Which mini lathe....?

I'm still very much just learning with less than 50 hours on my lathe, probably more like 20 but I'll also plug the Sherline. I spent about 2 years researching mini-lathes before I finally settled on one to buy. I assume I'm not odd being reluctant to spend $1000+ without a lot of thought.

I've only diddled the knobs of the Harbor Freight version of the Chinese lathes in the store but compared to the Sherline they feel sloppy and cheap. Plastic handles, loose fit etc. Granted the HF version of these lathes is about as cheap as they get, and these were display models. The fit and finish of the LMS or Grizzly lathes may be much better, I haven't seen one in person. Most of the Chinese lathes are the basically the same piece of equipment, the major difference is the required standards and quality control of the importer.

The Sherline controls are largely aluminium and feel very solid and crisp. All of the Sherline tooling also has this very fine refined feel to it. If it matters to you, Sherline is based in Southern California and all its machines are made in the US.

The Sherline is a very small lathe though, 3.5" diameter and an 8 or 14" length.
That is well within my needs, but if you need bigger that will be an issue. They do offer riser to allow larger diameter work, but at that point you may be better off going with a larger lathe off the bat.

I ordered mine with their C package which gave me everything I needed and more to start with at just under $1300 + shipping so about your price range.

I have added more tooling since then but that has been more for the future. I really haven't felt limited with the tooling it came with.
Sherlines customer service has been excellent, I haven't had one issue. I bought their 5400 mill in October.

As far as set up I followed the instructions and was cutting metal within 24 hours of receiving it (had to go buy some metal first or it would have been quicker :oops: ). The instructions are very clear, it took me a couple hours to assemble it and I was ready to go. This last bit was ultimately what sold me on it. I heard too many people talking about buying a Chinese lathe and then having to take it all apart to fine tune it. Probably not a big deal if you know what you are doing but I knew I didn't so that was out.



It is a very good little lathe, but it is little.

Mikey is a font of knowledge on the Sherline lathes, pick his brain if you have technical questions about it.
 
I'll add that I have no experience with Micromark related to their machine tools, but I have bought other things from them many times and have hsd only positive experiences.
 
Thanks Aaron - my only issue is there are none of these machines anywhere near me to have a look at - only the TAIG is available locally.

I will have a serious look again at the Sherline - I like the fact that I can buy it in Canada from a Canadian dealer for the exact same price as the US price, but with free shipping to me, and have full CA warranty. That means a lot.

I recently bought a large commercial chamber vacuum sealer from a US dealer, and had it sent to Montana and collected it there. Got home, and it was DOA. Lots of broken parts inside the unit, and the manufacturer just shrugged their shoulders.... Thank goodness the dealer in Texas was amazing and got me a new machine. So a little wary buying such large items from the US with not too much backup in Canada.
 
This will come down to what you need to do with the machine. Keep in mind that a 7" lathe has a swing of 7", which means 7" is the max diameter you can fit over the ways without hitting them. Many of them will come with a 3" chuck. The Sherline comes with a 3.5" chuck.

It may help you to know that a Sherline lathe can turn about 1-1/4" over the cross slide so you can potentially turn about 14-15" of that. I have turned aluminum, stainless and tool steels, semi-hardened steels, plastics, brass and bronze. With the right tools, a Sherline lathe can take cuts that would stall many 7" Chinese lathes so the motor has enough power to do some meaningful work. However, big cuts are not what the Sherline lathe excels at. It is a precision lathe with precision screws. Until you really have to cut something to very tight tolerances you don't really appreciate what this means.

Quite frankly, the Sherline lathe has taught me more about cutting metal than any other machine in my shop. I have a bigger lathe but everything I know about using it came from using the Sherline lathe. Everything I know about lathe tools and tool geometry was learned because of the Sherline lathe. It is, in my opinion, one of the finest small lathes made.

Okay, enough of this soapbox stuff. The best thing you can do is define what your work envelope is and buy a lathe that will enable you to work on that stuff.
 
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Welcome Robbie,

I have the Unimat SL1000/db200 that I purchased new back in the 70's, long before the internet and affordable Asian imports. It got me started and I did nice work with it. However it is a lesson in patience. With the options that are available today, I would not buy the Unimat.

My go to lathe now is the Atlas 618 and does everything that I want to do. Smaller parts and clock repair work.

