BTW it's normally the belt that strips before the gears break, the later models have an overload sensor on the motor (or wherever it is) so if you try n stress it it to much it just stops. The mill I'm still using is from the same factory but that is rubbish.......yet again I've done some good projects with it you just work round the faults hehe.
@@sparkycorkers1196 I’ve used wood lathes (never a metal turning one), and there really is something satisfying about removing material from a chunk of wood. Even magical.
This is an old video, but it would be neat to see an upgrade series using one of these to upgrade itself. That is, turning raw materials into replacement parts that are either as good or better in quality, and an improvement in functionality.
Lol I bought a 1030V lathe several years ago. I got probably 10 hours on it and it died twice. First time cost me $125 to get a machine shop to manufacture some t-slot bolts and nuts to replace the cheap ones that stripped on my lathe. The second time it died I replaced the bolt that holds the tool post down. The tool post bolt replacement lasted about 30 seconds and it stripped. After that I covered it with a tarp and it hasn't been touched since. A few months ago I tried to turn it on and it's dead. So my shiny lathe is scrap metal sitting in my garage now. To me it's a hobby for the wealthy. Too much to buy the lathe and replace it piece by piece.
I got one of these mini-lathes when I was about 17. While I never really produced all that much useful it taught me enough about machining that it helped me get a job 10 years later. No the job isn't as a machinist but being able to drop by the mill/lathe at work and make something was just that little extra that pushed me over the edge vs other candidates for the position.
it's crazy that I only upgraded from my mini lathe about 2 years ago, yeah there to small and have no power but they are great for starting out on as I did some brilliant projects while I had mine. Good video as always TOT.
Would they be adequately suited for small woodworking projects perhaps? I figure the variable speed would be useful and wood isn't exactly cold rolled steel.
Just bought this late from Walmart on-line, less than $500 with free delivery. Came early 3-days after ordering. Great starter lathe. As Tony says, “you’ll spend more money on tooling” - an investment you can take to your next lathe. For the projects we are doing this will be fine.
I bought one of these as my first lathe - my thinking was influenced by a number of things. 1. I knew precious little about lathe work and there is nowhere near me that does any courses. 2. if I don't like it then its cheap enough to use as a boat anchor and 3. if I bought a bigger lathe and messed up, it would cause huge expensive damage to the machine, me or both. After breaking numerous tools and destroying the gearbox in the first two weeks (The internal gears are plastic!) I taught myself quite a lot about lathe construction and machining various materials. I replaced the gears, both internal and external with metal sets. I replaced the head bearings with angular contact bearings and taught myself to lap in the top and cross slides, replacing the gibs and screws as I did. sounds exhaustive but it has taught me an awful lot and I now regard it as money well spent. It runs straight and true and i still use it for making delicate parts that my 13" lathe would destroy (In my hands at any rate). That my friend (pardon my assumption) is how these machine should be viewed - a great learning tool and a cheap way in!
@Evi1M4chine It IS very cheap. You can't be stupid enough to think you could actually buy any sort of useful lathe for "$50-100", not even second hand. If you can't even afford this then forget about any ideas of doing any lathe work unless it's using someone else's lathe. Sorry but reality isn't going to change because you're poor.
@Evi1M4chine I think the comments regarding your financial status are thoughtless and unnecessary, not to say better have been left unsaid. That said, $1000 is a bit high. $600 will get you something similar where I live (South Africa). Try looking for pre owned. And don't let the comments from self important blowhards bring you down
I know people working that tight who have 12 work days. Or didn't have the cash to go to collage when a 4 year degree is required to shovel S**t these days. I can relate to this. That said. $1,000 is pretty much the minimum you're going to get away with unless we're talking the extremely tiny micro-lathes that use a cordless drill motor (and are still a few hundred bucks for as tiny as they are). This is true even if you make your own lathe using someone else's lathe. A good controller that's not a fire hazard can run half the cost of this thing. Tools are consumables, expensive consumables at that. So are chucks, change gears, lead screws... basically everything on this thing will wear out. If you want to get into home manufacturing on a tight budget, get a 3D printer. My Tevo Tarantula was $180. Even there, I still have to buy new end switches and hotend cartridges, not to mention filament, which is $20/kg for not-garbage stuff that won't clog. However, just like my 3D printer (more so, in fact). You can use this lathe to make parts that you then use on the lathe. say... brass change gears? making stuff for other people in your spare time can save you some cost. I've made a bit of cash printing stuff for people as well.
@@bertkutoob: " I think the comments regarding your financial status are thoughtless and unnecessary, not to say better have been left unsaid. " Dude, the guy is talking about spending LESS than $100! Get real, we're just stating the facts, it's never going to happen. DFX2KX has some informative info about this above. FFS, he couldn't even buy much in the way of cutting tools for that and a lot of them he couldn't even dream about. You go and patronise his fantasy so he can feel destroyed when he discovers how little of anything to do with this he can buy with that money. Sure, there's those ultra cheap plasticy things that can be converted into a drill press a lathe and even a mill, but even they are more than that, without any tooling and they are absolute rubbish. No accuracy AT ALL and everything flexes. That's the sort of crap someone on a budget like his is going to aim for in the end and they are going to be extremely disappointed after saving so hard to only have a childs toy to play with.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 You are a serious dipshit. Go read the original comments l was referring to, plus mine again. At no time do I encourage the thinking that he can get something serious for $150 or less. I fact I mention I can get one of these for $600 including shipping costs where I live so anyone paying $1000 is being ripped off. Comments such as "only a fool" or "get a second job" have no bearing on the matter and I stand by my comment that they would better have been left unsaid
Plastic gears are fine. I got my 7x10 in 2008 and am still using the original gears. I have stalled the lathe taking too deep a cut a couple of time and none of the gears have broken. They have the double advantage that they are cheap to replace and self lubricating. If your gears are tight on the shaft ream them to the correct diameter. My two cents on upgrading the lathe. Do not put in a bigger motor or steel change gears or steel headstock gears. Just use the lathe as it is for projects and save your money to get a bigger more powerful better featured lathe if you find this one has shortcomings. This lathe is engineered so the power of the motor is appropriate to the materials and masses of the gears, castings, size of work that fits in the lathe and depth of cuts it can do and meet the accuracy of 1/1000th of an inch in the work. Upgrading to more horsepower and steel gears etc is asking for trouble as you run in to the limits of what the lathe is engineered to be able to do. Have fun with your lathe.
I need to say, you are the most detailed and thorough teacher, salesman, and true machinist I ever heard. Respectfully you are knowledgeable of your craft, and simply entertaining to watch. I am a retired welder/craftsman with over 40 years experience being around mechanical devices and machine shops as well, love the content, keep up the great work 👍🏼
So my GORGEOUS Brazilian wife asks me, " Why do you always watch this guy when taking a break from fabricating parts for your bikes? " My answer, " His voice. " You have what many teachers lack, the ability to speak to us as if you personally know us. The ability to keep things interesting, and us to want to know more. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, while keeping things entertaining.
@D2RG6 how exactly do you know this? Do you know of every camera ever invented? Or perhaps all the different ways to shoot large things with small cameras making the large thing seem of normal size. And the item of normal size smaller
I've been using a 7 x 14 for over 10 years for tooling and gunsmithing projects. I have chambered numerous extremely accurate barrels and blueprinted rifle actions to the point that the rifles are accurate enough for competition (5 shot groups under 0.025 at 100 yards). I have machined repair spigots for our swimming pool and countless other projects. I can't post on the premium gunsmith forums because they laugh at anyone using one of these, but my results speak for themselves. And yes, I have heavily modified it for enhanced rigidity and increased spindle bore size for wider stock. I've also used it to machine glass filter housings for one of my older cameras.
What were the most effective mods for adding rigidity? Adding a lock to the compound or replacing the compound all together seem the most obvious, but what else?
As a gun nut I call bullshit on the less than 1/4 MOA as that is almost impossible with today's technology let alone a $500 dollar budget lathe, as seeing at most u could only turn down pistol length barrels with it, and pistol caliber cartridges aren't even capable of 1 moa accuracy, ya know the only cartridges I can think of being capable of that kind of accuracy would be .408 cheytac, .416 barret and .375 cheytac. And all three of those cartridges would require a barrel that is longer than a mini lathe is capable of machining. So any other misinformation u care to spread Mr. Fudd?
Boy now that has to be some mighty thin barrels. 0.75" through bore is enough for maybe 0.25" wall thickness on a .22 cal. A .223 government profile will not fit nor would I try cutting threads on the machine.
@@ahole5407 Before we say the man is lying, consider what he said in his post about the gunsmithing. He said he "Chambered barrels" What does that mean? I am not a builder of firearms, and I don't know what that means. He also said he "blueprinted rifle actions." Blueprinting in the automotive world means repairing loose tolerances of parts, to get them all matching factory specifications, with no "lips" or "burs" that can cause loss of performance at the bleeding edge of performance.
On the topic of plastic/acetal gears: Overall, remember folks, plastic gears don’t necessarily mean bad quality or that they will break or wear fast. Sometimes it’s actually a positive and some applications do a lot better with plastic gears than metal gears where said gears are not encased in an oiled gearbox but it always depends on the application as with absolutely anything in the universe.
@@miles11we that little thing have 3 jaws and carry a cutter, with a tail that hit the dead center. With description like this, cops will pull out their guns.
About once a month I come back and watch the very beginning of this video with him poking the lathe with a stick and lmao. Makes me happy. (Edit) I'm gonna start making an edit on the first of every month to remind people to come back and see the glory of the minilathe. (edit) January 26 2023, well 2022 was an absolute sh!tshow, missed several months, here's hoping that 2023 isn't as crazy but I'm not holding my breath.(edit) Happy Valentines day! (edit) how's everyone enjoying this inflation? On a good note I bought a plasma cutting table, gonna be fun. (edit) Happy Thanksgiving 2023 y'all!
Well, I have 19 DVDs available at this point, and 41 TH-cam videos. I'm working on a new DVD - Part 3 of the Roadster Body series. I'm just starting a series of articles on basic metalworking for Classic Trucks Magazine, and I've have had thoughts of expanding on those articles to do a book, but that's just in the planning stages at this point.
I love my minilathe. I've actually managed to do some titanium machining with it- the trick there is 1) get the soft annealed grade and 2) run it backwards with the tool installed upside down. That way the slop in the lathe means that the tool catches it retracts from the workpiece and has another go on the next rotation; in a "standard" configuration when the tool catches the slop allows it to really dig itself in, causing everything to stop very suddenly.
All this content lately is starting to get suspicious. Is ToT stockpiling content during the year for the holiday season? Has he perfected Lathe Time Travel thus creating unlimited time to record and edit? Has ToT made more clones of himself? If so when is the real ToT on screen? Is he still alive or did the clones take over because Tony prime is stuck in a quantom time anomaly? I need answers!
I suspect his workplace couldn't match the bucks he's getting from his videos and he quit his day-job. Pure speculation, but would be a shame - the world needs skilled engineers.
I think one of his editor traps might've sprung, allowing him to record much more raw footage and have videos automatically edited. Dunno what design of trap he used to catch them though.
I took the advise of a millwright I worked with. He told me to buy the mini lathe, learn to work around the limitations and turn out good parts. When I buy my next "real" lathe I can use all the tooling I purchased, and it will all seem too easy on a big machine after the mini lathe experience! I have crashed my little buddy, made new gears, rebuilt the head, and learned SO much I would not have had the chance to if I just got the new lathe up front. Also, I paid for that machine 5 times over making barrel tuners, comps, threading barrels, firing pins, and it works great when reloading ammo for case prep. Have fun, G>
The reason for the plastic gears is for safety, in gear boxes it's common to expect a overload and thusly the force needs to go through something that breaks on the upperlimit in order to protect the rest of the machine. Thusly this part will be easily replaceable and made of a lower strength material on purpose. With metal gearboxes this is normally a pin of a certain diametre that breaks
@@johnrobinson357 Give a man a tool, and he'll complain about using it. Teach a man to tool, and he'll buy a welder, a lathe, a chest full of old junk, and a CNC machine.
I got a Unimat from an estate sale a while back. It came with a ton of tooling and accessories. I played with it for a while, but apparently there's a huge market for these things. I put it on eBay and doubled my money shortly after posting
My dad bought a Unimat SL when I was a teenager in the 1970s. I used it a lot for model rocketry (making nose cones out of balsa wood) and for a number of other projects in plastic and brass. Primitive by today's standards but I made a lot of things with it!
owned one just like this one shown for well over a year now, that being said i have been a machinist for over 40 years, love the little lathe and ive made hundreds of parts and finished lots of projects with it... one of my best investments
What would be your pick for a truly precision mini-lathe? Does anyone make one with steel gears. What would be your recommendation for a small lathe if money was no object? Thank you
I noticed you are wearing a ring on the left hand . . . Does this mean you are very married . . . or just not particularly fond of that finger and want the lathe to remove for you ? ? ?
@FoxRcng708 Well geeez . . . really cannot answer that one . . . until it happens ! ! ! but I can tell you from personal experience . . . that some will rip your work gloves right off of your hands . . . So I will let you figure out the remainder on your own . . .
@@TheMetalButcher Ever hear of leverage and inertia . . . not to mention velocity Accepted practice is to error on the side of caution . . . no matter how much it hurts ! ! !
@FoxRcng708 You reap what you sew . . . Sow the wind . . . Reap the whirlwind . . . So What ! ! ! Reap Whatever . . . think you should experiment with that one . . . then you will know ! ! !
