# Metal lathe and milling machines.



## pegleg1az (Nov 28, 2013)

Oh, you guys are killing me with your toys,,, What machinery do you all have to hobby around with... Any pics of you equipment... Lathes and mills.
Anyone have the combo set mill / lathe's? 
I do miss working with them back in High school and when I do a job at my customers place and I see they have toys I have to take a field trip through their shops... 
I want to make and modify some darts and of course make what every I need again... 

My friend that had a metal lathe [HF] past away and his daughter will not sell it but has not intent to even use it... 

I am drooling. Thanks guy's


----------



## midget (Apr 15, 2013)

This is the milling machine I use: https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3960&category=1387807683. I absolutely love it.

This is the lathe I just picked up to do prototyping work with aluminum: http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html. This one is getting modified quickly to eliminate a bunch of the poor quality parts that it came assembled with. But it still works for what I need it to do.


----------



## njtinman (Jun 13, 2009)

look for an old atlas they can be found and work good


----------



## pragmatic_lee (Jan 19, 2008)

Funny you should ask. I was in Harbor Freight just yesterday and had one of the stock men to cart me out one of the 7x10 lathes. I had the cash in my pocket along with the 20% off coupon and had full intentions of carrying it home with me! But much to my dismay they did not have a single accessory item in the store to go with it. No drill chucks, parting tools, cutting tools etc. I left the stock man standing next to the cart and walked out. If I've got to order part of it on line, I'll order it all on line. 

That's kinda like selling a drill press and not have any drill bits nor a Chuck to go with it. 

If nothing changes my mind today, I will be placing an order on line in the morning. 

Here' say 'shopping' list. 

7 x 10 93212 $519.99

1/2" Drill Chuck 42340 $14.99

QCTP 42806 $99.99

5 Piece indexable Mini Lathe Set 39931 $24.99

9 Piece Boring Bar Set 1722 $24.99

Here's the link to the 20% off coupon. It changes daily so check the link just before ordering. They will apply it to the single highest $ item on you order.

http://t.harborfreight.com/20off-co...Fwww.google.com%2F&utm_medium=mobile_redirect


----------



## midget (Apr 15, 2013)

pragmatic_lee said:


> Funny you should ask. I was in Harbor Freight just yesterday and had one of the stock men to cart me out one of the 7x10 lathes. I had the cash in my pocket along with the 20% off coupon and had full intentions of carrying it home with me! But much to my dismay they did not have a single accessory item in the store to go with it. No drill chucks, parting tools, cutting tools etc. I left the stock man standing next to the cart and walked out. If I've got to order part of it on line, I'll order it all on line.
> 
> That's kinda like selling a drill press and not have any drill bits nor a Chuck to go with it.
> 
> ...



I did a bunch of research on accessories for the 7x10 lathes. I would recommend against buying them from Harborfreight. So far, I've been buying my tools/holders/qc posts/upgrades/etc from little machine shop. I buy my cutters from amazon mostly though...

https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3486&category=1070498684


----------



## pragmatic_lee (Jan 19, 2008)

midget said:


> I did a bunch of research on accessories for the 7x10 lathes. I would recommend against buying them from Harborfreight. So far, I've been buying my tools/holders/qc posts/upgrades/etc from little machine shop. I buy my cutters from amazon mostly though...
> 
> https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3486&category=1070498684


Funny you should say that as well 

Amazon sells a kit from LittleMachineShop that looks a lot more inviting than the accessories from HB. I'll probably spend the few extra $ and get it. 

What do you think of it?


----------



## midget (Apr 15, 2013)

pragmatic_lee said:


> Funny you should say that as well
> 
> Amazon sells a kit from LittleMachineShop that looks a lot more inviting than the accessories from HB. I'll probably spend the few extra $ and get it.
> 
> What do you think of it?


I bought that exact same kit a couple weeks ago and have been very happy with it.

Oh and a word of warning with the HF lathe, you will spend at least 2-3 hours when you get it cleaning it up.

Also, this website has a ton of good information on how to tune these things: http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe/Tuning/tuning.htm


----------



## kmeininger (Nov 11, 2013)

My 2 cents, stay away from harbor freight. Save up and spend the extra bucks on LittleMachineShop. I’ve been a machinist longer than not and LMS stuff is more than adequate for little hobby shops. HF is good for one and done tools there is a reason they’re so inexpensive and if you ever need to sell the stuff you will get a lot more on you return with LMS than HF. 

