7 x 12 mini lathe

[Ray J Neal]

Just wondering what you hobbiest machinist are using for your lathe work. I'm in the market for one to make various rod fittings are my home shop. Any suggestions would be awesome.

 

[hydguy]

I use a 12 X 36 geared head lathe and a 9 X 42 supermax mill. I used to have a small Harbor freight lathe but found it useless for boring holes and cutting threads was a crap shoot. If you plan to only turn small O.D's or face short parts down its fine. However if you plan on building your own hosts spend the extra cash on a bigger machine, well worth it. They do more than make laser parts too.

 

[Ray J Neal]

I know that braddubya ended up buying this lathe G8688 7" x 12" Mini Metal Lathe a while back and I'm about to buy it as well. He doesn't accept PMs and I hope he can chime in here and report his thoughts about this unit. I want to know if it comes with a drill chuck for the tail stock or not. I'm going to call grizzly tomorrow and see what the deal is.

 

[Ray J Neal]

Alright, ordered the Grizzly G8688 and a bunch of tools, drill chuck, and parting tools.

 

[millirad]

The 7 x 12 will do some of the jobs you need, but my 7 x 14 doesn't do well with stainless steel(not enough torque). However it's great for polishing stainless. And aluminum is fairly easy to work with, but copper can be machined although it does take longer. Good Luck!