Thread: Cheap wood lathe and cut soft metal too

Most people who have bought the GMC lathe have discovered it makes a half decent boat anchor. Some without boats have determined it makes a reasonable disk sander.

As a lathe however, it is the most useless bit of machinery ever built. Look for used, or save your money for something like this

I think you will find any of the basic wood lathes will let you turn something like brass or aluminium, with a bit of care and a light hand.

Fair enough. You get what you pay for. I was looking at the Seig C1 lathe on ebay and its 415 w/ shipping from ozmestore1. Am also going to go to Bunnies and talk to the tool shop there.
If a good wood lathe that turns metal is 375 and its the same price for an entry lathe on ebay, I'd go for the metal one.

BTW Seig delivers the C0 lathe to Australia for 289/- USD - thats about 310 AUD. Thats the lowest entry level metal lathe I'd reckon.

GMC's scratch the floor , no good as a door stop ,

i have a mini metal lathe that the sowing machine motor is blown and the electronics are stuffed , i mount it on my Nova DVR to get it to spin ( motor has been removed and electronics have been removed )and cut small metal bits but the movements of the treads feel rough and cheep ,the finish on the metal looks the same , i cut brass and aluminium on the wood lathe with a light touch twice as fast and a better finish ,a cheep metal lathe makes a much better door stop than the gmc wood lathe , ( it dose have rubber feet )

On the penturning forums I belong to one will see reports of aluminum and/or brass being successfully turned on wood lathes.
I used to make some brass items before I ever had a lathe. I used one of those devices that held a corded drill and became a bad excuse for a drill press. I used broken files for tools. Worked.

So you stuck the broken file in the drill press and put the metal object in the vice.
How did you move the vice ?

In a lathe, the object that is turned is rotated on a chuck and the turning tool is stationary.

I am trying to picture what you are referring to..Cant quite get it.

Originally Posted by Rifleman1776

On the penturning forums I belong to one will see reports of aluminum and/or brass being successfully turned on wood lathes.
I used to make some brass items before I ever had a lathe. I used one of those devices that held a corded drill and became a bad excuse for a drill press. I used broken files for tools. Worked.

Originally Posted by zcream

So you stuck the broken file in the drill press and put the metal object in the vice.
How did you move the vice ?

In a lathe, the object that is turned is rotated on a chuck and the turning tool is stationary.

I am trying to picture what you are referring to..Cant quite get it.

Nope, backwards.
I put the brass item in the drill press chuck and spun. The broken file was my tool and I hand held it. Not the best but best with what I had available at the time. Of course, light cuts were important because my 'tool' would catch the soft metal if I tried to dig in.
As I said, not the best, but it worked.

Is there a 3-jaw chuck as large as whats used on a metal lathe available for a drill ?
My lens assembly (thats what needs to be turned) is 50mm in diameter and the chuck will not hold it.