Re: Looking at buying the 7" x 10" w/ Questions
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Hi Tom, All the 7x lathes are great little machines and the x10 is often very cheap but you really need to ask if the bed length is going to be enough for your needs now and in the foreseeable future. If you start working with longer bar and want to drill the ends it is quite easy to run out of bed length. If you an stretch to one of the many 7x12 models (also competitively prices) that might be a better overall choice. Due to the way different outlets advertise their lathes the x12 is actually near 4" longer than the 10 rather than the 2" the descriptions suggest and that makes a big difference to most folk. The MT2 fitting is very common and tools are easy to get new and used quite inexpensively. 1 After initial adjustment and set up your lathe will handle 1" steel without real problem. It has the lowest power of the 7x range but as long as you take steady cuts it will be ok. Things will get more difficult if you get to larger diameters but as you have guessed a lot of people try taking too rapid a cut. I did a faceplate from a 6" square plate that was a challenge and s-l-o-w but got there. 2 The threading feature is not difficult but you will need a little practice before trying it on a proper part. There are plenty of tutorials on the net and you-tube. With smaller diameters rather than using the threading feature? many people use the lathe in conjunction with a die set and use the chuck and tailstock. You can do this powered but turning the chuck by hand is a safer bet especially for tapping where it is easy to break a small tap. If using the normal die stock you need to prevent the handles slamming into the ways 3 You will need good sharp tooling for oilite but you can enlarge the bore with ease. You can enlarge it with a slight undersize twist drill and then use the reamer (plenty of oil) or use a boring bar. One issue you may have is actually holding the outside sufficiently concentric as you will almost certainly have a little run out in your spindle and 3 jaw chuck but it might be ok for the job you hae in mind. Otherwise you will need to invest in a 4 jaw independant chuck which can hold the part near "spot-on" Or you will need to turn both outside and inside of the bush length before parting off. 4 It is possible to mount a milling vice on the saddle of many small lathes and carry out a degree of milling but most require a T slotted cross slide which none of the 7x lathes have. I believe that you can buy something for the 7x's but it may be limited and expensive for what it is. I saved for a small mill to go with my lathe as it is far less limiting in the long run 5 The prep guide is great for sorting out some of the problems with many of the 7x machines caused by initial poor assembly, preparation and adjustment at the factory. Simply carrying out the basic dismantling, cleaning, de-burring, re-lubing, re-assembly and adjustment will leave you lathe far sweeter than it came. Often simply adjusting the gibs will give a big improvement even if you decide to skip the lapping at this stage. Most of the prep guide is really a one-off to sort out the factory problems and thereafter you will only have to carry out some of the adjustment and oiling ops from time to time. Hope this helps but any queries just post again Gerry W Leeds UK To: 7x12minilathe@... From: HOGWINSLOW@... Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 01:54:41 +0000 Subject: [7x12minilathe] Looking at buying the 7" x 10" w/ Questions
So I've decided on the HF 7" x 10" lathe. For the longest time I was leaning toward the Tiag Lathe. But my Grandfather left me his tools and most of them will work better with the HF. The Taig uses 1/4" tooling and the HF uses 5/16". He left me a bunch of 5/16" tool steel. Also all the drill chucks and centers he left me are all M-2 so they will fit the M-2 tailstock. But I have a few questions-
1. I want to turn a 1" diameter piece of steel to 5/8". Will the HF handle this? I've read that it slows down when turn steel. Are those people just tring to cut to much at once? 2. Once at 5/8" I need to thread it. Is the threading feature easy to use on the HF lathe? 3. I need to re-work some oil-lite bushings. The outer diameter of the bushings I buy is correct. But the inside needs to be bored from 1/2" to 5/8". Will the HF handle this within the accuracy needed for bushings? Would I be better of using a small boring bar or a 5/8" reamer (I happen to have one). The flange on the bushings also needs to be thinned but I'm sure that's easy enough. 4. I sometimes need to to take two slices from opposites sides of a round bar to be able to put a wrench on them. I've read that it's possible to chuck a end mill in the lathe and do slight milling. Do you feel this would be an option or is it wish full thinking? 5. I see a Prep Guide in the link section. Is this what's used to make all the initial adjustments when I first use it. From what I read I'll need to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance, Tom |
gerry waclawiak