, Vevor, Preenex etc, the shorter one is usually marked MX-210V, the longer bed as MX-750 regardless of brand name.

Most of the 7" and 8" mini lathes have a spindle bore of 20mm or slightly larger than 3/4".

 

[ChazzC]

I have this lathe also. For the most part it is great. You do have to watch out for the compound DRO fouling the cross slide DRO when single point threading. Sadly I broke the cross slide DRO and it took a year before I could get a replacement part. Also the DRO's prevent one from doing an 11 degree crown on a barrel, (89 degrees) because the DRO's interfere with one another, at least in a "normal" configuration. Once you tighten things up, i.e. the gibs, it's surprisingly good for its size. It's no big boy lathe, but it is quite capable within its work envelope.

They also offer the same rotary DRO for the tail stock, but I’ve had some issues with it losing its position; the cross slide and compound DRO’s haven’t done this so it’s related to either the speed (rapidly withdrawing a drill bit) or linear pressure on the mechanism. The first three DRO’s I received were rough, but Chris worked with me on replacements while I cleaned & modified the guts to include Teflon washers.

I’ve considered replacing the rotary DRO’s with linear ones. But there’s not a lot of room on the cross slide.

 

[WobblyHand]

They also offer the same rotary DRO for the tail stock, but I’ve had some issues with it losing its position; the cross slide and compound DRO’s haven’t done this so it’s related to either the speed (rapidly withdrawing a drill bit) or linear pressure on the mechanism. The first three DRO’s I received were rough, but Chris worked with me on replacements while I cleaned & modified the guts to include Teflon washers.

I’ve considered replacing the rotary DRO’s with linear ones. But there’s not a lot of room on the cross slide.

The rotary DRO's are more convenient than dials, but they do not account for backlash that well. A real linear encoder is better. I did take my rotary encoder apart and fixed it for a while after it broke, it was rather messy inside for sure. However, my fix only lasted for about 6 months. It was fun recreating the piece out of metal though. I agree that there's insufficient room on the cross slide, about the only thing that might work is a magnetic encoder. Using a separate magnetic strip would be a bit more flexible than an all-in-one unit. But you will have to give something up, probably the cross slide gib adjustment. Or you could make it removable to adjust the gibs. That's what I might do.

I have gone through this DRO refitting with my larger 10 x 22 lathe, a "slim" scale is the only thing that could possibly fit. A normal sized scale hasn't a chance - I tried, and failed. There used to be a magnetic encoder with a separate strip for the cross slide, but it only read to 0.001". I am getting a 1um glass scale that should fit the cross slide, at least the alleged measurements and specs say so. Will find out in a little while.

 

[Road_Clam]

They also offer the same rotary DRO for the tail stock, but I’ve had some issues with it losing its position; the cross slide and compound DRO’s haven’t done this so it’s related to either the speed (rapidly withdrawing a drill bit) or linear pressure on the mechanism. The first three DRO’s I received were rough, but Chris worked with me on replacements while I cleaned & modified the guts to include Teflon washers.

I’ve considered replacing the rotary DRO’s with linear ones. But there’s not a lot of room on the cross slide.

It can be done but requires a lot of forethought. Here's some pics of my Grizz 11x29 (basically a longer version of the 10x22)

Link to the full build : https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/g9972z-dro-and-brushless-vfd-mods.104507/