Question from the gurus on lathes

[akfreak762]

So I am looking to get a small lathe to attempt to make cones and spacers AND possibly a tube for my 2nd form 1 can and would like some info from those who have lathe experience.

I am looking at either of these lathes right now as I am on a budget and don't see turning anything larger than these can support:

https://www.grizzly.com/products/7-x-12 ... aign=zPage

http://www.grizzly.com/products/7-X-14- ... aign=zPage

or even this smaller one:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-x-6-M ... aign=zPage

This will be a learning experience but theses fall into what I can afford to spend right now.

Any recommendations between these and what would the minimun tooling required that I may overlook or is often over looked?

[vaeevictiss]

cones and spacers would probably be fine with those. anything longer and you will not be happy with it unless youu MAYBE use a steady rest.

The largest chuck bore between the three of those is barely over 3/4". The smallest tube you would most likely ever use for a suppressor would be 1".

[noisecatcher]

I have a 9x19 from harbor freight it is identical to the G4000 from grizzly tools. It's ok I guess. The spindle bore is really what kills these machines for a lot of people.

[andromax]

I have a G0768 Grizzly, it's a 8 x 16" it's great and I love it but its pretty small. Not having a large spindle bore is a bummer but it comes with a steady rest and a follow rest. I've cut a bunch of baffles on it and will cut alot more.

[HankB]

The majority of these small lathes sold in the USA under various brand labels are made by Sieg in China. There are a few differences - my MicroMark 7x14 has "true inch" dials, but otherwise it's pretty much the same as the Grizzly and others.

Out of the box it was functional - sort of - but I found that due to various shortcomings out of the factory, I could at some points in the carriage travel detect as much as 0.005" of slop when I grabbed the tool post and tried to wiggle it. After lapping the slides, fabricating (and fitting!) tapered gibs, etc., I got it to the point where the measured slop was down to a few ten thousandths, about as good as a small bed lathe like this is capable of.

I had to make my own steady rest, since the ones commercially available when I got the lathe only went up to 1" diameter.

There's a wealth of additional information and useful links at http://www.mini-lathe.com/.

A good source for mini-lathes and tooling is http://littlemachineshop.com/.

Also, youtube has a fair number of mini-lathe videos - check it out.

Good luck.

[Historian]

Before you jump consider searching for a classic
American Iron, an Atlas 618 for about the same price.
These are studier than the Chi-Com ones and you
could pick up lots of extras with them in the sale.

A recently departed friend's widow sold his 618, with
3-Jaw chuck, milling attachment, tooling, and collets
for $500.00. Included the motor and pulley system.

Just a thought.

[mcmaster]

I agree with Historian.
There are good deals on old lathes out there, you might have to look in person though.
Call up a local small machine shop and ask if they have any machinery for sale, or ask if they know a used machinery dealer in the area.

Alternatively if you can find a used machinery dealer on the internet that would be great, but they're hard to find in my experience. Lots of older guys don't like using the internet.
Those old lathes last forever too. You might look at the previous thread someone made about purchasing a lathe for more info.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=136853

For one thing if you buy a lathe that small you will have to turn a 6" long pipe on a steady rest, it is dangerous to spin something too long fast, people die that way when the metal starts flexing and whipping around. Please review some lathe safety guidelines before operation. On larger lathes you might be able to fit the pipe through the through-hole, for instance, and have only a couple inches sticking out to cut on.

I picked up a Pratt & Whitney 16" x 54" for $1,500 (minus phase converter equipment for a 7.5HP motor) recently. Buying used is a good idea, in this case.
I have used a G0752 (G0602 with VFD) for a while, and there is no comparison between a 1HP motor and a 7.5HP motor. You might also run into not having enough torque at low speeds to cut hard steel.

Removing a lot of material with a little lathe takes forever as well, there isn't near enough rigidity to take a 0.050" cut on good steel. Most I can get with the G0752 is around 0.018", while the P&W would probably do 0.080" or more and throw flaming bits of metal everywhere. Do a little math and see if you want to take 13 cuts to remove 200 thousandths of material on a little lathe at 0.015" per pass or take 4 cuts at 0.050" depth.

The old lathe also has power feed on the cross-slide, which is pretty nice. It has a low speed of 14 RPM. No fear that it will be feeding too fast to thread up to a shoulder at 14 RPM (with 7.5HP of torque behind it I might add). The G0752 bottoms out at 100 RPM or so, and most of your turning will be at low speeds (almost always under 1,000 RPM I think). One thing to note, if you want to turn Metric threads, you will need a machine made after the Metric system came into play. Though for turning American threads, it's hard to beat not having to change gears out manually as with on the G0752. I have the same model as this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5UBzcxnzU made in probably the 1940s.

[Tony M.]

If you must buy one of those three, get the larges one available. The micro lathe doesn't even have the ability to turn threads!

[T-Rex]

If you're anywhere near CT, you're welcome to stop in and have a look at my 618. I found my way into a larger machine and will be parting with it.

Whichever way you go, a longer distance between centers is recommended.

[Pat M]

I have the 7x14, good for large baffles & such, 22lr & medium 9mm cans . Tubes for 8"+ is hard

[Pat M]

I have the 7x14, good for large baffles & such, 22lr & medium 9mm cans . Tubes for 8"+ is hard