Two companies make these lathes. The one that makes the one in this video is the better one. It has way wipers on the saddle. The apron is thicker and there are dual ball bearings on the carriage crank. It has a lash adjuster nut on the right end of the leadscrew. The sides of the saddle are straight which means more mass, plus easy to install a carriage clamp. Some importers have one installed on the right side. The headstock should be held to the bed with four bolts. They've also added the camlock to the tailstock. The other manufacturer is where Harbor Freight buys their mini lathes. No way wipers. Thinner apron without bearings for the carriage crank. The headstock is likely still mounted with only three bolts. The saddle is "H" shaped, lighter weight. No camlock on the tailstock. No lash adjuster nut on the leadscrew. This manufacturer tends to really slop on the protective shipping grease that has to be cleaned off. With either one, the manufacturer offers many features for the importer to select from. Typically companies that buy the cheaper one (like Harbor Freight) tend to only opt for the thread dial and leave everything else stock = cheapest. On the fancier one I've seen importers offering things like the carriage lock clamp. Odd that the one you bought doesn't have the thread dial. A super easy improvement is to remove the lash adjuster nut (loosen the setscrew in its end) and support block then add a brass washer on the screw on either side of the support block. Then you can snug the nut up real close to improve surface finish and reduce jams and digging in (especially when facing) because the leadscrew can't move to the left. There's a lot of little project that can be done with the lathe to improve the lathe. They're pretty well documented on the web. Spend the first several days on that stuff and you'll both learn how to use a metal lathe and make it better and more enjoyable for projects. My first lathe was one of these better models (with threading dial), bought at a Homier mobile sale. I'd never used any lathe before but within minutes of getting it out of the box I was turning a piece for a project. I bought the lathe because I was tired of paying a machine shop $35 an hour to make things wrong. "I need this bore cleaned up and tapered *this* direction." Got the part back with the bore real nice, and tapered the wrong way! Fortunately there was enough metal left I was able to bore it straight, press in another piece of steel then taper it the right way. My second lathe was a Grizzly 7x10, serial number 346. Likely from the very first batch they imported. I was at least the 3rd owner and it had been abused badly, due to how crappy it was. I was able to work it over to make it much better. Chinese tools have improved a lot in quality since the 1980's, if you're willing to pay a bit more. They'll still make crap if that's all you're willing to pay for.
Indeed, chinese just ask "What you are willing to pay for it?"; And makes it to that budget. If you say you want 10$ lathe, well... They'll make it for you, but don't expect much :) Is there a site devoted to the mods you are talking about? I've been thinking about getting my first lathe for sometime, maybe it is time to do that :)
It's similar to a 3D printer made from a kit, lots of your first projects are making parts to make the 3D printer print better, then making the same part in even nicer quality-repeat until satisfied. Did this with my part cooling fanduct, for instance. will eventually do so for all of the axis parts. I imagine you could really go ham and get something pretty nice after awhile. I would get this lathe cutting reasonably well, then I'd use it to make the parts for a somewhat larger, but much nicer, handmade lathe piece by piece. and learn how to use a lathe while doing so.
Used the LMS version of this (and their mill) during my high school robotics years, where we worked just about exclusively on aluminum and brass, not bad for someone who has no experience with proper tools. Pretty good for learning and screwing up inexpensively
well it's a lathe th-cam.com/users/postUgkxN9zrzkkhnjUF5PQbuA_B1gYdsfCu9k6z but it wasn't what i would have anticipated. Headstock, tailstock, carriage apron are manufactured from aluminum now not cast iron. The spindle diameter for the bearings is too small allowing for a few play in the spindle so I am using some blue Loctite to take out the play.
IMO these would be great for teaching an "intro to machining" class in high school. Feeds and speeds and design parameters/constraints are the same, just scale them up for a big machine. Just need a mini mill, 3d printer, laser cutter, and design program and you could have a super informative class.
I also started out with one of these, but mine was the "very popular" 7X10 (really a 7X8)Mini Lathe from Harbor freight. This became a 7X16 with the LMS kit. Later it was sold for a 8-1/2X20 bench lathe from LMS. I also got a LMS Mini Mill, this was traded for the next size up, the Bench Mill also from LMS. I learned a lot with my little toy (and videos from you. the 1" punch is especially useful) and now have a brand new Clausing 15X50 lathe and 10X54 Mill I get to play with at work. The learning never stops The ability to make whatever you need is amazing.
I agree it can be very useful to keep a smaller lathe around the shop for delicate work. Personally I like to chuck my mini lathe into the full size one which naturally doubles my productivity
Would you be able to give me some advice on where to get a cheap lathe that I can make wooden bowls with please? I don't have much money, so I'm hoping to find something cheap. I'll even do it by hand if necessary, I just need to know the bare minimum tools I'd need to get the job done. I'd really appreciate some advice! I want to be able to make some money selling them to help my family. I have a pyrography pen, and I'm hoping to make bowls and things of that nature, burn designs into them, and hopefully turn a small profit in time☺️
If you want a better surface on aluminum with hard metal cutting tools, It's better to use coolant lubricant, this metal tends to melt right on the cutting edge and create small "sticky" like bits looking like what you had at 7:30. Great video by the way, you're really explaining stuff in a way that is easy to understand :D
Well, if it will help anybody, and not to contradict the Boss..... But I have a little 7x10, that about 10 to 12 years ago, completely reworked, which my channel lightly covers, but never mind that, I have over 19,000 hours on my little lathe of actually on/running time, and yes, I installed an hour meter on mine, and over 90 % of the "on-time" is cutting the various alloys of steel, and of course, the other 10 % is of softer stuff, I love my little lathe!!!! It has made me allot of money, I have slowed down as of lately, so I am not taking on new projects, while I heal up my back, but, after the rework of the lathe, it is one precise piece of machinery, and can hold a (0.0005" ) all day long upon demand, please note, right out of the box, no, it will not do that, maybe (0.003" to 0.005" ) but will not be repeatable or predictable, lol... But try looking at these little machines as projects themselves, with the goal in mind, to make it a precise little machine... that 19,000 hours of actually on / running time is no joke!!!!! I have run the day lights out of it, and not a single issue, grease them often, oil them all the time, even when not in use, keep them clean, and do not ask this dinky machine to do more then it can, a (0.010" to 0.020" ) depth of cut on a factory set up unit, is all you should expect, now my little "jet engine" as it is know as, can easily bite off (0.030" to 0.045" ) depth of cut. But, just because I know it can do it, I still just plug away at (0.015" ) and just enjoy the process, and appreciate the fact, that I have the little lathe and milling machines, as that is all the money I had would permit at the time when I got them... Yes!!! I love my little machines.. a side note, I still am asked to do precise turning on mine, even though the customers have their own lathes, but, the time required to set up a 14x70 inch lathe, to Nick off a wee bit of skin milk, they just can't hold the tolerance, let alone as fast as I can with how simple this little machine allows me too... Tony is correct in the length issue, shoot for the longest bed you can afford, or, if you know factually that you will never need to turn anything longer the 8 to 10 inches, then your are golden with a 7x10, but .... you never know what fun things will come down the road, that you can turn... I can't go into any details, but one of my gun barrels went to competition 4 years ago, and came in 4th place upon accuracy traps out of either 37 or 47 other competitors... Just saying, that I was competition against folks who made their barrels on $1,000,000.00 machines, and my little machine cost $900.00 bucks... Lol .... enjoy the machine for what they are, Chinese junk, but with a wee bit of rework, you will be glade you have the unit! Dru
@@lifuranph.d.9440 Oh, absolutely!!! Very well said, but, these need a wee bit more TLC, then the old school castings of vintage machines. The castings are really soft, of course strong enough to monkey around, but scratches on the bed ways come very fast, as an example. I wipe clean constantly with paint brushes, in my opinion, is a must, which is I small part of why I completely re-machined and ground all mating & sliding surfaces while putting alignment into the out of alignment set up they had, and re-flame hardened the bed ways and hand scraped all the dove tails ways, added way wipers or felt wipers to each of the respective areas and still, squirt oil all over everything, which is something that my tables (by my design) allows me to do, as all the oils / cutting fluids are gravity flowed to a catch basin, which lets me continuously re-fill my lil squirt cans, to continue using the oil endlessly. So all the oils simply drip off the machines and funnel to one side of the tables into a chip trap, and then into a jug, that has one of those flippy valves on each table like what one finds on a water cooler, for ease of re-filling the oil cans. Not to sound like a parrot, just saying that I suppose it is easier for me to slop oil all over my dinky machines and not create a mess, as it is all self contained. With in approx one month of the machine learning curve, the ways got trashed,when the machines were new and didn't think I was doing anything wrong, as I did clean the excessive swarf/chips away and did oil things often, but still scratched morbidly... Well, after the improvements & mods, I didn't want that to happen again, so, oil on the contact sliding ways has 99% eliminated scratches. Or at least any heavy ones, it simply is that soft junk cast material/alloy. Please note, I am not an expert on anything, rather, just really enjoyed doing the best I could come up with ways to improve this little machine, and I learned so much while doing it!!! Mind you, it was very time consuming, as I had to blue print everything, while it is together, then tear it apart, blue print some more, then design the stuff that would allow for more advantages and efficiencies, and ease of operation, and smoothness. Ball bearings installed, where there was none, or to replace where oil-lite bronze bushings were. Thrust roller bearings in a few key locations, like the lead screws. The entire gear train is sealed roller ball bearings. A sure mounting method for the motor mount that allows for 3 axis of adjustment. Then after designing everything on paper and CAD, I assembled the mini lathe, and then made all the parts, once the parts were made, tear the lathe back apart, modify the lathe parts and tried those up, installed the newly made upgrade parts, rd-assembled the lathe, aligned everything... 19,000 plus hours later... lol... Very time consuming doing it this way. At that time, I didn't have another machine that would let me make them . Anyway, the gear train from motor to Chuck & lead screw's efficiency went up by 70% to 80%, from what the factory was, respective frictional loads on to the voltage & current measurements which is also why or how I can have a 800 watt 90 volt @ 1/3 up motor, hog (0.050" ), which is huge for a dinky machine and still have a wonderful and accurate finish. I do not like to do that though, just no need to, as I am never in a hurry for anything. Wow, I wrote another novel again, I am sorry, I just get so excited talking about my dinky "jet engine sounding lathe", I suppose I could have simply stated, (((yup!))) And all woulda been well... Lol yes, I agree with you sir, Dru
I found the 2019 updated version of this lathe and they fixed all the problems adding a brushless motor in place of the brush motor and metal instead of plastic gears also has a lcd screen for speed and feed. It also comes in at $200 cheaper now. (Australian currency at least)
@seaplaymarine9828 Hi, thanks for the info ! Do you remember the reference/name of that lathe ? That would be very useful for me starting into machining
The best mini lathe I ever used was a Myford ML7, it was amazing what that little machine would produce. At work we had rows of lathes and mills, The smallest was a Ward 2A and one of the biggest was a Herbert 9B30, that was huge, if I remember correctly the bed was about 20 feet and the depth (centre to bed) was about 48". Most of the lathes in the works were Colchester, Ward and Herbert. In the 60's I went to a machine shop in Birmingham and they had a lathe that was a giant, I don't know who made it but I think the workshop was built around it. They were turning huge crankshafts for either boat or train engines.
*_MINI LATHE CREW!!_* The plastic change gears are the first thing everyone notices and is uneasy about, but I haven't yet had any issues with them stripping at all; the stress seems to be absorbed into the leadscrew and generally not great enough at the change gears. The issue, however, is inside the headstock are the gears for the High/Low speed setting, and they are plastic. It's, unfortunately, an objectively poor part of the design and definitely a weak spot. If you were to drop hard earned money on upgrades, I'd start with replacing the gears inside the headstock (they will absolutely strip and then the lathe will be dead in the water). On mine (grizzly, so whichever factory it came out of but same basic machine) the lever on the back that controls the lead screw engagement likes to pop out, it just doesn't have enough holding power and so you can lose your place when cutting a thread. I just put a block of steel under it to hold it in place. Well, I did until I got a south bend. People love to hate on these lathes but they'll do a whole lot (with the little tiny carbide insert tooling I got super awesome finishes on heat treated 17-4ph, and tons of other relatively tough materials)
Ah, good to hear about the plastic gears. I have the metal ones. And yes, I do some 17-4ph too with crazy good results. I have even done titanium:). I am using inserts specified for alu on everything and I think it works because they are quite sharp.
As for the head stock change gears, ToT's doesn't have that and a lot of the blue lathes don't either. (bear in mind, these are sold in all sorts of colors). That's a setup that's meant for the more powerful brushless motors but watch out as I think a lot of the newer "gearless" blue lathes don't come with the brushless motor... So, no low speed gear and still the older, less powerful brushed motor. Mine came like that and I suspect ToT's did, too.
Thank you for a great video and lots of sound advice, That is why I decided to ask your expert advice I bought an old Chinese bench lathe sight unseen on eBay a few weeks ago,I was pleasantly surprised on pick up that apart from surface rust and being covered in dust It appeared to be in sound condition . It is a Huangshan CQ9330 model ,no Idea of the age but it cleaned up well and after adjustments to all gibs ,and making and fitting the missing tail stock gib have had really good results on a few projects in steel The lathe is belt driven . With all steel gearing . Impressed with the general construction In the process of a complete strip down to replace suspect headstock taper roller bearings “a bit nosy ,but look ok ?? “. The strip down is just to see may have been worn Every thing looks perfect except the bearings and the drive belts. My main problem is that I can find no information on the lathe Hope you or some of your followers could help , I have a mechanical background but have limited turning skills T.I.A
Oh Tony, what have you done? I am trying to be a reasonable guy. As an IT person, the only thing I am qualified to operate is a computer. But now I want to buy a lathe... A sane person would chose the right tool after identifying the task. Instead, I now want to have a tool and will look for projects later. That is not very responsible and it's your fault... Thanks for your entertaining content, this all makes me think outside my "normal" parameters.
With that money you could have an old big an solid lathe with lot of tools ! I don't really understand why TOT make advertising for this chinese crap ! : (
@@TJ-ed8xg Well, at least I do not have space for an old big and solid lathe. But I can fit a toy grade lathe like that one. So as always, it is supply and demand ;)
Yes indeed. ToT makes most other reviews look like crap. Very comprehensive, showing real life usage, limits, cons, pros.. way to go. Master. For us mortals that know nothing about lathes, materials, etc, it was very informative
I have this lathe, albeit a copy from the UK’s machine mart, the cl300m. I’m new to turning and agree with Tony, this thing loves soft metals, aluminium is a walk in the park. Steel though... yeah go slow and go careful. Being new to this it has to be said I’m really enjoying this lathe and do plan on upgrading in the future, but for now its a welcome addition to my little workshop, and I’d actually be lost without it. Know its limitations and work within them and you’ll be fine.
