Just currious for those of you that have a lathe for making parts, what is it and or what do you suggest? I have found a few and it looks like the average entry level price is around $300 and up. Harbor Freight has one listed with power feed for cutting threads for $350. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=33684 I'm not sure of the quality and it is bigger than I really need but Jewlers and Clock makers Lathes get pricey real fast.
I use my drill press. I have a benchtop model (around $100) and set the speed as fast as it will turn. Not as precise as a lathe but works for most of my modeling needs.
Hank - That is the from what I can tell, the same lathe that harbor freight is selling under the Central Machine brand. I have seen that one pop up under a few different brands. I just wonder how good it is, being made in China. Mike - I have been using my drill press also but I want something a bit more precise now. There is not much room for error in N scale.
Tony, I understand your hesitance, but there are also some excellent machine tools being made in China. Since Ohio has some major industrial areas, maybe you can locate a distributor within a 100-150 miles and get some touchy/feely time....?
There is a harbor freight near me. I am hoping they keep one in stock to get a hands on. Just need to get the time to drive over and check it out. Thanks for the other link. There is much more info there than Habor Freights site.
The snag with 'proper' lathes is that the cost tends not to include all the useful bits and you end up spending as much again to get them. (I used to do 'model engineering' ). Sounds like you might consider a Unimat 1. When I got back to railway modelling I'd long since sold my mini-lathe, so I bought one of them with plenty of bits. It's not substantial enough to do anything heavy - it's mainly made with plastic fittings - though I did persuade it to mill the point tapers for some some #1 turnouts a few years back (code 250 brass . Took some patience ... ). But it's a relatively cheap and very flexible machine. I used it recently in milling mode to open up some grilles in an HO body shell. No idea if the thing is available in the US though
I have a 00 Jeweler's Lathe, 3" Edestal (Dutch) lathe, and a 6" Craftsman lathe. My Edestal is the same lathe now sold by Micro Mark. My 6" Craftsman was made by South Bend, and is all cast iron, one of the last ones SB made for Sears. Yes, you will need a full set of collets, including some blank ones to turn to fit steamer drivers, a drill chuck for the tail stock, both a 3-jaw and 4-jaw Lathe Chuck, a dividing head if you want to cut gears and worms, a set of tool bit holders, the thread gage attachment, and a good micrometer. And know how to use them all. You will also need to know is it in millimeters or inch graduations, and is the feed screw a #8 thread? At 89 pounds it is probably cast iron, so sturdy, if accurate. If all you wish to do is turn flanges down, the 10" bed length will be OK, but if you want to make some drive shafts, make some steam boilers, or cut steel worm gears, you will need a longer bed. Best to get a steel or at least aluminum lathe, plastic will chatter on you.
Hytec, that is the original Unimat (a proper lathe). I think the Unimat 3 was a later version of it. The Unimat 1 is a very different beast - I'm not even sure it's made by the same people. This is a page on the Unimat.de website that has some pics of it Unimat Classic set. While googling for that I did find a site that appears to do it in the US (it's made in Austria I believe).
Here is some dated info on the 7x10 lathes. http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe/Features/features.htm While this guy was pleased with the Harbor Freight model for the price, I have looked at it closely and do not think it is even worth its cheap price. They are pretty crude when it comes to quality control and every one that I have seen in person at HF also looks like it has been left out in the rain. I definitely would not buy one from them unless you can examine it closely in person first. While the price of used Unimats, Taig and Sherline lathes may seem a little high, they often come with a lot of the needed add on accessories that are very expensive. Some of the older unimats (the better version with the cast iron bed) can be found at a good deal sometimes. I have purchased 3 of them at garage/estate sales for under $75 each, and each came with lots of extra tooling including indexing heads and thread cutting attachments. The downside is they are graduated in metric scales, so be ready for some math.