If I was going to purchase one today for mostly clock type work it would be the Sherline. I have never used one but know folks that do have one and feel that is perhaps the best in its class.

However if you want a larger work envelope then one of the 7 x 16" would be my choice. From what I can tell the Micromark looks like it would do what I need.

Keep us posted on your decision.

David
 
Warning! It’s a conspiracy to control your mind and wallet.

You come here asking normal questions about lathes and metal cutting. These guys give you facts and opinions about various pieces of equipment. They’ll ask what type of projects you intend do, and give insight as to what may work best for you. Pretty soon you’ll let your guard down, and they’ve GOT you. Yea, they seem all right now. Wait till you get your lathe. You’ll come back asking questions about cutting tools or speeds and feeds and they’ll lead you right along. You’ll see interesting projects they’ve done with explanation about how it’s done using this method or that. Then you’ll be asking about collets, chucks, carbide, tool sharpening, runout, fluids, gauges, drill presses, and milling machines. It never stops! You’ll lay awake at night trying figure out how to do an operation for a project you never intended, with a tool you never meant to buy. Then you’ll realize, there is no way out!!

I have to go I hear something! It may be Bob or Mikey coming!
 
+1 on the service and support from LMS. I bought both my first lathe and mill from them; whether it was a foolish mis-order or question, they always stayed patient and helpful. Very, very ETDBW.

One other thought: small lathes are, well, small. I found it very difficult to operate my Sieg C3 because I have huge mitts and it seemed like all the controls were designed for a lilliputian.
 
I agree! I was going to get a mini lathe, then Mikey and others gave me facts and knowledge!! I have a PM1127 on order now. And the tooling!!! So many tools, not enough money. And when I get them, I'll be able to make things for 10x more than I would be able to buy them!!!

Joking aside, there's a wealth of knowledge here and it's a great place to learn.
 
Warning! It’s a conspiracy to control your mind and wallet.

You come here asking normal questions about lathes and metal cutting. These guys give you facts and opinions about various pieces of equipment. They’ll ask what type of projects you intend do, and give insight as to what may work best for you. Pretty soon you’ll let your guard down, and they’ve GOT you. Yea, they seem all right now. Wait till you get your lathe. You’ll come back asking questions about cutting tools or speeds and feeds and they’ll lead you right along. You’ll see interesting projects they’ve done with explanation about how it’s done using this method or that. Then you’ll be asking about collets, chucks, carbide, tool sharpening, runout, fluids, gauges, drill presses, and milling machines. It never stops! You’ll lay awake at night trying figure out how to do an operation for a project you never intended, with a tool you never meant to buy. Then you’ll realize, there is no way out!!

I have to go I hear something! It may be Bob or Mikey coming!


This is no joke. :)

I stretched my budget of $1000 to $1400 last year and thought I'd be good. Here I am a year later and at least $2500 deeper (more lathe tooling, but mostly went to adding a small mill and tooling for it).


I've found that my interests are in fact well within the envelope of the Sherline tools, and still leaves me plenty of growth. I still read threads about other machines though and if I find myself wanting something larger I think I'll be looking at one of the PM 10-12" lathes. Those start at twice the budget of a Sherline or one of the 7x16 lathes though so probably not helping. :guilty:
 
@ Chip Hacket - I laughed so much now I almost cried.... Hahaha. I have a TON of hobbies that do exactly that.... I cannot add another with a black hole where $1k bills disappear into. LOL.

I got a quote from the Canadian supplier of Sherline today, but now it seems they're out to lunch with pricing, so I spoke to LMS again, and as has been mentioned, they have been beyond awesome, answering a ton of questions, and never pushing me to buy THEIR units - just gave me honest pros and cons of a bunch of lathes.

I have narrowed it down to their 5100 lathe, mostly because of their helpfulness, and also because I found Frank Hoose's youtube videos (all 10 of them) about every facet of the 5100... I watched over 200 mins of his video on the 5100, and decided that would be the one. I was not able to find decent "instructory" videos on the Sherlines, and me being a proper NOOB, I would need some tutorial, as I don't have anyone anywhere near me to help me out, as we recently moved to Canada from South Africa, so still getting to know people around here.

Anyways, thank you to everyone that helped me with this, and for all the direction too.

I am sure I will still ask a ton of questions on here. I can only make it down to Montana at the end of January, so will only be ordering the lathe from LMS after mid January.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!!!!
 
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