I am almost ready to jump in but I have one question lurking in the back of my head. After figuring out the lathe cost, I started adding up what I needed to make the lathe functional and here's what I came up with:
Lathe $400-$500 QC Tool Post $100 Turning Bits with inserts $120 Drills w/ chuck $35 Boring Set $40 Cut Off Knife $10 Larger Chuck? $100 I'm looking at almost the same price in accessories as I am in the machine. I have heard that this is a reasonable amount to plan, half of budget on machine, half on tools, but I am hesitant since this thing is not much bigger than a toy! I wouldn't mind spending that or a little more on a bigger, better? machine but will the tooling cost increase as well? There is a huge community of people using these lathes and a lot of support for them, can all of them be wrong? Tom On Dec 16, 2008, at 7:47 PM, elf wrote: > > Can't go wrong with a lathe. I have an older Logan 10x24 machine in my > shop. Some of the best money spent over the years. I've often thought > about the purchase of one of the smaller 7x12 lathes described in > other postings. But for the most part I can do anything needed on what > I have. > I personally don't consider my model making shop complete without a > metal cutting lathe. > > A small machine once tuned in will generally do much of what you need > for these models. Take your time and don't expect to remove a lot of > metal in one shot. A little bit at a time is the key. Do check out the > forums devoted to these small machines, a lot of useful info there. > > > Beware though, once you get bitten by the metal working bug, you will > be looking at milling machines next. > > Rusty > > > On Dec 16, 5:36 pm, "Derek Engelhaupt" <[email protected]> wrote: >> But would you cut steel into circles on your table saw? ;-) >> >> Derek >> >> On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 4:16 PM, Steve Tyng <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>>> Does anyone have recommendations for small lathes that would be >>>> suitable for this hobby? >> >>> Who needs a lathe? I've got a tablesaw! ;-) >> >>> Steve "I Do It My Way" Tyng >> >> > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] Visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
