Good quality small lathe?

[Laverda]

I have both 12" and 16" lathes but neither one is good at turning small parts. I need a precision small lathe for turning parts no bigger than 1/4" diameter. A lot of the turning will be in the range of 1/16" to 1/8" diameter. It needs to be able to thread. Most of the time it will only be turning brass. My searching on the web only turns up Harbor Freight type junk and they can't cut threads.

So I am guessing no one make such a lathe anymore and I will need to look for something old? If so what should I look for?

 

[PDW]

Emco Maximat 11 provided you don't need spindle speeds over 2200 rpm.

Otherwise Hardinge HLVH or Eurotrash exotica (Schaublin type).

PDW

 

[EmGo]

So I am guessing no one make such a lathe anymore and I will need to look for something old? If so what should I look for?

Devalliere H130, can't beat 'em !

Probably can't find one, either

 

[Scottl]

Forum rules prevent me from saying the full name but a properly tooled Sh*****e would probably be well suited for such small parts in brass and occasionally steel. They are very popular with some horologists so clearly they are capable of precision.

They are made in USA, fully modular and modifiable design, and have a great deal of tooling available as well as factory support.

OK, now let the outraged shrieks from the usual suspects commence.

 

[memphisjed]

Forum rules prevent me from saying the full name but a properly tooled Sh*****e would probably be well suited for such small parts in brass and occasionally steel. They are very popular with some horologists so clearly they are capable of precision.

They are made in USA, fully modular and modifiable design, and have a great deal of tooling available as well as factory support.

OK, now let the outraged shrieks from the usual suspects commence.

Second this recommendation for **erlin*. The threading attachment is a little weird, so it depends on how much single point threading you intend to do.

 

[EmGo]

Do watchmaker lathes normally do threading ? There's some pretty cute ones ... 1/4" stock is pretty small.

 

[Mtndew]

horologists

I never knew that word existed until now.
I've always said watchmakers/clockmakers.

 

[EmGo]

I never knew that word existed until now.

I heard it before but thought it meant something different

 

[Thunderjet]

One word, Hardinge.

https://www.csparks.com/gallery3/var/resizes/Workshop/hardingeAfter.jpg?m=1305996168

Solid, accurate, and pricey. Look for anything after the mid sixties.

If you find two, I'll take the other one.

 

[memphisjed]

Do watchmaker lathes normally do threading ? There's some pretty cute ones ... 1/4" stock is pretty small.

Some do, some of the pretty ones do not- more of a wood lathe design with tool rest.
Citizen watch makes a lathe that threads small parts. ... (same company as citizen lathe).

 

[L Vanice]

Do watchmaker lathes normally do threading ? There's some pretty cute ones ... 1/4" stock is pretty small.

Derbyshire, Levin and various defunct companies made watch lathes and also screw cutting attachments for them. The Levin and Derbyshire lathes were available with 10 mm collets with 8 mm maximum through bar holding. I have some of each, but very rarely use them for threading.

Here is a circa 1950 Levin lathe with my screw cutting attachment. It can cut inch and metric threads from 10 to 200 TPI and 1.5 mm to .200 mm pitch. OEM screw cutting attachments are very rare, so I made my own in 1982.


The only one in current production is a brand new and exciting watch lathe designed and built in China by Michael Chung. It has servo-driven threading available. The presently available version uses common 8 mm watch lathe collets (5 mm maximum through bar holding), but there was mention of a possible larger version in the future. This is the lathe I would buy if I really needed another little lathe. I don't.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/chung/ Picture from Tony's site showing the screw cutting attachment. No gears.:




Larry

 

[implmex]

Hi Laverda:
I have Sherlines (There...I said it Out Loud and no one zapped me with a thunderbolt...yet! ) all over the shop and use them a lot.
But I make small stuff as a rule.
One of my favourites is parked under a microscope and is mounted on a low platform so I can sit comfortably in front of it.

