Mini lathe I bought

[jeswinehart]

127974127973 I picked this up a couple of weeks ago to mainly use for the Tecate fly wheel work I do.
I had bought a lathe awhile back and it was extremely old, a turn of the century old. I had to shim the shim on that one and it still was so far out of tolerance I done better free hand with a dremel.
I really have had NO training what so ever on a lathe so it is basically seat of the pants learning and fun as can be.
I might call my son in law machinist over this week end and have him go over a few things with me but the fly wheels are staying in, ain't put a eye out yet or even one drop of blood which is unusual for me and new tools :)
Got a box of stuff with the 325 dollar mini lathe that for the most part ain't got much of a clue what the parts are for but reckon if ever I need them I will figure it out ,,, yeah,,,, I better call son in law tonight.

[200x350xtriz250]

I have wondered how well these mini lathes work. Once you break it in good I'd love to hear your feedback on it.

[jeswinehart]

Well I spoke with my son in law Brent and he got pretty excited about it. he was asking me all kinds of questions about what it had, didn't have and so on.
He is hooking me up with some extra stuff he has acquired over the years like a small 4 jaw chuck and a dial indicator and several other things related to holding the cutting tools.
Yep, he will be dropping by this week end I reckon.

[fabiodriven]

$325? That seems like a killer deal.

[SWIGIN]

Having a lathe is REAL handy, good luck!

[motoman1012002]

where did you find that at for 325

[Nevkilahonda3]

lathe are very nice to have and if you pair one with a milling machine and a welder the skys the limit on what you can make.Creativity is the key.

[Bryan Raffa]

ya thats a hell of a deal ... cant imagine with else you will do with it!

[jeswinehart]

Yes, it is handy and just plain good ole garage time too. I hope to learn as much as you may have forgotten Swigen !
Found a dial indicator waiting for me to use when I got home tonight. Checked out the couple of fly wheels I had carved on (my terminology thank you :)) and one showed .002 and the other .003 variance in diameter.
I put the new, never mounted, unmolested stock flywheel I was loaned on the lathe and it checked out at .006 variation so I reckon the little mini lathe with its (basically) hand drill tightening chuck (only need to tighten at one point on the chuck to secure) is okay (?).
I have a couple of more fly wheels to turn on the lathe to clean up the plastic resins that I will be using to encapsulate Saturday night. so yeah, looking forward to my Sunday morning garage time tinkering with the mini lathe.
I located the lathe from a friend who uses craigslist. He knew I had been looking for something smallish, bench top.

[Dirtcrasher]

Lathes are great for so many things. You'll find yourself picking up small round stock scraps all the time just to make spacers/collars etc. There is a guy on ebay that sells the stuff he cuts off for a reasonable cost, not sure of his name but he always has different crap.

Any of you guys can grab one of these, they aren't that expensive: http://cgi.ebay.com/7-X-12-Mini-Lathe-2500-RPM-400W-Metal-Lathe-/160617048315?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256585a8fb

An old Atlas or Southbend benchtop lathe is tough to find in good shape and many of these mini lathes can do allot of tasks for you. I just despise the toolpost holders on them........

[Leadfoot71]

Cool! Can you make me one of these? lol!

http://craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Kieffer1.htm

[jeswinehart]

Wow, that is quite a story there ! But I have a agreement with Jeff, I don't do tractors and he don't do intake boots and flywheel work ~ lol.
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php?124900-More-model-pulling-tractor-finished-last-nite&highlight=