anybody got a lathe?

[David King]

I guess from a pure turning experience, I'll never get used to the tiny hand wheels on the benchtop lathes. It always feels like a toy and you'll have a hard time making out the dial graduations. The feed threads are much too fine so if you need to face off a wide piece you think you'll never see the end of turning this dumb little crank that doesn't seem very connected to what the machine is actually doing. A good lathe is like a nice sports car, you can close your eyes and feel exactly what is happening at the cut. Is the tool getting dull or galling the workpiece? You'll have to get at least a 12" lathe to get something that "feels" normal. For the extra $1k you'll get not only an extra 600 lb of cast iron but a much better set up machine that's ready to go out of the box. The needed accessories won't cost any more than for the bench top and with any luck you'll get a "real" 3 phase motor which you'll be able to hook of to a cheap VFD and have all those fantastic features at your fingertips. Look for Grizzly's scratch and dent tent sale in June at their Bellingham WA facility and line up at 6AM with all the other metalheads.

[StarryNight]

I guess from a pure turning experience, I'll never get used to the tiny hand wheels on the benchtop lathes. It always feels like a toy and you'll have a hard time making out the dial graduations. The feed threads are much too fine so if you need to face off a wide piece you think you'll never see the end of turning this dumb little crank that doesn't seem very connected to what the machine is actually doing. A good lathe is like a nice sports car, you can close your eyes and feel exactly what is happening at the cut. Is the tool getting dull or galling the workpiece? You'll have to get at least a 12" lathe to get something that "feels" normal. For the extra $1k you'll get not only an extra 600 lb of cast iron but a much better set up machine that's ready to go out of the box. The needed accessories won't cost any more than for the bench top and with any luck you'll get a "real" 3 phase motor which you'll be able to hook of to a cheap VFD and have all those fantastic features at your fingertips. Look for Grizzly's scratch and dent tent sale in June at their Bellingham WA facility and line up at 6AM with all the other metalheads.

ah, now there's the rub. Pops says exactly the same thing. It seems there's an aesthetic component to working a lathe. The 'feel' of working a precision instrument is a pleasureable thing - no question. It's like the joy of playing a well built guitar inspires more ideas. It's not quantifiable but important none the less. I love working with my Veritas hand planes - silky smooth and effortless.

[Woodenspoke]

ah, now there's the rub. Pops says exactly the same thing. It seems there's an aesthetic component to working a lathe. The 'feel' of working a precision instrument is a pleasurable thing - no question. It's like the joy of playing a well built guitar inspires more ideas. It's not quantifiable but important none the less. I love working with my Veritas hand planes - silky smooth and effortless.

If you have never used a lathe before you will not have that feeling of it being a toy right off. I haven't read the whole post here but I do have a Lathe and a 2 mills. The lathe being from the 40's and belonged to my grandfather. Once I got to from my father I spent hundreds adding a precision chuck and tooling. But it does not have to be that bad, it just depends on what you want to do with it. The basic lathe comes with just enough to get started.

As far as a mill VS Lathe I would rate the two almost equal. Not having a rotary table yet for the mill makes the lathe indispensable. I use it for everything. Just finished building a winder and without using the lathe it would have been a lot harder.

My only suggestion is swing is very important to me. 9" swings are inexpensive and are large enough for small - medium projects. My 36" lathe bed is mostly used to hold tooling I am switching out rather than using the whole length. I use about the first 6" 95% of the time.

[belwar]

I have a pretty decent chinese lathe from grizzly. I dont think you could go wrong with something from them

[chevalij]

I've been looking at getting a lathe for over a year. Problem is, where I work is full of excellent machinest with ALL the toys. Usually a 5th of Scotch gets me whatever I need made and usually better than I originally designed! Most in stainless as well