I have parts on salt flat record holders to parts orbiting mars and a whole slew of stuff in-between if you ever have questions on spittin chips let me know. I’m not the most experienced archer but machining is what I do and would love to contribute what I know to make up for what I’ve learned from this site


----------



## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

keeping an eye on this thread...

I'm too am interested in getting a vertical mill and small lathe in the near future...was supposed to get one last year but life got in the way. I'll probably look at grizzley for the supplier
probably something like this
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Mill-Drill-with-Power-Feed/G0754


----------



## OhWell (Aug 21, 2013)

I looked at Little Machine shop and went with something a little bigger. I went with a Grizzly 9 X19 bench lathe, it showed up on a semi !!!! So far the worst stuff I have done is machining some grade 8 bolts for my string jig. No bells and whistles but it gives me very nice cuts. I also have a old very well made scroll saw that is set up with a metal cutting blade most of the time. I just burned up my band saw and I have a Delta drill press that has been abused.... I have a vacuum system I built for doing composite work and I compressor I built a couple of years ago.

You kind of nheed to decided what direction you want to go. You can do simple machining on soft metals and plastics with wood tools. I sold my wood lathe and now I want to get another one. It is easier to do curves on a wood lathe.


----------



## midget (Apr 15, 2013)

The machines from LMS will arrive freight too.


----------



## OhWell (Aug 21, 2013)

midget said:


> The machines from LMS will arrive freight too.


I will keep that in mind as I do want a mill. I considered building an overhead router but a mill would do more. There are lots of times when I wish I had a smaller lathe because it can be a pain to get in tight on really small parts. 

Is it LMS that has a the lathe with the brushless motor? Those motors are nice because they generate gobs of torque.


----------



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

midget said:


> This is the milling machine I use: https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3960&category=1387807683. I absolutely love it.
> 
> This is the lathe I just picked up to do prototyping work with aluminum: http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html. This one is getting modified quickly to eliminate a bunch of the poor quality parts that it came assembled with. But it still works for what I need it to do.


That's the milling machine that I'm saving my dimes & nickels to buy. Anybody know if this can be upgraded to CNC at a reasonable cost?

I already have the 7 x 10 lathe, but I recently got a 16" replacement bed for it. A guy on the Mad Modder website has a post showing how to adapt it to the 7 x 10 headstock.

Allen


----------



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

kmeininger said:


> My 2 cents, stay away from harbor freight. Save up and spend the extra bucks on LittleMachineShop. I’ve been a machinist longer than not and LMS stuff is more than adequate for little hobby shops. HF is good for one and done tools there is a reason they’re so inexpensive and if you ever need to sell the stuff you will get a lot more on you return with LMS than HF.
> 
> I have parts on salt flat record holders to parts orbiting mars and a whole slew of stuff in-between if you ever have questions on spittin chips let me know. I’m not the most experienced archer but machining is what I do and would love to contribute what I know to make up for what I’ve learned from this site


When you buy from LMS, you get a lathe or a milling machine. There is a bit of setup required. 

When you buy from HF, you get a mostly assembled kit. You can turn it into a decent lathe, but it's not a job for beginners. Which is a shame since that's the machine that most beginners buy to try machining. 

JMHO,
Allen


----------



## AzizaVFR (Jan 28, 2014)

If you are looking at a milling machine, it is better to get a square column machine versus a round column. They are easier to tram and stay in alignment better. I have used both the 7"x10" lathe and the mini-mill from Harbor Freight. While they did allow me to become more familiar with different machining process, I was wanting something a little bigger. 

Currently, I have a Jet 3HP 9"x49" milling machine, a Grizzly G0709 14"x40" gunsmithing lathe. Along with the two main players, the normal support equipment is available, ie, 14" bandsaw, bead blasting cabinet, welders and such. Most of this takes up one side of the garage. 

In the space of six weeks since we purchased three compound bows, I have created two bow presses, a diamond blade arrow saw, customed weighted field points, and a mounting rack for the back yard. I am the type of person who will spend the time and money to build it myself if I can. 

For visual reference.