Nothing wrong with buying cheap if you're just buying for yourself. If you're planning on making money off of it though, don't skimp on the good tooling. I'm a landscaper, and I can't bear to look at residential-grade mowers any more. They're crap to me now.
@@SiXiam The ride-on mower I use, a Walker T23, costs around $12k-13k, depending on the retailer www.walker.com/models/t23/ I got bought mine used from my old boss when he retired. 8 years old, and aside from some welding I need to do on the rim of the deck (where it contacts soft curbs), a few bearings I need to replace, and needing to be stripped down and re-painted, it's still going strong. These things are workhorses. The parts are standardized across most of their models (no obsolescence to worry about), and EVERYTHING is serviceable if you've the tools and the know-how. For a walk-behind mower, I'd go with an Exmark Commercial 21 X-Series. Retail around $1600. Self-propelled (scales hills easily), very manoeuvrable, very powerful. The blade and drive are controlled by separate control bars on the handle. I have 3 of these mowers, so unfortunately I know what parts commonly wear out with regular usage (I like to keep spare parts on hand), but this is offset by how powerful and easy to use they are. www.exmark.com/products/mowers/walk-behind/commercial-21/commercial21-x-series#ReviewHeader I've also got a Honda HRC 216, but I only use it as a spare unit. It's difficult to handle in tight areas and the drive and blade are controlled on the same handle (though one of my guys prefered this machine over the Exmarks), but the micro-cut system, which comprises of two blades stacked and offset, gives the smoothest cut I've seen on a walk-behind mower. It also uses a hydrostatic drive, so there's no belt to wear out. Retail about $1400. A lot of landscapers use this mower. powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/models/hrc216hxa For weed whackers, I prefer Shindaiwa. The T235 is lightweight and good for everyday trimming (around $340), but for heavier stuff (hills, long grass and brush) I use a T282X (about $550) www.shindaiwa.ca/Products/Trimmers.aspx Sthil and Maruyama are also popular. For home, you can use whatever your budget permits. But if you're cutting all day everyday, you need commercial units, and the ones I listed above are ALL commercial units. All prices Canadian.
I want one of these. Watching these videos takes me back to my engineering apprenticeship days. We had (a small one) a Colchester Student Lathe MK1 3 Jaw chuck as well as (a bigger standard sized one) a Harrison Alpha 550 Plus CNC lathe that I would work on. The colchester for one off pieces or small batches jobs and the Harrison Alpha 550 Plus CNC lathe for larger batch jobs and items that were needing a bigger chuck. Loved working with the both new and old lathes we had. Cant remember what the make of lathe was we used at college but it would have been the size of the Harrison alpha but manual. Good days in hindsight, Lol I would love to have a small or mini lathe as that is all that I could fit in the garage as they're great machines to work with. Maybe one day I will be able to get myself organised enough to purchase one and get back to turning out some mini projects.
I have one just like this. Yes base price $600.00-$700.00 and I probably have about that much invested in various cutters and tools for it. I’ve had it for a bit over a year. I run it easy as I don’t punch a time clock. I use it to learn and have fun. They told me in June just over a month ago I have lung cancer. It’s spreading. I need to sell all I can to raise money for medical treatment. I’ll sell this lathe and even the table it’s mounted on and everything I’ve bought for it. Approximately $1,400.00-$1,600.00 invested total. I’ll sell everything for $750.00 OBO. Text at 620 951 8017. greaper132654@yahoo.com
The Harbor Freight mini was my 1st home lathe. When I got mine I found the same shortcomings as you did. But when it was all bolted down,( I made the bench from 4x4s notched and drawn together by 5/8 threaded rod. This thing, when set up and leveled was as accurate as my Clausing lathe in my shop. I got the mini because of space issues at home. The one thing you don,t want to do is make it work harder than it was designed for. Even when you start popping fuses, the overload takes its toll on the circuit boards. Soon you have a tiny dead machine. They are excellent small part machines if they are not worked to death.
@@breakingtoast2255 you can make gears on a lathe just not this kind you have to hob them not turn them... and a lathe c axis is way more accurate then an A axis attachment for a VMC
@@fishsticks88 use horizontal mill not vertical with form cutting tools most of your prep work can be done on the lathe and as for hobbing its usually used to cut repetitive cuts into gear blanks that are set up for the cut already
Girlfriends are over rated.. Pay a Professional.. In the long run, they are a hell of a lot cheaper, don't talk back and obey .. Now you can buy a cheap Milling machine to go with the cheap lathe without a dinner and movie first..
Mine paid for my bridgeport, I also replaced the chuck with a 4" The power board did die a few months ago but they're standard DC boards so easy to replace. One day I'll get an adult size lathe to match the adult sized knee mil :)
My son and I have the Optimum version of this - the TU2004 (sort of a D180x300) and it seems better on lots of accounts. Has carriage lock, metal gears, thread dial (although I don't use it and just reverse) and nice little brass oilers everywhere and it is metric!. Plus it has RPM gauge but similar 600W motor. Our issue is we lack space. The thing has been surprisingly effective for lots of little projects. Son is currently building a Myfordboy engine. Also 20mm headstock is not bad if you compare it to Myfords or boxfords etc. Plus it has a bolted on chuck with a pretty standard hole pattern. Stuff I don't like - getting the gears meshed right so it doesn't grind is a messy pain. Engaging half-nuts is a hit-and-miss affair which makes the thread dial pretty tricky to use even if you want to. Chuck guard isn't easy to remove and sometimes touches the chuck. Has same feed rate issue but we use carbide and run at higher RPM usually (small parts) anyway (pretty sure it has much more power at higher RPM as the motor is PWMed DC)
i broke down and bought one of these, knowing it's faults. it was barely over 500 on the amazon after the 5% from having the card. it was mostly to make parts for cars and rc airplanes and stuff. your videos have been a great start for sure, thanks
When I was a kid I used to play on my father's lathe which was about this size. I used to make projectiles out of pencils and pens for my air pistol (which takes the same pellets as the compressed air rifle you showed a few videos back).
15:16 Having some experience building remote controlled race cars I can pretty much tell you that plastic gears are actually superior than metal gears. This is due to the fact that plastic gears can hold higher temperature better than metal gears when it's spinning at higher revolutions, I can't tell you how many transmissions we fried when using metal gears. At least when plastic gear's teeth broke you only need to change those gears protecting the whole unit.
yea that's what I was thinking 'maybe ruins the tooling' he explained that the tooling could be hundreds of dollars and stripping the gears is like 20$? seems better.
As someone how never did any "physical work" (working with wood, steel, 3D printing, foam, anything with tools, etc) and only watches it on TH-cam (i.e. This Old Tony, I like to make Stuff, Odin Makes, etc), I never knew how these machines are called, but now I know what I'm definitely going to buy as one of the first machines, if I ever start anything in that direction!
The first (wood) lathes date from c.1300 BCE in Ancient Egypt. Metal cutting lathes date from the mid-18th century. The first fully documented, all-metal slide rest lathe was invented by Jacques de Vaucanson c.1751. Original Egyptian lathes are probably hard to come by, and the few remaining 18th century machine lathes are very expensive. Probably best to consider a readily available present day lathe.
Tony, try this out! Use alcohol as a lubricant when cutting aluminum. I noticed the chafing in the threads... As an electrician, we cut and thread aluminum conduit fairly often. Believe it or not, ALCOHOL works better than oil. As in simple rubbing alcohol. We buy it by the gallon and get it cheaper and higher percentage. Then a simple squirt spray bottle. Takes very very little to make it work. half squirts every second or so. Try it out. Mirror finish on threads using the typical rigid threader. I bet you'll be shocked how well it works. Evaporates... no clean up. SWEET!!!
WD-40 works wonders as well 😉 As does the right inserts , those gold coloured ones are usually just for mild steel and such. Aluminium requires a SHARP edge to cut clean.
@@Sharpless2 we used to have one of them. It was a mangled tie which somebody had been wearing as it sucked them into the machine. It was very oily, and very shredded. We did not need a "tuck your tie in" sign. We had a safety tie. Mine's a v neck jumper or waistcoat. Goes with the tie.
Most treadmill motors are brushed high torque DC, you would only need a single belt not a bunch of gears. That said, why doesn't someone just use a large hobby brushless motor with a VFD/ESC with a single belt to the spindle, would make an awesome mini lathe without all the gearing.
Bought my mini lathe about 5 ears ago, and I love it. Has done everything I have asked of it. Liked it so much that I then bought the mini milling machine.
Tony, you're killing me! Or rather you're killing my time left (I'm 74) on this side of the grass. I clicked on the main page "Infamous Mini - Lathe!" link but I was redirected to one of your Bending JIG videos. Unfortunately I have an addiction that I found to be common among the HSM community. So when that video started and all that beautiful, thick, heavy gauge, shiny, rust free steel filled my eyes I couldn't make myself click the stop button! Ok, I'm still typing because you set the hook that had me dancing like our Florida Wahoo on the end of the line! Glad I did though, cause I've pondered owning one of those mini's for years. Fortunately or unfortunately, ....(my wife would say fortunately) my machines, tools and instruments have long out grown the size of my shop. That said, if I fell on a deal that I just couldn't resist I'm sure I'd bite the hook. Hmmm,... maybe if I knock out the north wall of my shop???? Now I really gotta get off my butt and make some of my own chips. But before I do that I'll leave saying there's an enormous amount of DIY, HSM, etc content on TH-cam. That said, there's only a small percentage of that content that has the video skills that you have. Add your shop-practice habits and tool / machine respect ..... What more can I say? You've got, yet another in an ever growing list of loyal fans! Thank you and 73's, Chris
It's almost saturation point that you hear so many arm-chair critics on various machinists forums FB groups and websites that dump all over Chinese Mini-Lathes. I get thoroughly sick of it. They'd do themselves a favour by showing some humility by giving credit to these budget lathes in spite of their faults and shortcomings for bringing so many people into the noble and fascinating hobby and vocation of engineering than at any time in human history.
Oh boy, a half hour video about a piece of gear I may actually be able to fit in my -shop- closet? Edit: Well, it looks like, eventually, I'd just build a bigger shop and get an old iron lathe.
@excited box I have exact same one mine to my door was $450. Never seen that tool post holder he got before that looks like it has some robust compared to the aluminium one we see everywhere. Metal gears only seem available for the common brands like grizzly little machine shop ect ect wonder where he found those?
That's actually a pretty low bar these days...[Not to disparrage the intended point you make which I completely agree with] Just a sign of the times; language needs to replace the word _Television/Cable_ in this usage context with a new broadcast industry not marketed at Social Security recipients still getting cable because it's all they know and their TV keeps telling them how dangerous the internet is! Stupid Television 66% commercials (75-80% during football) all for Government-babied industries like CreditCards, Insurance, Pharmaceutics, Banks, and MORE CABLE
@@iamawelder -- I think that's by design. The _illusion of choice_ becomes the product and by the time you have satisfied your desire for choices, you no longer have time to actually stream a whole movie, or you no longer care to watch anything because your brain has already entered an analytic mode not a _relax and enjoy the arts_ mode with which you began. Either way, pushes up margins by reducing actual streaming costs on Netflix's end.
Yay ! ToT came back to the Mini Lathe Club ! Mine turned tapers every time, right out of the box, then the motor blew up. Great fun trying to add a washing machine motor. These things are such great Fun. CNC mini lathe ? Ooooh yeah. Game on.
I got one of these, and did as you suggested and threw on some annular contact bearings, it's made a world of difference in my spindle rigidity I can use a parting tool in it now that wasn't even an option before, not for lack of trying.
Lots of inapropriate comments here. If someone buys a mini lathe there is a reason; money or space or kind of work you are going to take. You do not need a 5 tons lathe to make small soft metal parts. TOT correctly said: a small lathe is better than no lathe. These lathe are very precise if you know how to use and treat them. I own a 7x14 and suits me perfectly. Cheap talking are often a show off of nothing uhu?
[tl;dr: *more* speed = *more* torque = more better, do NOT lower the RPM on this lathe for heavy cuts] Just a little note here about the DC motor speed to power relationship and why it seemed to stall and struggle so much when you tried HSS tooling at low RPM: it's almost certainly a simple two terminal brushed permanent magnet DC motor and the only way to control the speed of such a motor is to adjust the supply voltage. That is, to lower the no-load RPM, you supply it with a lower voltage. As a result, you're supplying less power (lower voltage over the same impedance means less current, means less power), and less power means less torque. In other words: while it is true that "DC motors have more torque at low speed", this statement is somewhat misleading here - certainly, a speed-torque curve of such a motor, which is in fact more like a speed-torque straight line, shows a very simple inverse relationship between speed and torque, but this relationship holds *at a specific voltage*. It doesn't say "if you turn the speed knob down, the motor turns slower but has more torque", it says "as you apply a mechanical load to the motor forcing it to exert torque, its speed drops, all else being equal". If that sounds kind of backwards, that's because this relationship works in both directions, neither speed nor torque is inherently subordinate on the other. Look up "brushed DC motor speed torque curve" on google images and look for one that shows several "curves" overlaid on a single graph. They're each labeled with a specific supply voltage and let you know what the motor's speed going to be at this voltage, given that much torque trying to make it stop (strictly speaking: given whatever force trying to make it stop that requires the motor to produce this much torque to keep going anyway). You can clearly see two things on such a graph: 1. Under no load (where the curves hit the speed axis, which coincides with 0 on the torque axis), the motor's speed is determined by the supply voltage - so if you want a lower *no load* speed, you must lower the voltage, there's no other way to do it. That's what the knob on the lathe does. 2. As you lower the voltage, the maximum torque (where the curves hit the torque axis, which coincides with 0 on the speed axis - that is, a stall) gets lower. The practical takeaway here is: if you have a mini lathe with a brushed PM DC motor, you want to run it as fast as is reasonably possible for a given cut to get maximum torque. Admittedly, the motor controller might be doing some sort of speed regulation feedback if there's a spindle encoder in the headstock, in which case it does bump the voltage up as you start cutting, to try to get the motor to turn at the requested speed despite the load applied, but even then, by setting a low maximum speed, you put it at a disadvantage. More speed means more inertia and more stored energy at the start of a heavy cut, which gives the controller a little bit more time to react and bump the voltage to the max before the motor stalls. Additionally, even *if* it does have feedback, it's probably pretty dumb and slow to react, so it's very likely to be designed to avoid speed overshoot on torque drop by limiting the maximum motor voltage depending on set speed anyway. Also: if you want better, you don't want a brushed DC motor at all, even a bigger one. You want a 3-phase AC motor with a vector VFD. You don't even need a 3-phase power outlet for that, there are sub-1kW VFDs that take single phase power and output 3-phase, albeit at the supply's phase-to-neutral voltage, which is not a problem at all if you wire your motor in delta configuration. Just make it absolutely sure to get a vector drive VFD, and not a scalar one. Simply look for "vector" or "scalar" in the product description. Vector drives are much better at very low RPMs and maintain speed more accurately across sudden torque changes. They cost 10-20% more than scalar versions. The gains for a machine tool are well worth that difference. A 750W motor that should fit in place of the original one can be bought for as little as $50 new and a suitable VFD can be found for $120 new. INVT Goodrive10 and Goodrive20 series are pretty decent for an officially chinese product and fall in that price range.
