[superrican]

i mainly do hobby type stuff and alot of automobile projects ... i saw the harbor freight mini lathe and its about $490 ish? then theres the taig and sherline , micro mark , and the one offered at littlemachine shop.com , im looking to stick arond the 500-600 ish price line , is there any other better quality lathes out there ..... i like the taig seems to have alot of support and accessories but it seems small , and id like to have the option to do stainless steel type of work ,
btw im a newb to this stuff ,
thanks

[wizard]

The Taig is small!!! Do not underestimate just how limiting that can be. On the other hand the Taig is a very good quality lathe sought after by people doing miniature, clock and watch making.

You problem here is that you haven't defined "hobby type stuff". If you read the forums you will realize that such a phrase covers a wide array of things and thus a wide array of tooling requirements. You then throw in automotive stuff which is an even wider array of possibilities. So given this it is very hard to answer your question.

Given that I'd look to fattening up your budget to look for a larger new or used lathe. Look to Little Machine Shop, Grizzly and other suppliers for example machines to consider. For example LittleMachine shops high Torque lathes are really nice for some users but even then the 7x12s are out of your price range. Further a 12" inch lathe (between centers) is a compromise because it is very easy to run out of room using standard tooling such as drill bits. This of course is dependent upon what your hobby interests are but in general terms you would want a lathe supporting longer distances between centers. Why? Well consider a standard Jobber length drill bit in a chuck in the tailstocks morse taper and then a part sitting in a three jaw chuck on the spindle. How much of a part can be in that chuck before you have trouble? Depending upon specifics you may loose 8" of that center distance. If I remember correctly the Micro Marks come with a much longer bed which I would consider to be a huge advantage.

Now that might not be a problem for your current interests, I really don't know, but I can say this buying a lathe that is too small sucks big time. It isn't just the lathe purchase price that is an issue here as any machine you buy will have an assortment of tooling that you either make or buy that often ends up specific to that lathe. A lathe is a big investment over the long term.

As to stainless steel that is another consideration again. Stainless for the most part requires slower spindle speeds than the same operations in most steels, sometimes significantly slower. This means you need a lathe that can realistically operate at those speeds. Thus you need to make sure the lathe will have the speed range and torque available to run your stainless processes at those speeds. You need to be wary of variable speed lathes that don't have the low end torque to run smoothly at reduced speeds. Especially here would be lathes with brushed DC motors running SCR type controllers. So again you need to have some idea about what you expect to do with stainless so that you can size a lathe to handle the job. Sometimes it is a huge advantage to have a gear box or belt reduction capability even on a variable speed machine.

Generally I have a hard time reccomending anything less than a 9x20 lathe for undefined "hobby uses". Such a lathe might be on the small size for automobile projects. I would most certainly look at this as a long term investment, so when looking at a lathe think about the cost over the period of 10 or 20 years that such a lathe would remain viable. If you can justify a $100 a year then a $2000 lathe is a reasonable investment. No matter what you do though you will end up with an equal amount or even more money invested in tooling and fixturing for the lathe. The reality is a lathe is somewhat useless with out a series of tools suitable for a machinist and a lathe.

i mainly do hobby type stuff and alot of automobile projects ... i saw the harbor freight mini lathe and its about $490 ish? then theres the taig and sherline , micro mark , and the one offered at littlemachine shop.com , im looking to stick arond the 500-600 ish price line , is there any other better quality lathes out there ..... i like the taig seems to have alot of support and accessories but it seems small , and id like to have the option to do stainless steel type of work ,
btw im a newb to this stuff ,
thanks

[superrican]

sorry for not specifying , well as in car hobby i alway end up having to hand make brackets and spacers , shims , etc . , id like to be able to make more intrecate pieces , like as of now im building a fuel injected rx7 and soon would like to make injector bung housing and intake runners and such . i like the size of the taig micro lathe , but what i meant when i said small was for example id like to peripheral port my housings which are all aluminum (check out the picture if i lost you ) , and i know something that size wouldnt fit the micro lathe ........ as far as price i was just trying to see if anything was around the harbor frieght price range but better quality ....... i guess what i was trying to ask was what would be a good lathe that would allow me to do medium size work down to small scale effeciently . after posting and doing research i kind of figured my price range was low , lol the micro mark 7x16 and hi torque start around ~780ish + . what difference does brushless dc motors versus the one that comes in the Harbor freight have?
thanks again

[wizard]

sorry for not specifying , well as in car hobby i alway end up having to hand make brackets and spacers , shims , etc . , id like to be able to make more intrecate pieces , like as of now im building a fuel injected rx7 and soon would like to make injector bung housing and intake runners and such .

