7x Lathe

Not sure where to post this but.....

I used to have access to a proper Lathe but my friend recently moved up to Port Sydney.

I was thinking about buying a small 7x for making spacers and what not. I understand that its not going to perform the same as a big lathe but for the small bits and pieces I do and the tolerances I need to work to it's probably going to be OK.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I would prefer metal gears if possible. A lot of them are just plastic.

Thanks in advance

The harbor freight 7X at $499. is hard to beat, BusyBee and Princess auto have a version, its about $200 more but its CDN dollars and you can get it in Toronto. Check kijiji because there is always one or two listed, its no South Bend lathe but if you are turning softer metals and smaller parts they are just fine. I've owned a couple (long story) and the quality of the finished part is largely dependent on the level of attention the operator has.

I was wondering myself. I used to run a large cnc industrial lathe. A manual lathe would be fun to play with

If you are used to using a "real" lathe one of those mini lathes will disappoint.
I have a Grizzly, which is the oldest, biggest (9 x 20) and strongest of the "little" lathes... actually I have a 1996 model of the Grizzly which is 52# heavier than the Grizzly sold today, and I am looking for a larger lathe, maybe a South Bend.
If you want a small lathe, I'll sell you my Grizzly for what you will pay for a BusyBee.

If you DO get a small lathe: you have to polish all the ways and strengthen the tool post (the tool post is held down with a 1/4 inch bolt and the base is WAY TOO small).

... and you DO know that the lathe itself is small part of the investment. I have 3x as much money in tooling as what the lathe is worth... and DECENT tooling for those little lathes is hard to find... and the same price, if not more, than real lathe tooling.

There is lots of lathes on Kijiji... there is nice TOZ for $1700... if you have room for a 10ft, 3800lb machine... but if you buy a used machine you will probably have to rebuild it... spindle shaft high precision bearings are not cheap.
Used manual lathes are cheap now, cuz' everybody THINKS they need/want CNC. (CNC is GREAT for multiple pieces, for one offs CNC is a terrific waste of time).

The tooling costs while spendy don't really count, you'll need tooling whatever size lathe you buy. If you are used to a full machine shop size and peeling off metal like a potato you'll be disappointed. But if your not on a time line mini lathes are a great addition, there are thousands of pages on the net about home machinists and the lengths they have gone through to improve the mini. There are also thousands of watchmakers and clockmakers that made spindles and doohickies on a tiny lathes that weren't really precision given the tasks .
Like everything if you need a capacity machine don't buy a toy and expect "south bend" results, but if you need a toy and don't want to give shop space to a 500lb lump, unimat and harbor/ busy bee are good starting points.

monitor the Ontario auctions for tools ( http://theauctionadvertiser.com/cgi-bin/slsearcx.pl?s1=Tools ) and you might get lucky. I've seen a number of Atlas lathes with many accessories appear on this list.

I got one of the little ones because I couldn't move my big one home when I downsized the shop. It works but the power isn't there so patience is a must. If I was to do it again I would go for the smallest regular lathe from Busy Bee.

The two advantages of the mini are cost and you can pick it up solo. Gear changes are a pain. Knobs are small and suited to midget hands.