@@fredgenius Good for you. Those lathes are configure-to-order, so long as the order is large enough - so if you're a hardware store owner and want to sell those, you can get them customized however you want, with as much or as little improvement over the cheapest base model as you wish. Tony said he got the cheapest one he could find and it shows (look at the front label, they gave so few fucks that there's no model number or anything filled in!), so there's a pretty damn high chance he got it with the cheapest motor type, which is brushed DC. The one I bought when I was in high school had a brushed DC motor too and it stalled at low speeds just like Tony's. Yours is a notch or two higher on the extra features scale, so you got a better motor. And don't even get me started on the whole "brushless DC motor" thing, this is the dumbest misnomer the whole electrical industry ever came up with. Those are permanent magnet AC motors, but they're called "DC" because they don't take *line-level* AC supply directly from a power outlet and are typically used in the same roles that brushed DC motors were in the past (or still are in cheaper machines, obviously).
@@quiescentnexus The brushless DC motors also can run on pulsed DC so they are not misnamed. I actually run one on 350VAC 300Hz so it is capable of running at line level voltages also. 240V is at 208Hz and 60Hz is at about 70Volts. Brushed DC motors is a misnomer also as they are often universal motors and will run on AC or DC.
About 8 years ago I got a job to cut final length and radius on cable ends and cut the lead in on the copper tube fittings that go into them. I contacted a company in Brazil that was willing to make me a high speed Swiss type machine with hopper that would do it all automatically for 225,000.00. No way would the job make that kind of money. I bought a smaller version than yours. 7" by 10". Had to spend some time truing the tail stock. Other than that, it was pretty good. I made two arbors to mount the parts, hand ground 2 carbide tools and was on the road. Lathe cost me a little over 600.00. I ended up making well over 20 times that cost in the first order. Of course, I still had to sit there and make 225,00.00 of these damn things. Now my son runs those on the very same lathe.
Text on the box should say "Mini-Lathe KIT". I think buyers of both the chinesium priced lathes and milling machines would have a much better attitude if Sieg admitted that they are making are the basic, stripped down machines. All the "extras" can be (must be!) added from third party vendors. Sieg hits a price point for all the resellers they make machines for... and the magic word is PRICE POINT! That said, Sieg gives access to lots of folks who couldn't/wouldn't fork out the bucks for a "real machine", including me. It's a great way to get started.
Couldn't agree more. I've now spent over $1300 on my 7x14 including tooling and accessories. Admitedly, every time I use it I wish that $1300 was a Hercus, myford, atlas, etc, etc but I'd never in my life be able to justify spending that much on something I didn't know if i'd enjoy using or be any good at. I think in the next 2 years I'll upgrade to something bigger and better but I just blew the motor on my 7x14 and picked up a 1.5KW motor to replace it so it should do me for quite some time yet.
My only objection is the bad practice of chopping out silence. There are _supposed_ to be timings between sentences. I don't mean the lengthy transitions between phases of the demonstration, but where there are no transitions at all. My apologies to any robots. You just want the data. I get that.
A wise contributor to a machining forum I frequented once said "anything you can do with a mini lathe, you can do with a big lathe." Having carried my 7x14 HF lathe into my front door and down the basement stairs, I can assure you that the above statement is not even close to true.
I have a slightly later version of this lathe. It has a digital rpm readout and the forward/reverse lever for the lead screw has a defined neutral position. I'm told that it has taper roller bearings on the headstock spindle. It also has the little threading doohicky on the half nut that doesn't appear to do anything, but it does have a carriage lock.. The T-nut for that wobbles like a jelly and takes many turns to loosen/tighten. The gib for the cross slide needs its own locking screw and cocks over under pressure. Backlash on the cross slide and compound rest/carrier are atrocious, but repeatable. One thing that I found out to my cost, is that there's a grub screw inside a nut at the tailstock end of the lead screw. If that comes loose, the nut is free to tighten up and lock the lead screw. Then you get a click click *snap* that signifies a tooth breaking off from the 80 tooth gear that drives the lead screw! What do I use it for? To date mostly turning solid metal into chips! Eventually I hope to make parts for steam toys and working steam scale models - if not original designs loosely based on existing examples.
I have got one of these, and for the longest time ive wanted to bolt a 2.2kw (or similar) 3 phase motor into it, although i get the feeling that would be like dropping a 454 into a miata. Im sure itll work, but hold onto your hats and hang on tight...
@@firestone3217 the one I have is 2kw, at 20V/100A, it can produce around 10Nm at 2000 rpm (loaded), which is about 7 foot-pound, that needs to be geared down about 1:2-1:6, which means 20-60Nm or 14-44 foot-pound (maybe less because of the lower load, thus higher rpm)
I stopped using metal lathes after that section of metalwork at school...priceless remark by metalwork master ,when I was caught tidying stuff up with a file, “ You mustn’t jump the gun lad, that’s part of next years work!”
I have the 7x16. It's not a myth LOLTo the best of my knowledge none of these small machines come from the factory with metal gears. Although, they are available to purchase from Little machine Shop. Do you have a recommendation for a small lathe that won't break the bank and has a built in gear change for thread cutting?
@@leeknivek Consensus online (years ago, IDK about now) was that the 9x20s are trash compared to pretty much anything else due to bed flex. The 8x16-type machines that TOT mentioned in the video are (were) much more well-regarded.
@@leeknivek although that 9x20 may also be another chinesium product, it do carry a gear box full of metal gears. But it is almost twice as big as the 7x14......not at same scale. May be taig lathe without tailstock? Almost no gear at all but roughly the same size and usage should be compare with....
Damned if I can figure out why I even watched this as I have no interest in aquiring a lathe but watch I did! I think his voice and presentation hooked me and I watched and enjoyed the whole video but I ain't getting no lathe, no way.
Thanks for sharing. My experience with two of these low-cost tools are not so encouraging though one can do a lot with them. One problem is the weak point of the gear system. There are no actual bearings in them. They are simple slide bearings with steel against steel or steel against plastic. Lubrication? You need to lubricate all slides and bearings very often, else they start to jam and the bearings may stick hard and burn and then break some gears.
christ - you know i got onto this channel to learn TIG welding - and now i have a bloody LATHE in my living room
wait, I just followed this channel to see stuff about TIG welding too
fuck what am I getting into
:D
Why is your lathe bloody? Did you cut yourself using it?
;P
@@Turbogto_guy If your lathe never has had blood on it, it still must be new.;-)
BTW it's normally the belt that strips before the gears break, the later models have an overload sensor on the motor (or wherever it is) so if you try n stress it it to much it just stops. The mill I'm still using is from the same factory but that is rubbish.......yet again I've done some good projects with it you just work round the faults hehe.
Hi Colin, love your work! Here have a like.
Mr. Safety tie follows ToT?!
Haha, the belt stripped on mine too, makes the worst noise in the entire world!
You can tell this is an honest review because of who it is. Thanks colinfurze and ToT.
@@PracticalRenaissance how do you like yours? I'm probably going to buy one for my boat to try and be a bit more self sufficient in remote areas
It's better to have lathed and lost than never to have lathed at all.
Captain Picard?
@@josphe9011 Make it so
To every season, turn, turn, turn........
I have never lathed. it looks so hypnotising. one day I will get myself one....
@@sparkycorkers1196 I’ve used wood lathes (never a metal turning one), and there really is something satisfying about removing material from a chunk of wood. Even magical.
This is an old video, but it would be neat to see an upgrade series using one of these to upgrade itself. That is, turning raw materials into replacement parts that are either as good or better in quality, and an improvement in functionality.
You need a mill to really do that right. I know, I am fixing some of the errors in my lathe.
Lol I bought a 1030V lathe several years ago. I got probably 10 hours on it and it died twice. First time cost me $125 to get a machine shop to manufacture some t-slot bolts and nuts to replace the cheap ones that stripped on my lathe. The second time it died I replaced the bolt that holds the tool post down. The tool post bolt replacement lasted about 30 seconds and it stripped. After that I covered it with a tarp and it hasn't been touched since. A few months ago I tried to turn it on and it's dead. So my shiny lathe is scrap metal sitting in my garage now. To me it's a hobby for the wealthy. Too much to buy the lathe and replace it piece by piece.
I got one of these mini-lathes when I was about 17. While I never really produced all that much useful it taught me enough about machining that it helped me get a job 10 years later. No the job isn't as a machinist but being able to drop by the mill/lathe at work and make something was just that little extra that pushed me over the edge vs other candidates for the position.
The way you switched minilathe with subscribe immediately after you mispronounced the former was incredibly clever. Kudos in a major way.
This man is honestly a legend.
I didn't even notice at first :DD
He does it ever video for the most part. He’s gotten good at the subliminal stuff.
My ex wife lathed around a lot, I’ll be trading up eventually
Well, it was spelled wrong anyway. Should have been mini-lathe or mini lathe with a space between.
it's crazy that I only upgraded from my mini lathe about 2 years ago, yeah there to small and have no power but they are great for starting out on as I did some brilliant projects while I had mine. Good video as always TOT.
Like turning down some cookies?
It always makes me happy to see creators I love colliding in the YT comments section 😊
@@crispindry2815 Look everyone! He pointed out a mistake someone made. Isn't he great? Clap clap clap.
@@SW-zu7ve *two mistakes
Would they be adequately suited for small woodworking projects perhaps? I figure the variable speed would be useful and wood isn't exactly cold rolled steel.
Just bought this late from Walmart on-line, less than $500 with free delivery. Came early 3-days after ordering. Great starter lathe. As Tony says, “you’ll spend more money on tooling” - an investment you can take to your next lathe. For the projects we are doing this will be fine.
Tony you are the only person i will turn the play speed from 1.75 to 1.25. I hope you understand what kind of emotional commitment that is.
Why
@@ctsteve1967 because of his gotdam beautiful voice dummy
*_yet you moan in 0.25 for me._*
🤣
I didn’t even know that was possible. I feel like a schmuck for wasting all this time on normal speed. Thanks.
I bought one of these as my first lathe - my thinking was influenced by a number of things. 1. I knew precious little about lathe work and there is nowhere near me that does any courses. 2. if I don't like it then its cheap enough to use as a boat anchor and 3. if I bought a bigger lathe and messed up, it would cause huge expensive damage to the machine, me or both. After breaking numerous tools and destroying the gearbox in the first two weeks (The internal gears are plastic!) I taught myself quite a lot about lathe construction and machining various materials. I replaced the gears, both internal and external with metal sets. I replaced the head bearings with angular contact bearings and taught myself to lap in the top and cross slides, replacing the gibs and screws as I did. sounds exhaustive but it has taught me an awful lot and I now regard it as money well spent. It runs straight and true and i still use it for making delicate parts that my 13" lathe would destroy (In my hands at any rate). That my friend (pardon my assumption) is how these machine should be viewed - a great learning tool and a cheap way in!
@Evi1M4chine It IS very cheap. You can't be stupid enough to think you could actually buy any sort of useful lathe for "$50-100", not even second hand. If you can't even afford this then forget about any ideas of doing any lathe work unless it's using someone else's lathe. Sorry but reality isn't going to change because you're poor.
@Evi1M4chine
I think the comments regarding your financial status are thoughtless and unnecessary, not to say better have been left unsaid.
That said, $1000 is a bit high. $600 will get you something similar where I live (South Africa).
Try looking for pre owned. And don't let the comments from self important blowhards bring you down
I know people working that tight who have 12 work days. Or didn't have the cash to go to collage when a 4 year degree is required to shovel S**t these days. I can relate to this.
That said. $1,000 is pretty much the minimum you're going to get away with unless we're talking the extremely tiny micro-lathes that use a cordless drill motor (and are still a few hundred bucks for as tiny as they are).
This is true even if you make your own lathe using someone else's lathe. A good controller that's not a fire hazard can run half the cost of this thing. Tools are consumables, expensive consumables at that. So are chucks, change gears, lead screws... basically everything on this thing will wear out.
If you want to get into home manufacturing on a tight budget, get a 3D printer. My Tevo Tarantula was $180. Even there, I still have to buy new end switches and hotend cartridges, not to mention filament, which is $20/kg for not-garbage stuff that won't clog. However, just like my 3D printer (more so, in fact). You can use this lathe to make parts that you then use on the lathe. say... brass change gears? making stuff for other people in your spare time can save you some cost. I've made a bit of cash printing stuff for people as well.