Some of these parts would be doable on a TAIG but most would not be. At least not on a base machine that doesn't even support threading. Beyond that size would quickly become a problem. Don't get me wrong the Taig is a nice lathe but I just think it is too small for your needs. Or maybe most of your needs. Many people get into this as a hobby and start out with one of these micro lathes and then later buy a much larger lathe. They seldom get rid of the micro lathe be it a Taig, Sherline or some watchmakers lathe. They have a place in even the more substantial shops.

i like the size of the taig micro lathe , but what i meant when i said small was for example id like to peripheral port my housings which are all aluminum (check out the picture if i lost you ) ,

You lost me anyways and frankly that picture doesn't help much. Housings for what? In any event that piece looks like it is sitting on a fairly substantial lathe. To size a machine to do that sort of work you would need to know all the specifics of the parts size and the lathes clearances above the cross slide. The part would have to be clamp able to the cross slide. So what you really need to do is collect physical dimensions and do the math to see if any of the cheap lathes can accommodate the part. You might be looking at a rather large lathes to handle the part.

and i know something that size wouldnt fit the micro lathe ........ as far as price i was just trying to see if anything was around the harbor frieght price range but better quality ....... i guess what i was trying to ask was what would be a good lathe that would allow me to do medium size work down to small scale effeciently .

Nobody is going to be able to answer that because we don't have a good handle on scale here. The first question that comes to mind is how large is that lathe in the picture?

after posting and doing research i kind of figured my price range was low , lol the micro mark 7x16 and hi torque start around ~780ish + . what difference does brushless dc motors versus the one that comes in the Harbor freight have?
thanks again

A brushless DC motor as seen in Little Machine shops machines is a variable speed motor. It allows for variable speed operation over a wide range of speeds with a good torque profile. This is important because some variable speed solutions have very poor performance at lower speeds.

Now don't take that to imply that such a drive is the right solution for you. Your picture shows a rather large hole saw being used to bore out something. I do not know if the DC motors offered on the Little Machine Shops small lathes would have the torque at the ideal speed to drive that hole saw. Of course with a lathe there are a number of ways to bore that hole so that might not be a problem.

I took a third look at that picture and honestly that machine looks like one of those 3 in 1 machines. Generally I consider such machines to be a poor investment due to the overall quality of most of those machines. However they might be a good choice as a cheap horizontal boring mill which seems to be how this one is being used. On the other hand the lathe as a lathe is pretty much crap.

You do have a third option - that is build a dream! What do I mean by that? Well this, if a suitable lathe is out of reach to do these sorts of boring jobs you can always make use of a smaller lathe to build a boring machine specific for your needs. The idea isn't as wild as it may seem, many people have gone the DIY route to get what is difficult to afford otherwise. A decent lathe can go a very long way to solving that problem for you.

Another idea would be to skip the lathe and buy a milling machine. The reality is if you get into this machining hobby you will end up buying lots of machinery, a lathe, a mill, grinders, drill presses, bandsaws and whatever. It is a disease! The challenge for you is to invest your money to get the best coverage possible for your first investment considering your needs. It is a challenge! In any event I suspect that a large enough lathe, to handle your needs, is going to bust your budget mainly because it looks like that boring project will require a fairly large clearance over the cross slide. From your posts though I suspect you are on the right path buying a lathe first.

[superrican]

You lost me anyways and frankly that picture doesn't help much. Housings for what? In any event that piece looks like it is sitting on a fairly substantial lathe. To size a machine to do that sort of work you would need to know all the specifics of the parts size and the lathes clearances above the cross slide. The part would have to be clamp able to the cross slide. So what you really need to do is collect physical dimensions and do the math to see if any of the cheap lathes can accommodate the part. You might be looking at a rather large lathes to handle the part.

the housing is like the cylinder head to the engine , basically the largest piece id ever even think of lathing , umm its roughly about ,length -13inches ,width -3inches, height-14 inches .... probly smaller , but thats really as big as id put on the machine

[underthetire]

Your going to need quite a bit bigger machine for that. 8x20 or larger most likely.