mini-lathe at ToolsNow.com...buy now or wait?

[Jaymo]

Oh,hell no. I wouldn't trade mine for all the airguns in China. I paid $299 for mine back in 2002. I also bought a drill/mill from them for $199. It's not the minimill. It's the 12 speed model similar to what Harbor Freight used to sell. I picked up my 4 jaw chuck at the local Harbor Freight on my lunch break last year.
I also bought the milling vise and rotary table with index plates and tailstock from littlemachinshop dot com. I haven't looked at Varmint Al's website in about 4 years. I recall it was chock full of info, mods, and tunes for the minilathe. Great site. I made pillars for pillar bedding my Mauser on the minilathe, using 1/8' black iron pipe as the raw material.

[Machinist]

Cute compromise toy that is too small with only 7" between centers - That sort of thing does nothing well. Also try to turn a 1/2-13 thread to a shoulder at a minimum 200 RPM. The ToolsNow lathe is 12" between centers & 7" swing with infinite variable speed.

Mike

[Machinist]

Craig:

That first little combo lathe/drill is only 7" between centers. Mounting a small chuck reduces that 7" distance to 5" max. then mount a 1/2" capacity drill chuck in the tailstock leaving only 2" to 2 1/2" of working space - practically useless for anything but maybe making something like small earrings for your wife or girl friend.

This 2nd lathe/drill combo, item#46199-6VGA at $800 is 15 3/4" between centers with a 16" swing which also places a cutting tool 16" above the lathe bed. The leverages involved here with such a small bed, makes turning ferrous materials impractical and unsafe. Also, with a slowest RPM of 375, any steel diameter over 1/2" would require carbide tooling(cutting tools) and a small supply of those will cost more than the lathe/drill. This lathe is not designed to cut threads and that alone relegates it to the useless catagory.

I have a neighbor who was given a lathe/drill almost identical to this one. Twice he tried to use it for a metal something and then understood why it was free. Craig, I've been involved with machine tools for over 50 years and during that time I've yet to see a lathe/drill combo worth walking across the street for.

A Black & Decker 1/2" capacity with 10" swing, bench model drill press for $100 can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. A very nice steel cutting lathe with 7" swing, 12" to 15" c to c capacity, thread cutting in inch & metric with slow (50 to 70 RPM) enough spindle speed range with tooling (chucks, tool posts, centers, etc. can be had for $400 to $600. Two real machine tools to do real and meaningful work with - and no compromises, for less money than the model 6VGA.

Decent money is getting ever harder to come by so I hate to see somebody get "burned" by an ill informed purchase. If in doubt - Please Ask!

Mike

[Machinist]

ToolsNow.com & use-enco.com
Mike

[davee1]

That's the one Craig. Thats the one that I've been planning for for a few years now. I'll be tryin to snag one off of atruck sale tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I'll be drivin home with one in the back of my car...and then I can start making my own guides and tophats out of delrin or stainless steel.

[Machinist]

Craig, please reread, that is 400 watt, not 400 volt.

[Machinist]

Craig, as you have no service or wiring problem, and that lathe pulls 1/3 the current of your vacuum cleaner, are you gonna git-er-done?

Mike

[RCnMo]

You may check ebay out or craigslist for a used RF type mill. Every once in awhile you can pick one up for around $500 bucks and they will do all the work of a drill press and alot of light milling. Not a Bridgeport by any means, but I've got a JET equivalent that will swing a bit over 20inches and has 26 inches from spindle bore to table. This machine has never given me a lick of problems. Harbor Freight sells the RF31 type mills for around $800 new, and parts are plentiful if you decide to buy a used one and rebuild it. Plan on spending as much on tooling as you have in the machine if you want to do a lot of neat stuff..

[davee1]

thanx to everybody who took the time and effort in replying to my questions. I am now the proud owner of a ToolsNow 7x12 minilathe, picked up at a truck sale so I wouldnt have to pay shipping...but I did have to pay tax...then I online shopped at littlemachineshop, CDCO,and Enco...and dropped some more cash. The toolsnow model was the way to go for me because of all the stuff that comes with it, and then the 7x12 lathe itself is pretty much the same no matter where you buy it, because they all come outta the same factory in China, from what I've read.It had everything I needed to start turning, it was plug n play. The other stuff I bought was just icing on the cake. One thing though, delrin aint cheap. The only place around here that has it that I know of has 1" rod for .50cents/inch and 1.5" rod for 1dollar/inch. I wanted a few feet of each to play with and it was like 50 bucks. Ouch!!! What material does one use to fool around with(prototyping) thats not so expensive and wont eat up my cutting tools?

My airguns are lonley. Their daddy can be found in the garage where he has spent countless hours carressing and tweaking his new machine. I waited much too long for this gem.

[TCups]

Dave:
Congratulations on your purchase.  I am excited for you.  Many, many years ago, I had the opportunity to learn (very briefly and very superficially) the use of some quality machine tools. We were always professionally instructed and we worked on aluminum to preserve the carbide tools.  Had access to a number of high-end machine tools - turret lathes, reamers, grinders, drill presses, etc as well as a full industrial tool crib.

A decent metal working lathe for around $500?  Very interesting.  If I had more time . . .   Please keep us informed with your progress, Dave.  It's purely vicarious at this point, but definitely interesting.  IMHO, power tools are right up there with air guns where man-toys are concerned.  We definitely want to see some pictures, too, when you get her set up and turning out projects.