@@bertkutoob: " I think the comments regarding your financial status are thoughtless and unnecessary, not to say better have been left unsaid. "
Dude, the guy is talking about spending LESS than $100! Get real, we're just stating the facts, it's never going to happen. DFX2KX has some informative info about this above. FFS, he couldn't even buy much in the way of cutting tools for that and a lot of them he couldn't even dream about. You go and patronise his fantasy so he can feel destroyed when he discovers how little of anything to do with this he can buy with that money. Sure, there's those ultra cheap plasticy things that can be converted into a drill press a lathe and even a mill, but even they are more than that, without any tooling and they are absolute rubbish. No accuracy AT ALL and everything flexes. That's the sort of crap someone on a budget like his is going to aim for in the end and they are going to be extremely disappointed after saving so hard to only have a childs toy to play with.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668
You are a serious dipshit. Go read the original comments l was referring to, plus mine again. At no time do I encourage the thinking that he can get something serious for $150 or less. I fact I mention I can get one of these for $600 including shipping costs where I live so anyone paying $1000 is being ripped off.
Comments such as "only a fool" or "get a second job" have no bearing on the matter and I stand by my comment that they would better have been left unsaid
Plastic gears are fine. I got my 7x10 in 2008 and am still using the original gears. I have stalled the lathe taking too deep a cut a couple of time and none of the gears have broken. They have the double advantage that they are cheap to replace and self lubricating.
If your gears are tight on the shaft ream them to the correct diameter.
My two cents on upgrading the lathe. Do not put in a bigger motor or steel change gears or steel headstock gears. Just use the lathe as it is for projects and save your money to get a bigger more powerful better featured lathe if you find this one has shortcomings. This lathe is engineered so the power of the motor is appropriate to the materials and masses of the gears, castings, size of work that fits in the lathe and depth of cuts it can do and meet the accuracy of 1/1000th of an inch in the work. Upgrading to more horsepower and steel gears etc is asking for trouble as you run in to the limits of what the lathe is engineered to be able to do.
Have fun with your lathe.
I need to say, you are the most detailed and thorough teacher, salesman, and true machinist I ever heard. Respectfully you are knowledgeable of your craft, and simply entertaining to watch. I am a retired welder/craftsman with over 40 years experience being around mechanical devices and machine shops as well, love the content, keep up the great work 👍🏼
So my GORGEOUS Brazilian wife asks me, " Why do you always watch this guy when taking a break from fabricating parts for your bikes? "
My answer, " His voice. "
You have what many teachers lack, the ability to speak to us as if you personally know us. The ability to keep things interesting, and us to want to know more. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, while keeping things entertaining.
Yes bro he has discovery chanel voice that we love 😍🤣
Alan Alda voice
And at just the right speed, not too fast not too slow
Useless without pics of your wife.
@@susanss70spartymix77 need pics for verification "purposes " :P
How do we know you're not a giant?
Best comment ever! You made my morning. Best, @HoneyOnWales
@D2RG6 how exactly do you know this? Do you know of every camera ever invented? Or perhaps all the different ways to shoot large things with small cameras making the large thing seem of normal size. And the item of normal size smaller
😂
His kitten is a kitten, not tiger
I've been using a 7 x 14 for over 10 years for tooling and gunsmithing projects. I have chambered numerous extremely accurate barrels and blueprinted rifle actions to the point that the rifles are accurate enough for competition (5 shot groups under 0.025 at 100 yards). I have machined repair spigots for our swimming pool and countless other projects.
I can't post on the premium gunsmith forums because they laugh at anyone using one of these, but my results speak for themselves. And yes, I have heavily modified it for enhanced rigidity and increased spindle bore size for wider stock.
I've also used it to machine glass filter housings for one of my older cameras.
What were the most effective mods for adding rigidity? Adding a lock to the compound or replacing the compound all together seem the most obvious, but what else?
As a gun nut I call bullshit on the less than 1/4 MOA as that is almost impossible with today's technology let alone a $500 dollar budget lathe, as seeing at most u could only turn down pistol length barrels with it, and pistol caliber cartridges aren't even capable of 1 moa accuracy, ya know the only cartridges I can think of being capable of that kind of accuracy would be .408 cheytac, .416 barret and .375 cheytac. And all three of those cartridges would require a barrel that is longer than a mini lathe is capable of machining. So any other misinformation u care to spread Mr. Fudd?
@@how_about_no3287 for some reason I trust you more than that boomer
Boy now that has to be some mighty thin barrels. 0.75" through bore is enough for maybe 0.25" wall thickness on a .22 cal.
A .223 government profile will not fit nor would I try cutting threads on the machine.
@@ahole5407 Before we say the man is lying, consider what he said in his post about the gunsmithing. He said he "Chambered barrels" What does that mean? I am not a builder of firearms, and I don't know what that means. He also said he "blueprinted rifle actions." Blueprinting in the automotive world means repairing loose tolerances of parts, to get them all matching factory specifications, with no "lips" or "burs" that can cause loss of performance at the bleeding edge of performance.
On the topic of plastic/acetal gears:
Overall, remember folks, plastic gears don’t necessarily mean bad quality or that they will break or wear fast. Sometimes it’s actually a positive and some applications do a lot better with plastic gears than metal gears where said gears are not encased in an oiled gearbox but it always depends on the application as with absolutely anything in the universe.
Don’t poke it with a stick! You’ll just make it angry!
What would happen if it got angry? Whine and vibrate for a couple minutes?
@@miles11we
Don't test the temper
It can through bearings n gears at you if u persist to pester it
@@miles11we that little thing have 3 jaws and carry a cutter, with a tail that hit the dead center.
With description like this, cops will pull out their guns.
I was waiting for hornets 🐝 to come out of it.
At least that’s what usually happens when I poke things with a stick.
Send it to the Hydraulic Press Channel because the mini lathe is extremely dangerous and can attack at any time. So we must deal with it.
About once a month I come back and watch the very beginning of this video with him poking the lathe with a stick and lmao. Makes me happy.
(Edit) I'm gonna start making an edit on the first of every month to remind people to come back and see the glory of the minilathe. (edit) January 26 2023, well 2022 was an absolute sh!tshow, missed several months, here's hoping that 2023 isn't as crazy but I'm not holding my breath.(edit) Happy Valentines day! (edit) how's everyone enjoying this inflation? On a good note I bought a plasma cutting table, gonna be fun. (edit) Happy Thanksgiving 2023 y'all!
🤣
Same. And listen to him say "I bought a variable speed *minilathe*."
Straight Yoda move
"The feral cat in my bushes just had kittens and I don't know what to do with them..." - Love your humour!
Me too!!!
Tony, that was a very comprehensive review of an affordable tool. Glad to see the time travel again!
Ron! I’m so glad you watch Tony as well! You are a MASTER!!!
Ron,
Thank you for all you do for our community. Are you still producing books and DVDs?
Well, I have 19 DVDs available at this point, and 41 TH-cam videos. I'm working on a new DVD - Part 3 of the Roadster Body series. I'm just starting a series of articles on basic metalworking for Classic Trucks Magazine, and I've have had thoughts of expanding on those articles to do a book, but that's just in the planning stages at this point.
I love my minilathe. I've actually managed to do some titanium machining with it- the trick there is 1) get the soft annealed grade and 2) run it backwards with the tool installed upside down. That way the slop in the lathe means that the tool catches it retracts from the workpiece and has another go on the next rotation; in a "standard" configuration when the tool catches the slop allows it to really dig itself in, causing everything to stop very suddenly.
I came here to see a palm-sized micro lathe. I'm butt hurt it wasn't that at all :(
Clickbait
check watchmakers' lathes.
Disliked the video. So hacky
I've got a palm out in the backyard. Looks smaller than a palm to me.
Serj Houshmandzadeh the thumbnail also shows a mini lathe held in a hand with 8 fingers, wheres the freak?
All this content lately is starting to get suspicious. Is ToT stockpiling content during the year for the holiday season? Has he perfected Lathe Time Travel thus creating unlimited time to record and edit? Has ToT made more clones of himself? If so when is the real ToT on screen? Is he still alive or did the clones take over because Tony prime is stuck in a quantom time anomaly? I need answers!
I believe stockpiling during the time when there were very limited videos coming out. but maybe he solved the Causal loop and boot-strap paradox.
I suspect his workplace couldn't match the bucks he's getting from his videos and he quit his day-job. Pure speculation, but would be a shame - the world needs skilled engineers.
I think one of his editor traps might've sprung, allowing him to record much more raw footage and have videos automatically edited. Dunno what design of trap he used to catch them though.
I think it's a good time to upload, not everyone wants to watch Elf while farting in their onesie .
I think you are on to something.
I took the advise of a millwright I worked with. He told me to buy the mini lathe, learn to work around the limitations and turn out good parts. When I buy my next "real" lathe I can use all the tooling I purchased, and it will all seem too easy on a big machine after the mini lathe experience! I have crashed my little buddy, made new gears, rebuilt the head, and learned SO much I would not have had the chance to if I just got the new lathe up front. Also, I paid for that machine 5 times over making barrel tuners, comps, threading barrels, firing pins, and it works great when reloading ammo for case prep. Have fun, G>
The reason for the plastic gears is for safety, in gear boxes it's common to expect a overload and thusly the force needs to go through something that breaks on the upperlimit in order to protect the rest of the machine. Thusly this part will be easily replaceable and made of a lower strength material on purpose. With metal gearboxes this is normally a pin of a certain diametre that breaks
The larger lathes with true gear boxes will have a shear pin in them somewhere to handle just that problem. The shear pin will be in place of a key.
Dang. Like a mechanical equivalent of a fuse!
AvE buys a full blown CNC machine and you come in with the real heavy hitter. Touche Sir
Good observation lol I think there is more here than meets the eye.
The biggest difference is that ToT knows what he is doing and talking about :-O
It's not the size of a man's tool that matters....
Errrr yeah
Keep in mind AvE pretty much hung his balls on the Haas hook - the bank owns them both now.
@@johnrobinson357 Give a man a tool, and he'll complain about using it. Teach a man to tool, and he'll buy a welder, a lathe, a chest full of old junk, and a CNC machine.
It’s kinda like RepRap 3D printers.
What do you fabricate on minilathe? New parts for minilathe!
...and 'kinda' don't? Why would that be? Masterful command of language.
Most excellent advice on all accounts Tony! My first lathe was a Unimat SL when I was 12.
ATB, Robin
ROBRENZ, darn, I got a 6ft craftsmen wood lathe for my first, and am getting a smaller one.
I got a Unimat from an estate sale a while back. It came with a ton of tooling and accessories. I played with it for a while, but apparently there's a huge market for these things. I put it on eBay and doubled my money shortly after posting
My dad bought a Unimat SL when I was a teenager in the 1970s. I used it a lot for model rocketry (making nose cones out of balsa wood) and for a number of other projects in plastic and brass. Primitive by today's standards but I made a lot of things with it!
owned one just like this one shown for well over a year now, that being said i have been a machinist for over 40 years, love the little lathe and ive made hundreds of parts and finished lots of projects with it... one of my best investments
What would be your pick for a truly precision mini-lathe? Does anyone make one with steel gears. What would be your recommendation for a small lathe if money was no object? Thank you
Hi can you lathe the inside of the metal pipe with this machine? The video only test the kathe outside of the steel..
@@nasigeo2790 Sure, why not. If you have a tool long enough
I noticed you are wearing a ring on the left hand . . .
Does this mean you are very married . . . or just not particularly fond of that finger and want the lathe to remove for you ? ? ?
Hugh Moore 50/50
He's gonna need a bigger lathe if he wants to remove that finger.
@FoxRcng708
Well geeez . . . really cannot answer that one . . . until it happens ! ! !
but I can tell you from personal experience . . .
that some will rip your work gloves right off of your hands . . .
So I will let you figure out the remainder on your own . . .
@@TheMetalButcher
Ever hear of leverage and inertia . . . not to mention velocity
Accepted practice is to error on the side of caution . . . no matter how much it hurts ! ! !
@FoxRcng708
You reap what you sew . . .
Sow the wind . . .
Reap the whirlwind . . .
So What ! ! !
Reap Whatever . . .
think you should experiment with that one . . . then you will know ! ! !
Two companies make these lathes. The one that makes the one in this video is the better one. It has way wipers on the saddle. The apron is thicker and there are dual ball bearings on the carriage crank. It has a lash adjuster nut on the right end of the leadscrew. The sides of the saddle are straight which means more mass, plus easy to install a carriage clamp. Some importers have one installed on the right side. The headstock should be held to the bed with four bolts. They've also added the camlock to the tailstock.
The other manufacturer is where Harbor Freight buys their mini lathes. No way wipers. Thinner apron without bearings for the carriage crank. The headstock is likely still mounted with only three bolts. The saddle is "H" shaped, lighter weight. No camlock on the tailstock. No lash adjuster nut on the leadscrew. This manufacturer tends to really slop on the protective shipping grease that has to be cleaned off.
With either one, the manufacturer offers many features for the importer to select from. Typically companies that buy the cheaper one (like Harbor Freight) tend to only opt for the thread dial and leave everything else stock = cheapest. On the fancier one I've seen importers offering things like the carriage lock clamp. Odd that the one you bought doesn't have the thread dial.
A super easy improvement is to remove the lash adjuster nut (loosen the setscrew in its end) and support block then add a brass washer on the screw on either side of the support block. Then you can snug the nut up real close to improve surface finish and reduce jams and digging in (especially when facing) because the leadscrew can't move to the left.
There's a lot of little project that can be done with the lathe to improve the lathe. They're pretty well documented on the web. Spend the first several days on that stuff and you'll both learn how to use a metal lathe and make it better and more enjoyable for projects.
My first lathe was one of these better models (with threading dial), bought at a Homier mobile sale. I'd never used any lathe before but within minutes of getting it out of the box I was turning a piece for a project. I bought the lathe because I was tired of paying a machine shop $35 an hour to make things wrong. "I need this bore cleaned up and tapered *this* direction." Got the part back with the bore real nice, and tapered the wrong way! Fortunately there was enough metal left I was able to bore it straight, press in another piece of steel then taper it the right way.