They are obviously not split tenths machines, but I can do good work on mine, considering they're really intended for hobbyists.
They work nicely for me, and I have used them to help earn my living for decades.
Way cheaper than something like LVanice's Levin (yes I'm green with envy!) and not nearly as nice or precise, but for much of what I do, they're pretty good.

Just by way of an example...I have a Sherline headstock mounted on a sine plate that I use for spin grinding on the surface grinder.
In the spindle bearings with a 4 jaw chuck (no dead center) I can cylindrical grind a shaft round and parallel within 2 tenths or so without trying hard.
A REAL grinder can do much much better...like 50 millionths territory, but it gives you an idea of what its spindle bearing limits are.

So if you're not a tool snob and if this level of precision can do it for you, I wouldn't count them out just because they have a non-PM-approved label on them.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[MrStretch]

When I'm feeling snooty I tell people I'm an antiquarian horologist. If you don't know what that means you probably don't need my help.
In traditional clockmaking, threading is not at all critical and can easily be done with taps and dies. Nearly 100% of the screws in antique clocks are used to secure (not locate) parts to the brass front or back plates, so all that really matters is that the male and female threads are close enough to hold. Typically this would have been done with a screwplate to make the male threads and a tap for threaded holes. Clockmaking would have already been centuries old when screw cutting lathes were first made.

 

[John Allan]

Grandson has a EMCO (Austria) Compact 8 that has threading (metric) capability,

 

[mnl]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Monarch 10EE.

 

[EmGo]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Monarch 10EE.

For 1/4" parts ? Uhhh, yeah ....

 

[mnl]

Back in the day I made lots of 1/8” to 1/4” parts on a 10EE. We even had one with a mount on the carriage to take a stereo microscope.

 

[Conrad Hoffman]

We have three "erlines" at work and they can do well, but are terribly slow to work with. If you're used to things like halfnuts and geared racks to move the carriage, get ready for a slow trip. They can do excellent threading of small parts. They can do crazy fine threads if you buy two thread gear kits and make up some compounds. IMO, you'd be better off with a small Logan or Southbend. Larger collets are more versatile but 3C or 3AT does very nicely with small diameter work. No doubt a 10EE or HLV would be nice, though probably cost a fortune to set up for every possible inch and metric thread. A non-QC-box Logan can do more for less.

 

[TheOldCar]

For 1/4" parts ? Uhhh, yeah ....

Absolutely!

 

[implmex]

Hi mnl;
you wrote:
"I’m surprised no one has mentioned Monarch 10EE."

I have a Monarch 10EE...it's my BIG lathe.
It's a wonderful lathe and I'd be very sad to lose it, and yes I can and have made lots of tiny things on it and it works like a hot damn.

But the OP also already has a lathe of a similar size and is clearly finding it to be cumbersome for bitsy tiny work.
A little benchtop machine you can sit down comfortably in front of and stick under a microscope and drill your 0.010" holes with and turn your little 0.020" stems on your doomahickey with 10,000 spindle RPM at your fingertips is really really nice.

My choice was what it was because of two things:
1) I can buy almost anything you care to name for it, so if I want a watchmaker's collet in M1.8, I can get that and it's twelve bucks and I can have it via Fedex Overnight Air if I want it that fast.
The Sherline site is set up logically and is easy to navigate and gives me enough information to make a purchasing decision without having to go through hoops or talk to an idiot.

2) The stuff is of decent quality...decent enough that it's more than usable right out of the box.
I just bought a 3" diameter 4 jaw chuck for 150 bucks to go on a Haas TRT100 5 axis trunnion...where else can I do that?
I Fedexed it up from California and had it next day.
I checked it out, and I can clock in a 1/8" bar within a tenth, just like I can with my thousand dollar Buck chuck.
The runout 2 inches from the chuck jaws, is within 0.0003"...not bad for a hacker toy intended for the old codger makin' model steam locomotives.

Yeah, it's not instrument grade, yeah, it doesn't have cachet, yeah some of the collets in the set run out more than I'd like, but I knew that going in.
So I've been shopping there for decades, and they've been very good to me for stuff I use a lot, that's otherwise hard to get in these small sizes.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com