Quality mini lathe needed!

[bozo699]

Hey guy's,
I want to buy a quality mini lathe if there is such a thing.
I am tired of running clear out to the shop everytime I want some little thing done in the loading room. I would like it to just a table top model, accurate , tooling and parts available. Do they make such a critter? I had a friend give me a central machine lathe once it weighed about 75 lbs and was about as accurate as you would guess it to be, it didn't take me long to pass it along. Any advice would be appreciated.
Wayne.

 

[nfhjr62]

Try this web site http://www.varmintal.com/ has a section on metal turning and mini lathes, scroll down to the mini lathe page

 

[Julietvictor]

The Seig 7x10 (7x12, 7x14, 7x16) can be had for a song from various vendors. Harbor Freight, Micromark, etc. carries these models. They have extensive information available online, for modifications, enhancements, fixes, etc.- A lot of support online (varmint al's website is a great one) and through various vendors such as Little Machine Shop. They are highly accurate and perfect for smaller projects, and even some medium sized ones.

 

[Julietvictor]

You can get them from Harbor Freight cheap. Wait for it to go on sale, then get one of the 20% off coupons from ANY hobby magazine and then go pick up your new lathe!

 

[1shot]

I have an Atlas lathe for sale. It has a 30" bed if that isn't to big for your needs. Plenty of extras also.
Lloyd

 

[bozo699]

Lloyd,
Pm sent, Thanks for the response.
Wayne.

 

[bozo699]

I have a friend that works on clocks. I think he has a mini lathe that he may sell. Let me know if you would be interested.

Thank You!

ppc,
PM sent, thanks for the response and sorry for my delayed response.
Wayne.

 

[bozo699]

Its a little bigger than I wanted but what do you guys think of the Smitty 3-1 combo mills, there smallest model might fit the bill if they work as good as they look,I would like there top model but I am back to weight and shear size, my reloading/shooting room is 12'x12' loaded already with two huge gun safes loading bench twin shooting benches and all my reloading equipment, I have one small spot left I could utilize for a small lathe to do small jobs with. http://www.smithy.com/index_inside.php?id=160
Wayne.

 

[bozo699]

Re: Quality mini lathe needed! Updated

Fellas thanks for your help. I bought a Grizzly G4000, its a 9x19 w/stand,seems to be a tight little lathe,I'll know more once I am able to use it. I bought it slightly used from a 40 year veteran machinist who no longer needed it. He did a lot of upgrades to it. The Co. I work for bought a Jet thats about the same size and its not nearly as tight as this Grizzly, I hope it works out.
Wayne.

 

[LongRiflesinc]

I have a Prazi mini/hobby lathe. They are widely considered as the top shelf in this line of equipment.

One thing to avoid is aluminum ways. Many are going to this. It'll run fine for awhile and then go to hell on you.

Stick with hardened, ground, chromed ways if at all possible.

Good luck. Ebay can be a good source, but there is still a Prazi dealer out in CA.

Chad

 

[bozo699]

Chad,
Thanks for the advise, I bought a Grizzly G4000 9X19 and it is proving to work out ok so far. I really believe in buying USA and locally as well if possible, if I would have bought a new one I would have bought s Sherline or Prazi, and I would have considered a older Unimat SL-1000 and if I hadn't bought the Grizzly locally a forum member had found a Unimat for me from a clock maker friend of his. All I really wanted the mini lathe for was to have it in my loading room to make mandrels and bushings on it and a few other small reloading items on it. What kind of tolerances are you able to hold with your Prazi? thanks
Wayne.

 

[LongRiflesinc]

the spindle on this bugger is surprisingly good. Really good actually. I picked up a knock off Aloris post for it and things got even better.

I'm now passively on the hunt for some inserted tooling. Just grinding my own presently.

My purpose for it is also for the loading room. Makes one hell of a neck turner and I "occasionally" use it for my little RC airplane addiction too. It's quick work to chop carbon rod for putting together throttle linkages and whatnot.

I'm eventually going to ditch the 3 jaw and set it up for collets. My end goal is to have collets made for various cartridges so that I can just plop them in the spindle and turn necks.

We'll see if it ever comes to fruition. Lots bigger projects on the list right now.

Good luck and glad you were able to find a machine.

C

 

[dennisinaz]

I use my lathe all the time for reloading chores. Just yesterday I have to make shell holder for my K&M neck turner for a WSM case. I had to cut the bottom half off, make a mandrel and then turn the OD small enough to fit in the case holder.

I also chuck the hand held case holder in the three jaw and set the lathe to 100 RPM. I chamfer the case and then run the neck turner in and out. It beats the heck out of doing them by hand or holding a silly cordless screwdriver.

I chuck the brass up the same way to remove donuts too- using a slightly under size chucking reamer by hand to shave it off.

Don't know what I would do without it!!

 

[bozo699]

Dennis,
I am starting to find out just how useful this little lathe really is, I have a Hornady oal tool, it was a windy rainy day yesterday so I built all new modified cases from fireformed cases for the tool with my mini-lathe.
Wayne

 

[dennisinaz]

Mine isn't a mini- I use my 1440 Nardini for everything! You don't need 6HP to turn necks but who is complaining?