Small combination wood/metal lathe?

[jim hedgpeth]

Long story short, I am looking for a 10-12" or round about size lathe capable of doing woodwork AND some minor metal work.

Price is a consideration, but I have learned to keep it a "consideration" and not let it rule. I will spend some extra for a decent tool, rather than cheap out and fight a junk tool every time I need to use it.

I would use it for spindle work, handles, maybe a few pens, and the occasional small metal items like specialized chucks for a drill, or turning a shaft to a smaller dia. for various projects.

Could something like a Turncrafter vs. be "modified" to turn slow enough for the occasional piece of mild steel or brass ect?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jim

[Dennis Ford]

I am sure that you could mount a cross slide on it and cut small diameter metal but it would be a poor substitute for a metal lathe.

[Jeff Nicol]

Jim, I bought the little 7x10 metal lathe when I decided to do some metal work. It was on sale for $399 and with the 20% of it gets it down there to a reasonable price. It works very well and just needed everything tuned up abit on the cross slides to get rid of any play, but that was easy. You can turn pens and every othe short item on the lathe also. But if you already have a wood lathe and want a metal lathe there are tons of them around right now that are being sold. Most of them are older but have greater capacity and come with more tooling and accesories.

There is a real good site that talks all about the little lathes that HF and many others sell. It gives you many pointers on how to do things with it and improve upon it over time here it is.

http://www.mini-lathe.com/

Good luck,

Jeff

[jim hedgpeth]

After looking at the metal lathes a bit more, I think one of them may be better for me. I dont have room for a big one, let alone 2. High speed would be lacking a little, but I think it would work for occasional use.

I found that site pretty interesting Jeff. Thanks. They list several in the size range I am considering. The Micro-Mark looked interesting, so I checked their site and found they also make a 7x16.
http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7x16-MINI-LATHE,9615.html

Hmmmmm.................

Jim

[ray hampton]

the Micro-Mark are a good lathe / must of the 7x10 lathes beds can be extended with a add-on extender

when you turn wood on a metal lathe, the chips and sawdust will get into the lead screw and stop the carriage travel and required clean-out so install a vacuum dust collection as soon as possible

[Bernie Weishapl]

I started turning pens on my Taig lathe. Like Ray said you have to keep everything clean of wood dust or the lead screws quit.