Torture Testing the Unimat SL1000

I'm learning a little bit on 0 change re-cutting, are thermal changes contributing?
 
I think between backlash, carriage wear, thermal expansion and light construction of the lathe all contributed to secondary cuts on the return.
 
What is the cutting speed on Ti?
 
I know, a couple of years old thread... but not sure why, I started to look at these. I think it is the cabin fever... waiting for the shop to be built. Having a mess in the garage here in the new house since it has become a storage area and I can't do squat in it...

So the most logical thing to do when your garage is crowded is to get a small lathe that I can have inside the house, right?? There is one a couple of hours away... fair price, looks in good condition... This is not a recent impulse... I have been looking at them for a couple of months now...

But the more I read, the more I convinced myself that I need to stay put and just wait a couple of months... workshop will be built by then and then I can place everything where it goes...

Anyway, had to share or I would continue into a spiral of self-thoughts until I would convinced myself that I needed it...

Instead, I ordered the ER32 collect chuck and backplate for the 9x20...

Oh, and yesterday I saw that Mr. Pete received one and started a series... so pretty sure they will start going up in price from folks that would want to get one based on the videos...


I am good, I am good... no need for a 4th lathe... stay the course...

Back to normal programming... Carry on, nothing to see here....
 
wachuko said:
I know, a couple of years old thread... but not sure why, I started to look at these. I think it is the cabin fever... waiting for the shop to be built. Having a mess in the garage here in the new house since it has become a storage area and I can't do squat in it...

So the most logical thing to do when your garage is crowded is to get a small lathe that I can have inside the house, right?? There is one a couple of hours away... fair price, looks in good condition... This is not a recent impulse... I have been looking at them for a couple of months now...

But the more I read, the more I convinced myself that I need to stay put and just wait a couple of months... workshop will be built by then and then I can place everything where it goes...

Anyway, had to share or I would continue into a spiral of self-thoughts until I would convinced myself that I needed it...

Instead, I ordered the ER32 collect chuck and backplate for the 9x20...

Oh, and yesterday I saw that Mr. Pete received one and started a series... so pretty sure they will start going up in price from folks that would want to get one based on the videos...


I am good, I am good... no need for a 4th lathe... stay the course...

Back to normal programming... Carry on, nothing to see here....
Click to expand...

They are nice little lathes, but they have become collectable with prices showing that. Used to be you could find a decent one for $200-300, but the last couple years it seems like $500 is the bottom for a decent one, and I've been seeing people asking much more. Mr Pete doing a series on them will probably just push the collector pricing even further.

For very small but still useful there isn't much that can touch them for compactness except for the smallest Proxxon lathe. A Unimat SL has a footprint of only 15x5", a lot smaller than the short bed Sherline (23x11") or a Taig (17x12").


If you seriously want a small tinkering lathe to keep busy with, Taig is a great option. I prefer Sherline, but the Taigs are decent little lathes and quite a bit cheaper. You can get a brand new Taig with basic tooling for about $500. Even less if you buy one of the kits where you have to do some minor finishing and source your own motor. Sherline you are going to spend more like $900 for a similar set up.

I bought one to make a travel lathe from, something I could build into a small box with storage for tooling. Mostly because I can, not because I really need a lathe to travel with. :)

If you do decide to get a Taig, look at Nick Carters website. He is a Taig reseller and user. He has a much better website for Taig than the official Taig site.

Carter tools



My work is done here.
:devil: momoney
 
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