Small metal lathes for pen parts

**RoyG** · 22nd August 2016, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

The sad part is that you need to have high level skills to even set many of these generic lathes up to do basic tasks with any confidence. Sign of the times.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. If a person who is a wood turner has mastered the high level skills required to use a wood lathe safely and productively, then I believe that said person will also have the ability to successfully master a metal working lathe.

When starting out in wood turning, there is a certain amount of basic knowledge that needs to be acquired at the beginning of your wood turning adventures. Once you've overcome the initial learning curve, things progress relatively easily for most wood turners as their expertise and experience increases. The same principle applies to learning to use a metal turning lathe. As with wood turning, the same applies for metal turning - the Internet is awash with relevant training information, etc.

The skills involved in metal turning are less of the hand/eye coordination type skills involved in wood turning, and more technical knowledge, maths, and a bit of geometry. The maths and geometry is nothing more complicated than we learned in our first three years in High School. And for the technical knowledge, as mentioned above, the Internet is your friend.

Regards,

RoyG

**rtyuiop** · 23rd August 2016, 08:18 AM

I can see where Mobyturns is coming from, as the aforementioned beginner. The difference is that as a newbie woodturner you can go out and buy an extremely usable lathe for a reasonable sum - or if you're lucky on the second hand market it might be an absolute ripper of a lathe!

That lets you get up and running and producing things as you learn without having to deal with a substandard tool, which makes it a lot more fun.

From what I can tell so far, metal lathes available for anything less than a vast sum of money all seem to need fiddling with - and I don't have the skills to fiddle well!

**edblysard** · 6th September 2016, 03:48 AM

Ever think of a UniMat?

**rtyuiop** · 6th September 2016, 10:08 AM

I had never even heard of them! Will have a look.

**Mobyturns** · 6th September 2016, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by rtyuiop

I can see where Mobyturns is coming from, as the aforementioned beginner. The difference is that as a newbie woodturner you can go out and buy an extremely usable lathe for a reasonable sum - or if you're lucky on the second hand market it might be an absolute ripper of a lathe!

That lets you get up and running and producing things as you learn without having to deal with a substandard tool, which makes it a lot more fun.

From what I can tell so far, metal lathes available for anything less than a vast sum of money all seem to need fiddling with - and I don't have the skills to fiddle well!

This is where I was comming from, the skills are easily acquired if you are prepared to do the research and put in the practice hours.

Setting up a budget metal or even some wood lathes requires a level of knowledge to recognize that there is something wrong with the lathe and how to go about rectifying / fine tuning / or even blue printing the lathe. I think another post above addressed the fact that all the parts might be there, but the machine is not adjusted / set up well in the factory, or it is supplied as partly assembled componentas and then requires significant DIY input. Most machinery these days is supplied in a number of cartons and requires user assembly, sign of the times. Makes it hard for a motivated newbie. Even simple stuff like knowing that you must remove much of the anti corrosive coatings and replace / lubricate moving parts with a more appropriate lubricant, bench top protective coating ( on saws) etc.

**Dorno** · 9th September 2016, 06:43 PM

Hi Kryn I was just reading through alot of the posts on here and read yours I just wanted to congratulate you on the info you gave I thought it was well done yet I know nothing about metal lathes and now feel I know a little more

well done Ian

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