Cabin Fever-Mini lathe

[PixMan]

(04-15-2014, 07:28 PM)EdK Wrote: Ron,

I think the bottom line is to get the biggest lathe you can afford and have room for. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they wish they had a smaller lathe.

Ed

I wish I had a smaller lathe. There, I said it.

Darren might also wish to have a smaller lathe. We'd both do well with a cute "little" Monarch 10EE with their 4000 rpm spindle, collet closer and taper attachment. Hell, I'd settle for the Hardinge HLV-H if I had to.

Doing work under 1/4" is certainly possible with the collet closer on my 16x40, but with top speed of 1800 the thing struggles with smaller drills and features on parts. For Darren it's a far worse situation. His machine tops out at (I think) about 400 rpm and it's a long reach over the gap to the chuck.

Small lathes are really nice for that kind of work.