----------



## Tfox1 (Dec 11, 2008)

Beings how I work in a machine shop, I have access to practically any kind of lathe, mill, trak mill, grinders, welders you can imagine.

Problem is after working with it all day, I really don't feel like doing my own stuff too often but I do on occasion.


----------



## turkeysroost (Nov 14, 2009)

AzizaVFR said:


> If you are looking at a milling machine, it is better to get a square column machine versus a round column. They are easier to tram and stay in alignment better. I have used both the 7"x10" lathe and the mini-mill from Harbor Freight. While they did allow me to become more familiar with different machining process, I was wanting something a little bigger.
> 
> Currently, I have a Jet 3HP 9"x49" milling machine, a Grizzly G0709 14"x40" gunsmithing lathe. Along with the two main players, the normal support equipment is available, ie, 14" bandsaw, bead blasting cabinet, welders and such. Most of this takes up one side of the garage.
> 
> ...


 That's a killer set up,but pricey! The machine shop I work at does not have equipment that new.


----------



## Tfox1 (Dec 11, 2008)

Here are couple levels I made.




Turning some fied points down to make them lighter for my fatboy shafts.


----------



## Wv helium (Aug 18, 2013)

You guys are making me jealous! Lol

Happy tinkering!


----------



## pegleg1az (Nov 28, 2013)

I am on my third drool rag.. I do like the LMS, that would be good enough for me.... They have grown since I checked them out a few years ago..


----------



## smithte426 (Feb 20, 2012)

tag


----------



## SteveinAZ (Aug 16, 2012)

AzizaVFR, _very nice_ set up in the man cave...I'm looking at the toys and notice the calendar. I thought, must be from AZ if you have a Dillion Aero calendar, and I presume you reside north of me!

I too am a little like TFox1, not so much of working in a shop, but owning it makes it hard to have time to do anything. We have a nice compliment of toys, three manual lathes (why I have three I have NO idea, except there really is an explanation!) a recently acquired pristine Bridgeport mill (it came out of Motorola's model shop), surface grinder, tumblers, three vertical CNC mills, one horizontal CNC mill and three CNC lathes, and of course a boatload of tooling and complimentary toys to keep it all humming. It can be a curse to have all this stuff too...especially when you want to make something and a paying, production job is in the machine!

We did breakdown and made some stabilizer ends the other day to go with the carbon tube I bought long ago - keep an eye out for the post on those. We took a little design liberty on one of the live tooled lathes to do something cool - some of the ends are heading to the polishing tumbler tomorrow and the rest are heading to anodize, bright red, blue and flat/matte black.

As far as your lathe purchase/search goes, you may be better off finding a good used lathe over a HF pos, although I have heard that with some tinkering you can actually make them pretty accurate and repeatable. As far as tooling goes, you can do an awful lot with some basic HSS bits with some patient hand grinding.

Good luck on your search!

Steve


----------



## TargetShooter2 (Dec 10, 2010)

*machines*

G9729 Combo Lathe/Mill



















HF 5980 
very handy to have around 


















SB 13X52


----------



## munch (Mar 27, 2005)

i started off with a 7"x10 from harbor freight because i could not find anything good at the time without spending 3000 .after a year of watching kijiji and criags list i found a 14"x40" for $1700 .i did not have any trouble selling the little one for about a $100 less than i payed for it that year latter the phone rang off the wall guys trying to find one


----------



## pegleg1az (Nov 28, 2013)

In high school we had South Bend lathe's and Bridgeport surface grinders and milling machines. I am sure most all the IA's [Indust Arts] in high schools had more less the same setups.. 
In school that was the only thing I received A's in and during study halls I would get a pass to go there and make what ever I could... 

It is a shame most schools stopped IA in their programs... Another dyeing class of people....

We would draft what we were going to make, move to wood shop and make a pattern, move the metal shop and pour the mold or cut raw stock and work it on the machines to finish products... 

If I look hard enough I could find my flywheel puller I made for starters. 

Can I be a kid again just for some things to redo?


----------



## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

aread said:


> That's the milling machine that I'm saving my dimes & nickels to buy. Anybody know if this can be upgraded to CNC at a reasonable cost?
> 
> I already have the 7 x 10 lathe, but I recently got a 16" replacement bed for it. A guy on the Mad Modder website has a post showing how to adapt it to the 7 x 10 headstock.
> 
> Allen


CNC conversion? in short, yes- most machines can be converted to CNC use. But at a reasonable cost- that will be up to the skill of the builder/machinist...plenty of DIY CNC stuff available...over the counter conversion hardware/software--quite expensive compared to the beginner setups.