My second lathe was a Grizzly 7x10, serial number 346. Likely from the very first batch they imported. I was at least the 3rd owner and it had been abused badly, due to how crappy it was. I was able to work it over to make it much better. Chinese tools have improved a lot in quality since the 1980's, if you're willing to pay a bit more. They'll still make crap if that's all you're willing to pay for.
Indeed, chinese just ask "What you are willing to pay for it?"; And makes it to that budget. If you say you want 10$ lathe, well... They'll make it for you, but don't expect much :)
Is there a site devoted to the mods you are talking about? I've been thinking about getting my first lathe for sometime, maybe it is time to do that :)
@@skaltura www.mini-lathe.com/
@@skaltura littlemachineshop.com
@skaltura absolutely correct👍🏻
It's similar to a 3D printer made from a kit, lots of your first projects are making parts to make the 3D printer print better, then making the same part in even nicer quality-repeat until satisfied. Did this with my part cooling fanduct, for instance. will eventually do so for all of the axis parts. I imagine you could really go ham and get something pretty nice after awhile.
I would get this lathe cutting reasonably well, then I'd use it to make the parts for a somewhat larger, but much nicer, handmade lathe piece by piece. and learn how to use a lathe while doing so.
Used the LMS version of this (and their mill) during my high school robotics years, where we worked just about exclusively on aluminum and brass, not bad for someone who has no experience with proper tools. Pretty good for learning and screwing up inexpensively
well it's a lathe th-cam.com/users/postUgkxN9zrzkkhnjUF5PQbuA_B1gYdsfCu9k6z but it wasn't what i would have anticipated. Headstock, tailstock, carriage apron are manufactured from aluminum now not cast iron. The spindle diameter for the bearings is too small allowing for a few play in the spindle so I am using some blue Loctite to take out the play.
Depends on how many fingers you still have.
IMO these would be great for teaching an "intro to machining" class in high school. Feeds and speeds and design parameters/constraints are the same, just scale them up for a big machine. Just need a mini mill, 3d printer, laser cutter, and design program and you could have a super informative class.
I also started out with one of these, but mine was the "very popular" 7X10 (really a 7X8)Mini Lathe from Harbor freight. This became a 7X16 with the LMS kit. Later it was sold for a 8-1/2X20 bench lathe from LMS. I also got a LMS Mini Mill, this was traded for the next size up, the Bench Mill also from LMS. I learned a lot with my little toy (and videos from you. the 1" punch is especially useful) and now have a brand new Clausing 15X50 lathe and 10X54 Mill I get to play with at work. The learning never stops
The ability to make whatever you need is amazing.
I agree it can be very useful to keep a smaller lathe around the shop for delicate work. Personally I like to chuck my mini lathe into the full size one which naturally doubles my productivity
Would you be able to give me some advice on where to get a cheap lathe that I can make wooden bowls with please? I don't have much money, so I'm hoping to find something cheap. I'll even do it by hand if necessary, I just need to know the bare minimum tools I'd need to get the job done. I'd really appreciate some advice! I want to be able to make some money selling them to help my family. I have a pyrography pen, and I'm hoping to make bowls and things of that nature, burn designs into them, and hopefully turn a small profit in time☺️
If you want a better surface on aluminum with hard metal cutting tools, It's better to use coolant lubricant, this metal tends to melt right on the cutting edge and create small "sticky" like bits looking like what you had at 7:30. Great video by the way, you're really explaining stuff in a way that is easy to understand :D
I bought mine used five years ago. I use it almost every day as a hobby (I'm retired). I like the challenge of working around the shortcomings.
Well, if it will help anybody, and not to contradict the Boss..... But I have a little 7x10, that about 10 to 12 years ago, completely reworked, which my channel lightly covers, but never mind that, I have over 19,000 hours on my little lathe of actually on/running time, and yes, I installed an hour meter on mine, and over 90 % of the "on-time" is cutting the various alloys of steel, and of course, the other 10 % is of softer stuff, I love my little lathe!!!! It has made me allot of money, I have slowed down as of lately, so I am not taking on new projects, while I heal up my back, but, after the rework of the lathe, it is one precise piece of machinery, and can hold a (0.0005" ) all day long upon demand, please note, right out of the box, no, it will not do that, maybe (0.003" to 0.005" ) but will not be repeatable or predictable, lol... But try looking at these little machines as projects themselves, with the goal in mind, to make it a precise little machine... that 19,000 hours of actually on / running time is no joke!!!!! I have run the day lights out of it, and not a single issue, grease them often, oil them all the time, even when not in use, keep them clean, and do not ask this dinky machine to do more then it can, a (0.010" to 0.020" ) depth of cut on a factory set up unit, is all you should expect, now my little "jet engine" as it is know as, can easily bite off (0.030" to 0.045" ) depth of cut. But, just because I know it can do it, I still just plug away at (0.015" ) and just enjoy the process, and appreciate the fact, that I have the little lathe and milling machines, as that is all the money I had would permit at the time when I got them... Yes!!! I love my little machines.. a side note, I still am asked to do precise turning on mine, even though the customers have their own lathes, but, the time required to set up a 14x70 inch lathe, to Nick off a wee bit of skin milk, they just can't hold the tolerance, let alone as fast as I can with how simple this little machine allows me too... Tony is correct in the length issue, shoot for the longest bed you can afford, or, if you know factually that you will never need to turn anything longer the 8 to 10 inches, then your are golden with a 7x10, but .... you never know what fun things will come down the road, that you can turn... I can't go into any details, but one of my gun barrels went to competition 4 years ago, and came in 4th place upon accuracy traps out of either 37 or 47 other competitors... Just saying, that I was competition against folks who made their barrels on $1,000,000.00 machines, and my little machine cost $900.00 bucks... Lol .... enjoy the machine for what they are, Chinese junk, but with a wee bit of rework, you will be glade you have the unit! Dru
@@lifuranph.d.9440 Oh, absolutely!!! Very well said, but, these need a wee bit more TLC, then the old school castings of vintage machines. The castings are really soft, of course strong enough to monkey around, but scratches on the bed ways come very fast, as an example. I wipe clean constantly with paint brushes, in my opinion, is a must, which is I small part of why I completely re-machined and ground all mating & sliding surfaces while putting alignment into the out of alignment set up they had, and re-flame hardened the bed ways and hand scraped all the dove tails ways, added way wipers or felt wipers to each of the respective areas and still, squirt oil all over everything, which is something that my tables (by my design) allows me to do, as all the oils / cutting fluids are gravity flowed to a catch basin, which lets me continuously re-fill my lil squirt cans, to continue using the oil endlessly. So all the oils simply drip off the machines and funnel to one side of the tables into a chip trap, and then into a jug, that has one of those flippy valves on each table like what one finds on a water cooler, for ease of re-filling the oil cans. Not to sound like a parrot, just saying that I suppose it is easier for me to slop oil all over my dinky machines and not create a mess, as it is all self contained. With in approx one month of the machine learning curve, the ways got trashed,when the machines were new and didn't think I was doing anything wrong, as I did clean the excessive swarf/chips away and did oil things often, but still scratched morbidly... Well, after the improvements & mods, I didn't want that to happen again, so, oil on the contact sliding ways has 99% eliminated scratches. Or at least any heavy ones, it simply is that soft junk cast material/alloy. Please note, I am not an expert on anything, rather, just really enjoyed doing the best I could come up with ways to improve this little machine, and I learned so much while doing it!!! Mind you, it was very time consuming, as I had to blue print everything, while it is together, then tear it apart, blue print some more, then design the stuff that would allow for more advantages and efficiencies, and ease of operation, and smoothness. Ball bearings installed, where there was none, or to replace where oil-lite bronze bushings were. Thrust roller bearings in a few key locations, like the lead screws. The entire gear train is sealed roller ball bearings. A sure mounting method for the motor mount that allows for 3 axis of adjustment. Then after designing everything on paper and CAD, I assembled the mini lathe, and then made all the parts, once the parts were made, tear the lathe back apart, modify the lathe parts and tried those up, installed the newly made upgrade parts, rd-assembled the lathe, aligned everything... 19,000 plus hours later... lol... Very time consuming doing it this way. At that time, I didn't have another machine that would let me make them . Anyway, the gear train from motor to Chuck & lead screw's efficiency went up by 70% to 80%, from what the factory was, respective frictional loads on to the voltage & current measurements which is also why or how I can have a 800 watt 90 volt @ 1/3 up motor, hog (0.050" ), which is huge for a dinky machine and still have a wonderful and accurate finish. I do not like to do that though, just no need to, as I am never in a hurry for anything. Wow, I wrote another novel again, I am sorry, I just get so excited talking about my dinky "jet engine sounding lathe", I suppose I could have simply stated, (((yup!))) And all woulda been well... Lol yes, I agree with you sir, Dru
I found the 2019 updated version of this lathe and they fixed all the problems adding a brushless motor in place of the brush motor and metal instead of plastic gears also has a lcd screen for speed and feed. It also comes in at $200 cheaper now. (Australian currency at least)
@seaplaymarine9828 Hi, thanks for the info ! Do you remember the reference/name of that lathe ? That would be very useful for me starting into machining
The best mini lathe I ever used was a Myford ML7, it was amazing what that little machine would produce. At work we had rows of lathes and mills, The smallest was a Ward 2A and one of the biggest was a Herbert 9B30, that was huge, if I remember correctly the bed was about 20 feet and the depth (centre to bed) was about 48". Most of the lathes in the works were Colchester, Ward and Herbert. In the 60's I went to a machine shop in Birmingham and they had a lathe that was a giant, I don't know who made it but I think the workshop was built around it. They were turning huge crankshafts for either boat or train engines.
*_MINI LATHE CREW!!_*
The plastic change gears are the first thing everyone notices and is uneasy about, but I haven't yet had any issues with them stripping at all; the stress seems to be absorbed into the leadscrew and generally not great enough at the change gears. The issue, however, is inside the headstock are the gears for the High/Low speed setting, and they are plastic. It's, unfortunately, an objectively poor part of the design and definitely a weak spot. If you were to drop hard earned money on upgrades, I'd start with replacing the gears inside the headstock (they will absolutely strip and then the lathe will be dead in the water). On mine (grizzly, so whichever factory it came out of but same basic machine) the lever on the back that controls the lead screw engagement likes to pop out, it just doesn't have enough holding power and so you can lose your place when cutting a thread. I just put a block of steel under it to hold it in place. Well, I did until I got a south bend. People love to hate on these lathes but they'll do a whole lot (with the little tiny carbide insert tooling I got super awesome finishes on heat treated 17-4ph, and tons of other relatively tough materials)
Ah, good to hear about the plastic gears. I have the metal ones. And yes, I do some 17-4ph too with crazy good results. I have even done titanium:). I am using inserts specified for alu on everything and I think it works because they are quite sharp.
As for the head stock change gears, ToT's doesn't have that and a lot of the blue lathes don't either. (bear in mind, these are sold in all sorts of colors). That's a setup that's meant for the more powerful brushless motors but watch out as I think a lot of the newer "gearless" blue lathes don't come with the brushless motor... So, no low speed gear and still the older, less powerful brushed motor. Mine came like that and I suspect ToT's did, too.
Thank you for a great video and lots of sound advice, That is why I decided to ask your expert advice I bought an old Chinese bench lathe sight unseen on eBay a few weeks ago,I was pleasantly surprised on pick up that apart from surface rust and being covered in dust It appeared to be in sound condition . It is a Huangshan CQ9330 model ,no Idea of the age but it cleaned up well and after adjustments to all gibs ,and making and fitting the missing tail stock gib have had really good results on a few projects in steel The lathe is belt driven . With all steel gearing . Impressed with the general construction In the process of a complete strip down to replace suspect headstock taper roller bearings “a bit nosy ,but look ok ?? “. The strip down is just to see may have been worn Every thing looks perfect except the bearings and the drive belts.
My main problem is that I can find no information on the lathe Hope you or some of your followers could help , I have a mechanical background but have limited turning skills T.I.A
Oh Tony, what have you done?
I am trying to be a reasonable guy. As an IT person, the only thing I am qualified to operate is a computer. But now I want to buy a lathe... A sane person would chose the right tool after identifying the task. Instead, I now want to have a tool and will look for projects later. That is not very responsible and it's your fault...
Thanks for your entertaining content, this all makes me think outside my "normal" parameters.
lol, isn't it funny how that works.
Yes, it isn't.
First project get and arduino or a raspberry pi and maki it a cnc lathe.
With that money you could have an old big an solid lathe with lot of tools ! I don't really understand why TOT make advertising for this chinese crap ! : (
@@TJ-ed8xg Well, at least I do not have space for an old big and solid lathe. But I can fit a toy grade lathe like that one. So as always, it is supply and demand ;)
Yes indeed. ToT makes most other reviews look like crap. Very comprehensive, showing real life usage, limits, cons, pros.. way to go. Master.
For us mortals that know nothing about lathes, materials, etc, it was very informative
I have this lathe, albeit a copy from the UK’s machine mart, the cl300m. I’m new to turning and agree with Tony, this thing loves soft metals, aluminium is a walk in the park. Steel though... yeah go slow and go careful. Being new to this it has to be said I’m really enjoying this lathe and do plan on upgrading in the future, but for now its a welcome addition to my little workshop, and I’d actually be lost without it. Know its limitations and work within them and you’ll be fine.
I don't know anything about metal working, but I watch every video.
There's so much cheap Chinese machinery in my garage that sometimes it feels like I should hang a flag in there too, just to be consistent.
Nothing wrong with buying cheap if you're just buying for yourself. If you're planning on making money off of it though, don't skimp on the good tooling. I'm a landscaper, and I can't bear to look at residential-grade mowers any more. They're crap to me now.
@@BlackEpyon So what is your recommended home mower and weed whacker?
