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Small Lathe Wanted

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:08 pm
Author: PAULJAC47
Hi All,Have been looking for a small lathe for project work .have seen these Unimat lathes and wondered if they are any good? i am looking for one of these or similar W.H.Y or even something a bit larger ? please Pm me with anything you think may be suitable that you have for sale...Cheers Paul J

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:30 pm
Author: nanno
Unimat is pretty much too small for anything. Get a minilathe, small enough to fit in even the smallest, but big enough to get small jobs done.

(Oh and normally you can sell them, for the same money, you bought them for - or more...)

Cheers,
Greg

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:33 pm
Author: Garry.L
Paul....

My Son has the small lathe below he no longer has use for if you're interested?..

http://images.mocpages.com/user_thumbna ... SPLASH.jpg

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:37 pm
Author: PAULJAC47
Just the job Gary what sort of money is he asking?

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:51 pm
Author: jimmock
Garry.L wrote:Paul....

My Son has the small lathe below he no longer has use for if you're interested?..

http://images.mocpages.com/user_thumbna ... SPLASH.jpg


You Guyz just cannot be serious about anything!!!! :wave

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:03 pm
Author: PAULJAC47
nanno wrote:Unimat is pretty much too small for anything. Get a minilathe, small enough to fit in even the smallest, but big enough to get small jobs done.

(Oh and normally you can sell them, for the same money, you bought them for - or more...)

Cheers,
Greg


Any particular model i should look for Greg?

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:22 pm
Author: jimmock
Any particular model i should look for Greg?[/quote]

I started a fairly lengthy discussion about lathes in discussion section a few weeks ago.

Read it, it is full of info / advice from lathe owning members.

http://www.z1ownersclub.co.uk/forum/vie ... hp?t=23416

Warco Lathe.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:05 pm
Author: DogsbolloxofZ1B
After months looking at old Myfords, grotty Boxford's and alike I finally took the plunge and bought a Warco 280VS-D lathe with stand, tools, rotary centre tailstock chuck etc and got a great price at the Model Engineering exhibition (Ally Pally) although I suspect you'd get a good deal any day of the week.

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-met ... lathe.html

Better quality than its equivalent Chester unit.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:31 pm
Author: PAULJAC47
Good food for thought lads have read Jimmocks thread lots of info there. will do some more research....

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:27 am
Author: nanno
PAULJAC47 wrote:Any particular model i should look for Greg?


They're all pretty much the same, among the newer ones only the colour and bed length vary.

If I were you, I'd have a look at www.arceurotrade.co.uk as they have the classic mini-lathe (must be the 7x12) on sale for 380 GBP.
(Don't even think about getting the imperial one... it's useless, because all the leadscrews are metric, so it will never even hardly be as precise as the metric one - which can be finetuned)

Mine (back then) was a rebranded Einhell.

Do yourself a favour and get a quickchange toolpost and some indexable lathe tools and wonder, why everybody said it was difficult to get a nice finish with their lathes.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue ... Mini-Lathe

Cheers,
Greg

P.S.: Also check out their prepping-manual for the mini-lathe as a) you will have to do it anyway with new mini-lathe and b) it will help you to familiarize yourself with it and understand quite a few of the mods, that are commonly carried out.
P.P.S.: Mine used to be this model with the brushless motor, not sure, if it makes one hell of a difference really, but the bed is longer, i.e. more room to work. But at over 200GBP extra, that's a whole lot of money for 50mm more room and a bit more oomph (which can be retrofitted anyway).

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:34 pm
Author: PAULJAC47
Thanks Greg will check out..PaulJ