If you want CNC- you'll want to do your research...sometimes it's best to buy bigger than what you need now, so the future purchase will me minimized.


----------



## AzizaVFR (Jan 28, 2014)

SteveinAZ said:


> AzizaVFR, _very nice_ set up in the man cave...I'm looking at the toys and notice the calendar. I thought, must be from AZ if you have a Dillion Aero calendar, and I presume you reside north of me!
> 
> As far as your lathe purchase/search goes, you may be better off finding a good used lathe over a HF pos, although I have heard that with some tinkering you can actually make them pretty accurate and repeatable. As far as tooling goes, you can do an awful lot with some basic HSS bits with some patient hand grinding.
> 
> Steve


I live between Tucson and Phoenix. Close enough to both without having to deal with the daily congestion.

The calendar is a Dillon Aero Calender my wife and I acquired at the 2013 SHOT Show. We did not go this year, and quite glad. Too many people had the flu to be around during the winter.

For any kind of metal working machine, you want to look at the largest thing you can possibly think of working with. For almost ten years, the Enco lathe grew in size with a longer bed from LMS. I had done all the tuning I could, and the lathe would hold repeatable cuts of a half a thou. The initial purchase of the machine is just the beginning. It is when you feed them, it can get quite expensive, in tooling, work holding, organization. 

When I sold this entire package, it when right back into tooling for the lathe and mill. Such a vicious cycle. I made one gentleman in Tucson a very happy customer.


----------



## EnglishKev (Aug 8, 2009)

Combi lathe/mill, over here they are labeled as a 'Clarke'.
I know in the USA they have a different name, my buddy in Florida bought one years ago.
Not a bad machine, one of the optional extras you can purchase is a shim kit, you need to LoL.
I make stabalizers and other stuff for bows.
I also make barrel shrounds/muzzle breaks and other parts for Field Target air rifles for the local shooters.
Useful for other little jobs as well.

I lucked out when I got it, the company I used to work for had a clearout and this was in the pile.
It was a non runner as there was no electrical plug on it
Took a chance, paid £25 and took it home (figured I could at least make a profit in parts).
Fitted a plug and it worked:RockOn:

Kev


----------



## Zweifel (Aug 8, 2012)

Check out these guys, right down the road from me and they make some amazing mills and lathes. They will be getting a good chunk of my money in the near future. And as said previous to this post, be prepared to shell out money for accessories. It's a vicious cycle of the ability to do anything as long as you have the tools! 

http://www.sherline.com/tools.htm


----------



## Tfox1 (Dec 11, 2008)

There are a lot of closing machine shop auctions around. Keep your eyes open for them and get a prototrak mill. It allows for very easy conversational programming (not coded like cnc) you can cut all kinds of shapes and patterns at a fraction of the cost of a cnc. They are quite expensive new but there are deals out there at auctions.


----------



## Tfox1 (Dec 11, 2008)

Here's a modification I did for my son. His bench was too narrow so I extended it out 6" per side so he wouldn't smash his hands.

From this


To this


----------



## pegleg1az (Nov 28, 2013)

Nice buuuuuuuuut, off topic..... 
I for one would like to keep this on topic of lathe's and machine shop toys... 




Tfox1 said:


> Here's a modification I did for my son. His bench was too narrow so I extended it out 6" per side so he wouldn't smash his hands.


----------



## yugami (Dec 10, 2013)

I have a logan 11" lathe and hardinge TM horizontal mill. I also have a delta vertical bandsaw for cut off and a little tiny CNC lathe.


----------



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Fury90flier said:


> CNC conversion? in short, yes- most machines can be converted to CNC use. But at a reasonable cost- that will be up to the skill of the builder/machinist...plenty of DIY CNC stuff available...over the counter conversion hardware/software--quite expensive compared to the beginner setups.
> 
> If you want CNC- you'll want to do your research...sometimes it's best to buy bigger than what you need now, so the future purchase will me minimized.


The little bit of research that I've done, it seems like I would end up with a better machine, sooner if I just buy one of LMS's CNC mills?


----------