@@SiXiam The ride-on mower I use, a Walker T23, costs around $12k-13k, depending on the retailer www.walker.com/models/t23/
I got bought mine used from my old boss when he retired. 8 years old, and aside from some welding I need to do on the rim of the deck (where it contacts soft curbs), a few bearings I need to replace, and needing to be stripped down and re-painted, it's still going strong. These things are workhorses. The parts are standardized across most of their models (no obsolescence to worry about), and EVERYTHING is serviceable if you've the tools and the know-how.
For a walk-behind mower, I'd go with an Exmark Commercial 21 X-Series. Retail around $1600. Self-propelled (scales hills easily), very manoeuvrable, very powerful. The blade and drive are controlled by separate control bars on the handle. I have 3 of these mowers, so unfortunately I know what parts commonly wear out with regular usage (I like to keep spare parts on hand), but this is offset by how powerful and easy to use they are. www.exmark.com/products/mowers/walk-behind/commercial-21/commercial21-x-series#ReviewHeader
I've also got a Honda HRC 216, but I only use it as a spare unit. It's difficult to handle in tight areas and the drive and blade are controlled on the same handle (though one of my guys prefered this machine over the Exmarks), but the micro-cut system, which comprises of two blades stacked and offset, gives the smoothest cut I've seen on a walk-behind mower. It also uses a hydrostatic drive, so there's no belt to wear out. Retail about $1400. A lot of landscapers use this mower. powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/models/hrc216hxa
For weed whackers, I prefer Shindaiwa. The T235 is lightweight and good for everyday trimming (around $340), but for heavier stuff (hills, long grass and brush) I use a T282X (about $550) www.shindaiwa.ca/Products/Trimmers.aspx Sthil and Maruyama are also popular.
For home, you can use whatever your budget permits. But if you're cutting all day everyday, you need commercial units, and the ones I listed above are ALL commercial units. All prices Canadian.
@@SiXiam as for weed wacker i like using the echo SRM-266T good running machine for the price. will cut thick weeds like nothing
@@BlackEpyon Thank you for the detailed response. I'll keep them in mind. Think I need a new push mower for next summer.
I want one of these.
Watching these videos takes me back to my engineering apprenticeship days. We had (a small one) a Colchester Student Lathe MK1 3 Jaw chuck as well as (a bigger standard sized one) a Harrison Alpha 550 Plus CNC lathe that I would work on. The colchester for one off pieces or small batches jobs and the Harrison Alpha 550 Plus CNC lathe for larger batch jobs and items that were needing a bigger chuck. Loved working with the both new and old lathes we had.
Cant remember what the make of lathe was we used at college but it would have been the size of the Harrison alpha but manual. Good days in hindsight, Lol
I would love to have a small or mini lathe as that is all that I could fit in the garage as they're great machines to work with.
Maybe one day I will be able to get myself organised enough to purchase one and get back to turning out some mini projects.
I have one just like this. Yes base price $600.00-$700.00 and I probably have about that much invested in various cutters and tools for it. I’ve had it for a bit over a year. I run it easy as I don’t punch a time clock. I use it to learn and have fun. They told me in June just over a month ago I have lung cancer. It’s spreading. I need to sell all I can to raise money for medical treatment. I’ll sell this lathe and even the table it’s mounted on and everything I’ve bought for it. Approximately $1,400.00-$1,600.00 invested total. I’ll sell everything for $750.00 OBO. Text at 620 951 8017. greaper132654@yahoo.com
The Harbor Freight mini was my 1st home lathe. When I got mine I found the same shortcomings as you did. But when it was all bolted down,( I made the bench from 4x4s notched and drawn together by 5/8 threaded rod. This thing, when set up and leveled was as accurate as my Clausing lathe in my shop. I got the mini because of space issues at home. The one thing you don,t want to do is make it work harder than it was designed for. Even when you start popping fuses, the overload takes its toll on the circuit boards. Soon you have a tiny dead machine. They are excellent small part machines if they are not worked to death.
You're suppose to use the lathe to make new gears.
people dont get that, they just want to hack at a project and go or just dont want to chistle out all them teeth.
you don't use a lathe to cut gears you need a horizontal mill with a dividing head
@@breakingtoast2255 you can make gears on a lathe just not this kind you have to hob them not turn them... and a lathe c axis is way more accurate then an A axis attachment for a VMC
@@fishsticks88 yes i know it can be done on the lathe but id use mill
@@fishsticks88 use horizontal mill not vertical with form cutting tools most of your prep work can be done on the lathe and as for hobbing its usually used to cut repetitive cuts into gear blanks that are set up for the cut already
Confucius said “It’s better to have empty wallet from buying cheap Chinese machining equipment, than empty wallet from materialistic girlfriend.”
Girlfriends are over rated.. Pay a Professional.. In the long run, they are a hell of a lot cheaper, don't talk back and obey .. Now you can buy a cheap Milling machine to go with the cheap lathe without a dinner and movie first..
@Bob lol did he strike a nerve from you?
Teach it Ron! Hurrah!
Confucius was chinese, thus this is probably chinese commie propaganda
Confucius also said: "don't be a misogynistic dick.
Mine paid for my bridgeport, I also replaced the chuck with a 4"
The power board did die a few months ago but they're standard DC boards so easy to replace. One day I'll get an adult size lathe to match the adult sized knee mil :)
Not sure why I'm watching a video on a mini-lathe, but I do know a quality, well-produced video when I see one. Great job, Tony.
My son and I have the Optimum version of this - the TU2004 (sort of a D180x300) and it seems better on lots of accounts. Has carriage lock, metal gears, thread dial (although I don't use it and just reverse) and nice little brass oilers everywhere and it is metric!. Plus it has RPM gauge but similar 600W motor. Our issue is we lack space. The thing has been surprisingly effective for lots of little projects. Son is currently building a Myfordboy engine. Also 20mm headstock is not bad if you compare it to Myfords or boxfords etc. Plus it has a bolted on chuck with a pretty standard hole pattern. Stuff I don't like - getting the gears meshed right so it doesn't grind is a messy pain. Engaging half-nuts is a hit-and-miss affair which makes the thread dial pretty tricky to use even if you want to. Chuck guard isn't easy to remove and sometimes touches the chuck. Has same feed rate issue but we use carbide and run at higher RPM usually (small parts) anyway (pretty sure it has much more power at higher RPM as the motor is PWMed DC)
i broke down and bought one of these, knowing it's faults. it was barely over 500 on the amazon after the 5% from having the card. it was mostly to make parts for cars and rc airplanes and stuff. your videos have been a great start for sure, thanks
When I was a kid I used to play on my father's lathe which was about this size. I used to make projectiles out of pencils and pens for my air pistol (which takes the same pellets as the compressed air rifle you showed a few videos back).
0:20 To this day, I have to actively stop myself from saying "Minila-The" in casual conversation. Thank you for incepting this into my head.
Just made similar comments before reading yours.
the Correct answer to the question is :
"sure, go ahead and buy one, your first lathe project will be gear-making"
That's exactly what I was thinking: can't I just look at a couple guides for improving the parts? Use a tool to make a better tool
@@cdgonepotatoes4219 that's what happened with my 3d printer, my plan for a lathe is look for a secondhand lathe.
ROFLMAO!!!
Now you will also need a mill to do the gears once the blanks have been turned.....and tooling for the mill too.
@@gangleweed no, you can cut gear teeth on a lathe.
The Latin version
Cheapus Lathium Chinesium
Pure high quality chinesium
chee chinee. free po
The Latin is surely 'cuntium fuckies cheapilathe
Biggus Dickus
Clickbait.
There are no palm-top lathes in this video >:(
Use a toy car motor
thanks, that’s the only reason WHY I clicked on this video!!! RIP OFF!!!
yeah he got metoo.i just wanted toseeamini lathe in action just seemcool.
joke, humour, funny.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I got clickbaited
So did you.
15:16 Having some experience building remote controlled race cars I can pretty much tell you that plastic gears are actually superior than metal gears. This is due to the fact that plastic gears can hold higher temperature better than metal gears when it's spinning at higher revolutions, I can't tell you how many transmissions we fried when using metal gears. At least when plastic gear's teeth broke you only need to change those gears protecting the whole unit.
yea that's what I was thinking 'maybe ruins the tooling' he explained that the tooling could be hundreds of dollars and stripping the gears is like 20$? seems better.
As someone how never did any "physical work" (working with wood, steel, 3D printing, foam, anything with tools, etc) and only watches it on TH-cam (i.e. This Old Tony, I like to make Stuff, Odin Makes, etc), I never knew how these machines are called, but now I know what I'm definitely going to buy as one of the first machines, if I ever start anything in that direction!
The first (wood) lathes date from c.1300 BCE in Ancient Egypt. Metal cutting lathes date from the mid-18th century. The first fully documented, all-metal slide rest lathe was invented by Jacques de Vaucanson c.1751. Original Egyptian lathes are probably hard to come by, and the few remaining 18th century machine lathes are very expensive. Probably best to consider a readily available present day lathe.
Tony, try this out! Use alcohol as a lubricant when cutting aluminum. I noticed the chafing in the threads... As an electrician, we cut and thread aluminum conduit fairly often. Believe it or not, ALCOHOL works better than oil. As in simple rubbing alcohol. We buy it by the gallon and get it cheaper and higher percentage. Then a simple squirt spray bottle. Takes very very little to make it work. half squirts every second or so. Try it out. Mirror finish on threads using the typical rigid threader. I bet you'll be shocked how well it works. Evaporates... no clean up. SWEET!!!
Very interesting. Thanks for the info.
sounds like a fire hazard. but interesting idea.
WD-40 works wonders as well 😉
As does the right inserts , those gold coloured ones are usually just for mild steel and such.
Aluminium requires a SHARP edge to cut clean.
+Yuck Foutube Tap magic is awesome! But alcohol kicks ass on aluminum!
Diesel works fairly well too without the fire hazard or the instant vapors.
forget aftershave, golf-balls, whiskey, this Christmas buy him a lathe,
And some goggles.
and a safety tie, never forget the safety tie!
@@Sharpless2 we used to have one of them. It was a mangled tie which somebody had been wearing as it sucked them into the machine. It was very oily, and very shredded.
We did not need a "tuck your tie in" sign. We had a safety tie.
Mine's a v neck jumper or waistcoat. Goes with the tie.
@@weareallbeingwatched4602 i guess thats the best way to show people that rotating tools can be lethal easily. But i think you missed the joke.
@@Sharpless2 I got the joke. I have seen the safety tie first hand.
@Netflix should give Tony a special where he brings his lathe. I’d watch.
I think you now have to demonstrate how to use a treadmill motor.
what about belting a 25cc weedeater engine ??
@@rwbimbie5854 I have a need for my weedeater, not for my neighbors glorified coat rack. :P
What's wrong with a cage, belt, and twin hamsters? Might have to stiffen the bed with 2 coats of paint to handle the extra torque though, but do-able.
Most treadmill motors are brushed high torque DC, you would only need a single belt not a bunch of gears. That said, why doesn't someone just use a large hobby brushless motor with a VFD/ESC with a single belt to the spindle, would make an awesome mini lathe without all the gearing.
Bought my mini lathe about 5 ears ago, and I love it. Has done everything I have asked of it. Liked it so much that I then bought the mini milling machine.
I did the same thing. LOADS of fun.
I'm in Hawaii on vacation watching this... it's what I do to relax.
Sucks to be you.....next time read the world knowledge AND LEARN MACHINE TOOLS AND DIGITAL MANUFACTURING IT MIGHT HELP YOU A LOT
Yeah, vacationing in Hawaii is never relaxing enough.
I'm in Hawaii born and raised watching this
This looks like a fantastic way to teach someone how to use a lathe without the potential danger
Well... Ok, some danger; but it's a lot less likely to grievously wound you.
Tony, you're killing me! Or rather you're killing my time left (I'm 74) on this side of the grass. I clicked on the main page "Infamous Mini - Lathe!" link but I was redirected to one of your Bending JIG videos. Unfortunately I have an addiction that I found to be common among the HSM community. So when that video started and all that beautiful, thick, heavy gauge, shiny, rust free steel filled my eyes I couldn't make myself click the stop button!
Ok, I'm still typing because you set the hook that had me dancing like our Florida Wahoo on the end of the line! Glad I did though, cause I've pondered owning one of those mini's for years. Fortunately or unfortunately, ....(my wife would say fortunately) my machines, tools and instruments have long out grown the size of my shop. That said, if I fell on a deal that I just couldn't resist I'm sure I'd bite the hook. Hmmm,... maybe if I knock out the north wall of my shop????
Now I really gotta get off my butt and make some of my own chips. But before I do that I'll leave saying there's an enormous amount of DIY, HSM, etc content on TH-cam. That said, there's only a small percentage of that content that has the video skills that you have. Add your shop-practice habits and tool / machine respect ..... What more can I say? You've got, yet another in an ever growing list of loyal fans!
Thank you and 73's,
Chris
"The feral cat in my bushes just had kittens and I don't know what to do with them..." - Love your humour!
So you're saying metal gears are more solid?
Is a metal gear solid, you're asking?
Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake
*_!_*
It's almost saturation point that you hear so many arm-chair critics on various machinists forums FB groups and websites that dump all over Chinese Mini-Lathes. I get thoroughly sick of it. They'd do themselves a favour by showing some humility by giving credit to these budget lathes in spite of their faults and shortcomings for bringing so many people into the noble and fascinating hobby and vocation of engineering than at any time in human history.
Oh boy, a half hour video about a piece of gear I may actually be able to fit in my -shop- closet?
Edit: Well, it looks like, eventually, I'd just build a bigger shop and get an old iron lathe.
@excited box I have exact same one mine to my door was $450. Never seen that tool post holder he got before that looks like it has some robust compared to the aluminium one we see everywhere. Metal gears only seem available for the common brands like grizzly little machine shop ect ect wonder where he found those?
one minute 15 seconds in- SUBSCRIBED- I like this guy's personality type lol
Lol check out AvE if you havent already.
