Mini Lathe Help

[alcadude]

I am looking into purchasing a mini lathe and I wanted to know if this lathe would be okay to make a usable lightsaber.
(Is it powerful enough?)

https://www.amazon.com/SUNWIN-Motori...6%3A1253531011

If it won't work could you please sudgest a good lathe that is affordable?

Thanks

[Thalan the Exiled]

I would say no based on the max material diameter only being 20mm(.78 in). The MHS parts are I believe 1.45in dia.

[alcadude]

Sorry,I got the wrong one.This is the correct one

https://www.amazon.com/SUNWIN-Alumin...ni+metal+lathe

[Greenie]

That looks to be too small and it's for woodworking. I have a mini lathe with 300mm between centres which is probably as small as it can be for this hobby. So far it has done all I want it to and many things that make life easy. It did, however, cost about £500 on sale, which for you guys is probably $750 to $1000
http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-...by-lathes.html

[alcadude]

The lathe says that it can do soft aluminum though.So is it okay to use!?

[Silver Serpent]

That's really inexpensive. With power tools, you get what you pay for. I'd be leery of this item. Even the description looks like someone just ran it through Google Translate.

Max length it'll support is 135mm (a little less than 5 1/2 inches), so you can't work on any long saber parts with it.

[FenixFire]

Sorry,I got the wrong one.This is the correct one

https://www.amazon.com/SUNWIN-Alumin...ni+metal+lathe

I would say no. 1 like mentioned you get what you pay for with tools. 2 I have a name brand mini of the same size. T6 is too hard to do any real machining on unless you go extremely slow. 3 the jaws an minis like this are too small to safely hold anything except small accent pieces. If wanting to do full from scratch builds, I personally would not go much smaller than a 9"x20" class lathe. Overkill on size but the motor, spindle speed adjustment, and ability to get self centering chucks that can hold upto 2" diameter. Or better yet if using tube you can get mandrel chucks. But all will cost $$. Best bet for lathes are to find craigslist deals or auctions selling old machining tools. Looking to purchase new, I would not touch anything under $1000. First metal lathe I bought for building prototypes and ratrod parts was the 9x10 from Harbor freight for $500 at the time. The head had about 2mm of wobble from the get go, so had to compensate for that. The chucks were crap and had a off standard thread so better chucks would not fit. The direct drive motor wore out within about 15 hours of actual use. So I bought a used Jet 920 and have had no issues in 12 years of using it.

Like SS said expect to spend several hundred on proper chucks, tool blanks and a grinder/sharpening stone for shaping, or carbide tips and holders. For exterior main hilt I would make sure they are 3/4". You will also need boring bars of various lengths, and a drill chuck tail stock for starting axial bores. I f wanting to do threaded connections expect to spend more on quality threading bits, holders, and setup gauges. You'll also want a way to keep everything lubed/cool during cutting. Either manually with an olds hook oil bottle or a coolant pump and ball and socket tubing.

[FenixFire]

Stick with name brand tools that have parts support. Never the cheep no-name alibaba.com stuff off amazon that has a Chinese point of origin. If you want something in the 500-600 range go with the Grizzly 7-10 or there about. Lots of parts and chucks, they are a real manufacture and support their brand as well as others. But once again expect to spend minimum $300 on cutting tools and end stocks to get up and running safely, $1000 if you want it to be efficiently.

http://www.grizzly.com/metal-lathes

[rlobrecht]

Some other ideas would be to find a class that gives you access to a machine shop. Some Maker Place/Maker labs will have lathes, or maybe even your local community college metal working class.

[k6gad]

This may be a bit late but have you tried Grizzly.com or Harbor Freight? Both have some nice small lathes. The tool holder on both of the pages on Amazon are not worth anything.
Check out Grizzly and check out what a good lathe should have, spend a bit more up front and you will be able to use it for years, and on many other projects. Just my $0.02...