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Mini lathe (and mill) discussion.

TonyHallo

150cc
Seven
That's the lathe I have however mine was sold by Harbor Freight. JET also sold a similar model. It is a basic lathe with good capacity for model building, I wound not go any smaller. When I need spare parts I but from Grizzly or JET model parts. Looks like this lathe has a 4 jaw chuck and live center both are good to have. Mine didn't come with those and were bought later. I've owned my lathe for over 15 years.
The first mod that you should do is the 4 bolt compound clamp plate mod. You can find it here https://groups.io/g/9x20lathe
I have added the following to mine
Reverse tumbler - allows for feeding in both direction, normal is right to left.
Quick Change Tool Post - Saves time
Power Cross Feed - This is my own design, I hate turning the feedscrew and would rather watch.
Much finer feed gears - The lowest feed is .0047" that's more like a roughing cut, I can now do .002" which provides much better finish.
Cam Lock Tail Stock - Saves time
Digital Read Out on X and Y - Nice for locating and turning.
Higher Bench - The stand that came with mine was too low, back hurt when using.

If I were buying today I would look or a South Bend 9" Model a or B or a Logan on Craig's List or where ever, lathes are much easier to find today as the youth would rather spend their time and money on a new Iphone. Years ago when I was looking, they were sold as soon as they the market. I just ran across a 9" South Bend over the weekend. The thing about buying used is they normally come with tooling that can get expensive. Sorry for the long winded reply!
 

dhal22

GSN Sponsor Tier 1
I found some photos of the lathe I bought last fall. 1440 size with 8" chucks. I have better photos somewhere. This was on the way home photos.

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That's one heck of a find!! I've been undecided on a lathe for weeks, and now I have to wait till next year on a lathe. I ended up spending half my lathe money yesterday on these two items.
 

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BalsaDust

Moderator
That's one heck of a find!! I've been undecided on a lathe for weeks, and now I have to wait till next year on a lathe. I ended up spending half my lathe money yesterday on these two items.


Very nice. I need a new bandsaw and hope to get one that can handle resawing some Cherry slabs I have. Oscillating spindle/ drum sander has been on my list for a long time.
 
Very nice. I need a new bandsaw and hope to get one that can handle resawing some Cherry slabs I have. Oscillating spindle/ drum sander has been on my list for a long time.
It's been on my list for a while now as well. Figured I'd better get back to basics before jumping ahead.
 
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