I like his personality too
Same here:)
Same
This Old Tony, you're more fun to watch than 95% of what's on television these days. :-)
That's actually a pretty low bar these days...[Not to disparrage the intended point you make which I completely agree with]
Just a sign of the times; language needs to replace the word _Television/Cable_ in this usage context with a new broadcast industry not marketed at Social Security recipients still getting cable because it's all they know and their TV keeps telling them how dangerous the internet is!
Stupid Television 66% commercials (75-80% during football)
all for Government-babied industries like CreditCards, Insurance, Pharmaceutics, Banks, and MORE CABLE
God ain’t that the truth. Netflix & Hulu included. I spend as much (wasted) time scrolling threw the search as I do actually watching something. 🙄
I don't even pay for television anymore lol. Either I'm in the garage, watching TH-cam, or playing video games.
@@iamawelder -- I think that's by design. The _illusion of choice_ becomes the product and by the time you have satisfied your desire for choices, you no longer have time to actually stream a whole movie, or you no longer care to watch anything because your brain has already entered an analytic mode not a _relax and enjoy the arts_ mode with which you began. Either way, pushes up margins by reducing actual streaming costs on Netflix's end.
where's this 5% of watchable TV you speak of
I need you to construct, a rudimentary lathe....
-Security Chief Guy Ingersol
(Crewman #5)
A lathe?! Get off the line, Guy!
My daughter said she wish she could have video taped that for you .... lol
“Metal Gear”
-Solid Snake
solid snape
Yay ! ToT came back to the Mini Lathe Club !
Mine turned tapers every time, right out of the box, then the motor blew up.
Great fun trying to add a washing machine motor.
These things are such great Fun.
CNC mini lathe ? Ooooh yeah. Game on.
Watch carefully ... I think this one too cuts a taper .. but he did say he hasn't leveled it.
I got one of these, and did as you suggested and threw on some annular contact bearings, it's made a world of difference in my spindle rigidity I can use a parting tool in it now that wasn't even an option before, not for lack of trying.
First rule in Time Travel:
The Temporal Field Generator is always “ON”
Rule 2: No lathe can be used for time travel past the time of purchase until it's made a considerable number of parts.
Lots of inapropriate comments here. If someone buys a mini lathe there is a reason; money or space or kind of work you are going to take. You do not need a 5 tons lathe to make small soft metal parts. TOT correctly said: a small lathe is better than no lathe. These lathe are very precise if you know how to use and treat them. I own a 7x14 and suits me perfectly. Cheap talking are often a show off of nothing uhu?
Use any machine within it's design envelope and it will serve you well.
[tl;dr: *more* speed = *more* torque = more better, do NOT lower the RPM on this lathe for heavy cuts] Just a little note here about the DC motor speed to power relationship and why it seemed to stall and struggle so much when you tried HSS tooling at low RPM: it's almost certainly a simple two terminal brushed permanent magnet DC motor and the only way to control the speed of such a motor is to adjust the supply voltage. That is, to lower the no-load RPM, you supply it with a lower voltage. As a result, you're supplying less power (lower voltage over the same impedance means less current, means less power), and less power means less torque.
In other words: while it is true that "DC motors have more torque at low speed", this statement is somewhat misleading here - certainly, a speed-torque curve of such a motor, which is in fact more like a speed-torque straight line, shows a very simple inverse relationship between speed and torque, but this relationship holds *at a specific voltage*. It doesn't say "if you turn the speed knob down, the motor turns slower but has more torque", it says "as you apply a mechanical load to the motor forcing it to exert torque, its speed drops, all else being equal". If that sounds kind of backwards, that's because this relationship works in both directions, neither speed nor torque is inherently subordinate on the other.
Look up "brushed DC motor speed torque curve" on google images and look for one that shows several "curves" overlaid on a single graph. They're each labeled with a specific supply voltage and let you know what the motor's speed going to be at this voltage, given that much torque trying to make it stop (strictly speaking: given whatever force trying to make it stop that requires the motor to produce this much torque to keep going anyway).
You can clearly see two things on such a graph:
1. Under no load (where the curves hit the speed axis, which coincides with 0 on the torque axis), the motor's speed is determined by the supply voltage - so if you want a lower *no load* speed, you must lower the voltage, there's no other way to do it. That's what the knob on the lathe does.
2. As you lower the voltage, the maximum torque (where the curves hit the torque axis, which coincides with 0 on the speed axis - that is, a stall) gets lower.
The practical takeaway here is: if you have a mini lathe with a brushed PM DC motor, you want to run it as fast as is reasonably possible for a given cut to get maximum torque.
Admittedly, the motor controller might be doing some sort of speed regulation feedback if there's a spindle encoder in the headstock, in which case it does bump the voltage up as you start cutting, to try to get the motor to turn at the requested speed despite the load applied, but even then, by setting a low maximum speed, you put it at a disadvantage. More speed means more inertia and more stored energy at the start of a heavy cut, which gives the controller a little bit more time to react and bump the voltage to the max before the motor stalls. Additionally, even *if* it does have feedback, it's probably pretty dumb and slow to react, so it's very likely to be designed to avoid speed overshoot on torque drop by limiting the maximum motor voltage depending on set speed anyway.
Also: if you want better, you don't want a brushed DC motor at all, even a bigger one. You want a 3-phase AC motor with a vector VFD. You don't even need a 3-phase power outlet for that, there are sub-1kW VFDs that take single phase power and output 3-phase, albeit at the supply's phase-to-neutral voltage, which is not a problem at all if you wire your motor in delta configuration. Just make it absolutely sure to get a vector drive VFD, and not a scalar one. Simply look for "vector" or "scalar" in the product description. Vector drives are much better at very low RPMs and maintain speed more accurately across sudden torque changes. They cost 10-20% more than scalar versions.
The gains for a machine tool are well worth that difference.
A 750W motor that should fit in place of the original one can be bought for as little as $50 new and a suitable VFD can be found for $120 new. INVT Goodrive10 and Goodrive20 series are pretty decent for an officially chinese product and fall in that price range.
The motor on mine is brushless DC, has masses of toque at low speeds.
Only a Polish guy could come up with such elaborate explanation. Thank you for the bit on vector drive, cheers mate :)
@@fredgenius Good for you. Those lathes are configure-to-order, so long as the order is large enough - so if you're a hardware store owner and want to sell those, you can get them customized however you want, with as much or as little improvement over the cheapest base model as you wish. Tony said he got the cheapest one he could find and it shows (look at the front label, they gave so few fucks that there's no model number or anything filled in!), so there's a pretty damn high chance he got it with the cheapest motor type, which is brushed DC. The one I bought when I was in high school had a brushed DC motor too and it stalled at low speeds just like Tony's.
Yours is a notch or two higher on the extra features scale, so you got a better motor.
And don't even get me started on the whole "brushless DC motor" thing, this is the dumbest misnomer the whole electrical industry ever came up with. Those are permanent magnet AC motors, but they're called "DC" because they don't take *line-level* AC supply directly from a power outlet and are typically used in the same roles that brushed DC motors were in the past (or still are in cheaper machines, obviously).
It's the cheapest possible machine, so speed control is probably just a rheostat between supply and the motor.
@@quiescentnexus The brushless DC motors also can run on pulsed DC so they are not misnamed. I actually run one on 350VAC 300Hz so it is capable of running at line level voltages also. 240V is at 208Hz and 60Hz is at about 70Volts. Brushed DC motors is a misnomer also as they are often universal motors and will run on AC or DC.
Jewelers' collet lathes made in the 1920s and 1930s were interesting toys too.
Tony, i hearby crown you "king of the thumbnail makers".
I won't lie. I thought somebody made a hand sized lathe. Then he starts poking it with what looks like a stick.
@@BlackEpyon i know me too! i think it's a fantastic thumbnail!
TOT is certainly the king of the thumbnail eaters...;-)
+Julian HG
It's called clickbait.
You're right Tony, I find Metal Gears Solid! 😆🙄👀👍
I’ll get your coat 😂
Made my day
About 8 years ago I got a job to cut final length and radius on cable ends and cut the lead in on the copper tube fittings that go into them. I contacted a company in Brazil that was willing to make me a high speed Swiss type machine with hopper that would do it all automatically for 225,000.00. No way would the job make that kind of money. I bought a smaller version than yours. 7" by 10". Had to spend some time truing the tail stock. Other than that, it was pretty good. I made two arbors to mount the parts, hand ground 2 carbide tools and was on the road. Lathe cost me a little over 600.00. I ended up making well over 20 times that cost in the first order. Of course, I still had to sit there and make 225,00.00 of these damn things. Now my son runs those on the very same lathe.
Perfect size for making cool dead bugs encased in fau amber, and shift knobs. Perfect size for many things that fit in your hand
Text on the box should say "Mini-Lathe KIT". I think buyers of both the chinesium priced lathes and milling machines would have a much better attitude if Sieg admitted that they are making are the basic, stripped down machines. All the "extras" can be (must be!) added from third party vendors. Sieg hits a price point for all the resellers they make machines for... and the magic word is PRICE POINT!
That said, Sieg gives access to lots of folks who couldn't/wouldn't fork out the bucks for a "real machine", including me. It's a great way to get started.
Couldn't agree more. I've now spent over $1300 on my 7x14 including tooling and accessories. Admitedly, every time I use it I wish that $1300 was a Hercus, myford, atlas, etc, etc but I'd never in my life be able to justify spending that much on something I didn't know if i'd enjoy using or be any good at.
I think in the next 2 years I'll upgrade to something bigger and better but I just blew the motor on my 7x14 and picked up a 1.5KW motor to replace it so it should do me for quite some time yet.
Your sense of humor is machined to precision. Which lathe did you use for that?
My only objection is the bad practice of chopping out silence. There are _supposed_ to be timings between sentences.
I don't mean the lengthy transitions between phases of the demonstration, but where there are no transitions at all.
My apologies to any robots. You just want the data. I get that.
chinese one :P
A wise contributor to a machining forum I frequented once said "anything you can do with a mini lathe, you can do with a big lathe."
Having carried my 7x14 HF lathe into my front door and down the basement stairs, I can assure you that the above statement is not even close to true.
I have a slightly later version of this lathe. It has a digital rpm readout and the forward/reverse lever for the lead screw has a defined neutral position. I'm told that it has taper roller bearings on the headstock spindle. It also has the little threading doohicky on the half nut that doesn't appear to do anything, but it does have a carriage lock.. The T-nut for that wobbles like a jelly and takes many turns to loosen/tighten. The gib for the cross slide needs its own locking screw and cocks over under pressure. Backlash on the cross slide and compound rest/carrier are atrocious, but repeatable. One thing that I found out to my cost, is that there's a grub screw inside a nut at the tailstock end of the lead screw. If that comes loose, the nut is free to tighten up and lock the lead screw. Then you get a click click *snap* that signifies a tooth breaking off from the 80 tooth gear that drives the lead screw!
What do I use it for? To date mostly turning solid metal into chips! Eventually I hope to make parts for steam toys and working steam scale models - if not original designs loosely based on existing examples.
Usually threading dials can be disengaged. Also, consider any new machine to be a work in progress, and to need multiple tweaks to fine tune.
For some reason, I actually learned quite a bit from this video 😁. Thanks for the highly entertaining learning experience 👍😊👍
I have got one of these, and for the longest time ive wanted to bolt a 2.2kw (or similar) 3 phase motor into it, although i get the feeling that would be like dropping a 454 into a miata. Im sure itll work, but hold onto your hats and hang on tight...
Now I want to make a battery powered one, you can probably do it with 100-200bucks with stuff from hobbyking.
@@satibel Rc parts? Genius! I feel that would actually be quite practical not to mention with the right set up you could really up the torque.
@@firestone3217 the one I have is 2kw, at 20V/100A, it can produce around 10Nm at 2000 rpm (loaded), which is about 7 foot-pound, that needs to be geared down about 1:2-1:6, which means 20-60Nm or 14-44 foot-pound (maybe less because of the lower load, thus higher rpm)
Poor plastic gears
He is the only TH-camr I have notifications on, I have bestowith the highest honor I can soon you sir
I stopped using metal lathes after that section of metalwork at school...priceless remark by metalwork master ,when I was caught tidying stuff up with a file, “ You mustn’t jump the gun lad, that’s part of next years work!”
I love mine! I've made several videos using it.
hey making stuff, nice to see you here, fun to meet you in Alabama!
@@Wintergatan Making stuff lives in Alabama?
@@ameggs I mean, he does look inbred
@@Wintergatan a random marten appeares in tots video comments
Andy Meggs no, Tennessee. He was at Thinkercon in Huntsville (www.thinkercon.com/).
I have the 7x16. It's not a myth LOLTo the best of my knowledge none of these small machines come from the factory with metal gears. Although, they are available to purchase from Little machine Shop. Do you have a recommendation for a small lathe that won't break the bank and has a built in gear change for thread cutting?
take a look on grizzly, i think the 9x20 or whatever has a gearbox.
th-cam.com/video/1AhXzZRmozg/w-d-xo.html
@@leeknivek Consensus online (years ago, IDK about now) was that the 9x20s are trash compared to pretty much anything else due to bed flex. The 8x16-type machines that TOT mentioned in the video are (were) much more well-regarded.
@@macaroniandtuna I'm not saying they're good, I'm just noting that they have some sort of gearbox
@@leeknivek although that 9x20 may also be another chinesium product, it do carry a gear box full of metal gears. But it is almost twice as big as the 7x14......not at same scale. May be taig lathe without tailstock? Almost no gear at all but roughly the same size and usage should be compare with....
Damned if I can figure out why I even watched this as I have no interest in aquiring a lathe but watch I did!
I think his voice and presentation hooked me and I watched and enjoyed the whole video but I ain't getting no lathe, no way.
Rick9482 - that’s what we all said.
@@SMShannon55 Thankfully, I've forgotten all about this video.
Ergo, no lathe!
Thanks for sharing. My experience with two of these low-cost tools are not so encouraging though one can do a lot with them. One problem is the weak point of the gear system. There are no actual bearings in them. They are simple slide bearings with steel against steel or steel against plastic. Lubrication? You need to lubricate all slides and bearings very often, else they start to jam and the bearings may stick hard and burn and then break some gears.