Modeling Machines

[Guest Davkin]

That's a wood turning lathe, not a metal lathe. I'd imagine you could turn plastic freehand on it as well but not with any real precision.

David

[RyanSilva]

Id much rather cut threads by hand also, not like il be turning inch long bolts or anything.

Bob from http://www.scalehardware.com/ uses sherline also, his scale bolts and washers are great and clean (no..im not saying you cant do this on another brand lathe)

[CAL]

okay I did spend a half hour or so at HF looking at the micro lathe and mill.

It looks like reasonably decent stuff. You could do a lathe and mill for just over $600.00. The lathe is just the perfect size. Not to big. I would rather have a little smaller mill, but for $319. It seems like a worthwhile investment for light duty modeling.

The mill had a gear speed selector, reverse, and 3 axis. You would have to jump up to the next machine for a rotating head.

Everything was tight, however coated in a thick grease. The only small issue I found was the lathe tool holder was loose, but that seemed to be the brake shoe for the slide not being tight. Otherwise there was a some play in the adjustment for the tool holder when reverseing direction.

Everything else looked good, tight and sold cast iron.

I am seriously considering it.

[Ron L]

You're lucky you have a store close by. Ours is about 45 mins away and I don't even know how big the place is. I bought my stuff sight unseen, just basing my purchase off of websites and forums with threads like this one. I've also heard a lot of the displayed items at HF stores are pretty abused and normally not adjusted at all, so what you see may not be what you get. Don't forget you'll probably want mini tools with the adapters to fit the standard tool holder, such as the ones included in this kit, because the tools that fit the holder are going to be way too big for modeling use. I don't think they carry the mini tools by themselves anymore, I ordered mine just like that link showed except without the extra stuff. Your local store might have them. That's all you'd need to get started on the lathe.

For the mill, a set of the cheapest end mills would do you fine. I've yet to wear mine out and it's been abused at work long before I got it. The chuck will slip or you will stall that motor before you break a bit. Best not to find out though, as I hear those plastic gears can't take much punishment although my abused mill is still on the original gears.