Mini-Lathe Advice
Ok, please please don’t hurt me.
Long story short I’ve had a talk with the misses and its time for us to move out of the city so that we can enjoy wide open spaces, both inside and out.
For me, this means having enough space to have the workshop area I’ve always wanted and of course, to get a lathe set up.
I want to start small, but not fisher-price, and I’d like bang for the buck, not necessarily the cheapest dang thing out there.
I am looking at an 8″x12″ Mini-Lathe from HF, for example, but I don’t know what the heck I’m lookin’ at.
I’d like to start with making my own valves and tank fittings and such, will this do the trick? When does one outgrow the “mini”?
Thanks, I’d appreciate any info!
All Replies
How much are you looking to spend?
Sounds like your going to want to be able to thread on it… Small lathes are great to get familiar with the process but in order to do valves and some of the other more serious things you may want to just drop the $1100 for a 10″ or larger one…
Grizzly makes some good stuff for the money.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=460000
I was looking at the 10×22 (the smallest i’d consider for valve making and other ag stuff) but don’t have a spot for it yet…
http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-x-22-Bench-Top-Metal-Lathe/G0602
I seriously considered the smaller one but figured i’d be looking to upgrade and then i’d have to sell the small one and take a hit financially and end up spending $1700 when I could have just spent $1100 and have been happy, or spent the whole $1700 on a super nice one.
I have a Grizzly G0704 mill and it is an awesome mill for the little money it costs…
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Take a look at the MicroMark version. It is longer and better quality.
http://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-7×16-Mini-Lathe,9615.html