Mini Metal Lathe Machine DIY Tool Benchtop Wood Lathe Woodworking for Hobby Sience Education Modelmaking, AC110V-240V50/60HZ

Impossible to get centered with stock under 3/8". Lathe wobbles when turning resulting in inaccurate cuts even after shimming. The guide bolt seems to be slightly off which is a shame because a second guide nut would solve this problem but the manufacture went cheap on the most important part! Looks nice but a lathe that will not center is completely useless.

muito bom para madeira

This mini lathe is very well made with high quality light weight materials. It will need some tuning and adjustments but will last for many years of quality service for a fully evolved human being with a good mechanical aptitude. The only complaint is that the included power supply unit is too low of an amp rating to run this lathe. It provides only 2 amps of power and repeatedly trips and resets every five seconds. I have purchased three of these lathes and they all do the same thing. If you purchase a power supply unit with a 3-5 amp output they run just fine even under a reasonable load. Thank you for providing these high quality mini lathes!

I'm not sure where the previous reviewer said it can only turn a piece that is only 3 inches, the unit that I received is capable of turning a piece that is 4-3/4" long. Perhaps he didn't think to adjust the location of the head and tailstock along the bed. Although the description says that you can do threading on this machine, you absolutely cannot, without some dramatic modifications; there is no lead screw, as just a beginning. A CNC lathe? Not out-of-the-box it isn't. This metal lathe suites my purposes just fine for finer turning work than I can do on my Atlas engine lathe. For hobby work, it is suitable for model railroading. The instructions are absolutely useless. I plan on modifying it for adding some more usefulness; one of the virtues of a lathe. I have not experienced the motor overloading, when turning aluminum, that others have complained about. The cross-slide assembly has more slop than I want, shimming is in the works as well as machining a better method of joining the assembly to the bed. In terms of price, it is much less expensive than my Atlas was, but I can use it on my desk to turn a few spur-of-the-moment parts that my Atlas is too large to turn efficiently. If you need to turn a few small parts, as one-offs or to use for making a mold, then this is just fine. With a little thinking and a couple of 2" extrusions, you can use this for turning wood or plastic parts, just less than 6" in diameter. All you have to do is look, unscrew a few pieces and think about it. It's not that difficult people. While it is not what it is claimed to be in the advertising, it is still useful. REVISION: While this lathe was okay with softwood and plastic rod, for a model railroading task, it is a major fail at metal. I picked up some brass rod at my local hobby shop. This lathe was terrible at trying to simply perform a cut-off with. Cut angle checked, cutting blade shimmed appropriately, purchased an adjustable power supply to slow it down, but there is simply too much flex in this unit to do any metal working.

I bought this to make stems for tobacco pipes. I had planned to mill ebonite, acrylic, and the occasional soft metal for caps and bands. I didn't read the dimensions, and though I knew it was small, I expected something about twice the size. Additionally, it will only turn up to about 20MM (it says 25, and I think you might get away with that) without the "special intermediate blocks" the instructions refer too. These blocks don't come with it, and I couldn't find them anywhere online. Additionally, and the reason I dropped a star; the description clearly said I could use it for threading. You cant. It turns way too fast and there is no drive mechanism to do that with it. Bottom line, for the hobbyist milling soft metal, plastic and wood this will work for basic projects. Just dont expect miracles from it.