Hi all, I am after buying a mini lathe to make small parts, maybe my own forks and other bits for a 1/5 bike so am going to need a mini lathe with an attached milling machine. I have seen some on ebay/tinternet etc but the choice of type has now put me in a quandry.....Unimat seem to do a all round milling/lathe/jigsaw/drill but only small and has a step down tranny to 12v i think, alarm bells immediately with that one, another on ebay is the Peatol Micro Lathe II, that seems to be better having a decent sized 240v motor.
If anyone can advise of a good lathemilling machine, or know of one for sale in the UK it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Lee.
(Giving up smoking makes you do the craziest things)

Most people suggest getting a mini lathe and a mini milling machine because they say that the combination machines are not as solid as the individual machines. After that I can't help much other than my Seig X1 mill is decent for the money.

Some info here on the Seig mills and many of these guys also have some form of small lathe and would be able to help:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/X_Series_Mills/

Expect to pay a good $500 to $1000 just for initial tooling to get the mill going, not sure what tooling costs for a lathe.

There is a forum for UK model engineering in rcgroups http://www.rcgroups.com/uk-rec-models-engineering-155/

Might be worth bobbing the same question in there. Also there is http://modelengineeringwebsite.com/M...RING_HOME.html

Can't find half the ones I used to look at but these should help a bit with choices of lathes, drills, milling machines etc.

I've got a unimat 3 and I must say for 1/5 scale bikes it is a bit too small.
It does run 240v (here in australia) but doesn't really have the power to machine anything other than soft materials and even that takes time as the cuts have to be small.
If you can find something a little larger I would recommend that.

If you have room go slightly bigger than micro. I have a Taig lathe and sort of wished that I should have bought something used or a bit more robust or with cnc already installed.

I like my lathe but, I want more now. I think the unimats are really just toys. So much plastic and don't try doing steel on it.

Never seen the Peatol, got a link?

Heres the link for the Peatol lathe/milling machine, looks quite nice and i'm only going to be starting with small stuff.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Originally Posted by elkay31

Heres the link for the Peatol lathe/milling machine, looks quite nice and i'm only going to be starting with small stuff.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Originally Posted by ray schrauwen

If you have room go slightly bigger than micro. I have a Taig lathe and sort of wished that I should have bought something used or a bit more robust or with cnc already installed.

I like my lathe but, I want more now. I think the unimats are really just toys. So much plastic and don't try doing steel on it.

Never seen the Peatol, got a link?

Heres another i'm watching in ebay;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Yeah, I believe Peatol is the name that Taig is sold under overseas, isn't it?

Here's my favorite UK site for online window shopping for used equipment:

http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/index.php

Tried to buy one of those Starturn PCs from them several years back, but they don't ship to the US anymore. (So I had to pick up a lathe several times larger.)

Dave

The first is a Taig lathe, nice like mine with nice tools & accessoriesd. Very nice motor with slick variable control. Wish I had that.

Second one, where was it made? Some overseass stuff is crap. You could make the deal conditional on machine accurracy but, you need someone that knows what to look for.
It's nice because it has an automatic feed.

The Taig is all hand but, accurate!

The second is probably a Seig or whoever makes the Grizzly machines.

I like this Grizzly. Tempting...

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Comb...tachment/G0516

These people are very good to deal with....

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/

Their aftersales service is first class.

It's generally accepted that it's better to have a separate lathe and milling machine,although a combo machine beats a file and hacksaw any day.

Funny about you giving up smoking,I gave up nearly four weeks ago.The only problem with the lozenges I got is I kept burning my lips when I light one.

Allan

Originally Posted by Allan Waterfall

These people are very good to deal with....

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/

Their aftersales service is first class.

It's generally accepted that it's better to have a separate lathe and milling machine,although a combo machine beats a file and hacksaw any day.

Funny about you giving up smoking,I gave up nearly four weeks ago.The only problem with the lozenges I got is I kept burning my lips when I light one.

Allan

Ha ha, yes i had the smell of burning plastic trying to light the inhaler aswell!
Thanks Allan

Originally Posted by Allan Waterfall

These people are very good to deal with....

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/

Their aftersales service is first class.

Allan

I brought one of these.

It has made all the bits I have needed so far, learning as I go, and making the odd mistake or several.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...Model-C1-Lathe

Cheers
Peter

Hi Peter, have you bought the top slide for this lathe or the milling attachment,thats the only thing i think its lacking as standard but can be bought seperately i'm just starting to do this with absolutely no experience but want to make small parts in time, frame forks etc, have you done parts like this and if so how have you found it? I like the fact it has a milling attachment, i dont have much space, i know its frowned upon to have a combined lathe/mill but i can only get so many boys toys past the enemy indoors!! ha.
Thanks, Lee.