Compare Chineese Lathes

[laurencen]

If you are doing general work and have lots of time 3 in 1, I have a bridgeport clone (not Chineese) and works great, heavy cuts and fine cuts with no problem a DRO is a must, for a lathe a TOS 18 x 60, large and accurate, it will turn a 1/4 inch pin but I can put a driveshaft in the spindle, it has a 3 inch hole thro, if I work on shafts a plus, I paid 4K for the whole shop, tooling included over 4 years but never look back, I have a Hardinge lathe but it rarely get used, all machines are 3 phase, the TOS is clutch drive, great for slow start or instant reverse but I start the motor on set of capacitors and it becomes my rotophase converter, I run the mill 440v 3phase, drill 220 3 phase and a ironworker 600v 3 phase with the use of a transformer

just my 2cents worth

 

[RedDirt]

Guglio
Great photos, thanks, amazing what you have done with that little machine.

The very first picture is an eye opener for me as I now have to rethink where I am going to place the machine. The way the cross feed table is set up on a 3 in 1 I see I should not place it along a wall like a typical lathe. I would not have the clearance to work a long piece perpendicular to the lathe ways like you were able to do.

 

[GuglioLS]

Using the lathe:

True up the end of a 3" dia round then counter bore. Notice the second smaller inside counter bore for that recessed 1/4-20 SHCS?





Modifying store bought 1" pins and turn them into custom grease-able pins:









The following lathe project is a little more complicated. A TBN member asked me to help fix a broken hub for his late Dads 12" bench top disk sander. Look closely at the first pic and you might notice the broken hub in the lower right? Then notice in the lower center of the first pic an inside keyed coupler. That coupler had to be turned down to press fit inside the hub that's in the lathe.

The hub in the lathe was somewhat of a match to the original, but needed extensive modification in order to get it to fit the broken disc sander. First was to turn off the surface to make it flat and get the thickness to that of the OEM hub.




Next was to bore out the ID of the replacement hub to accept a press fit of the new keyed shaft. I got the ID of the new hub to 1.300" and the OD of the press fit shaft to 1.302". Let there be no doubt you can do accurate lathe work on this machine:




After press fitting the coupling inside the ID of the new hub and some additional lathe work:




After all that and more it was time to use a live center to transfer holes from the 12" disc to the newly made hub:




I guess the point of all this is you can use a 3in1 to make and modify "stuff". There not as bad as some might lead you to believe. Like laurencen just said "general work and lots of time". And of course some ingenuity and creativity in coming up with the "rigging" to clamp stuff to the table and at the right height.

Larry

 

[mjncad]

Larry, I like your poor man's surface grinder. It appears to have done the trick.

 

[David Devuono]

I am also guilty of buying a Chinese Combo Mill Lathe as pictured in one of the other posts. Larry summed up the same issue I have had. Even though its a lightweight as mills go, it was still a struggle to get it into my shed at 600lbs. Whats nice about the lathe is you have a very large swing over the bed so if your patient, you can turn something you would need a very large. Also the table can be powered on two axis (one at a time) by the machine. I have never tried to figure out how to make threads, looks like a highschool math exam so I just buy my threaded rod.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Guglio, would you mind posting a picture of your sharpening setup? As of now I sharpen free hand on a grinder and would like to do better than that.

Thanks!

 

[czechsonofagun]

I just got an email from Enco - they opened an outlet - I am not affiliated with Enco, just sharing

 

[GuglioLS]

Guglio, would you mind posting a picture of your sharpening setup? As of now I sharpen free hand on a grinder and would like to do better than that.

Thanks!

Hi Prokop,

Sorry to say my sharpening "technique" and setup are the same as yours! . Posting pictures of my bench grinders would not be to exciting. It may be crude but it works right?

That's great news you now have an Enco outlet nearby. Now you wont have to worry about what to do with all that money burning a hole in your pocket

Larry

 

[GE222]

GuglioLS,
Nice job with your projects, as well the photo record!
Thank you for sharing!

 

[charlz]

I have never tried to figure out how to make threads, looks like a highschool math exam so I just buy my threaded rod.

Do these machines have a threading dial on the lathe? The second thing I made on my lathe had threads and I made a few more pieces after that. There are some threading videos on youtube that help. Overall I found it is not as hard as it is made out to be for short pieces. Takes lots of small passes so I would probably buy threaded rod as well if that is all I needed.


I found the MIT TechTV Machine Tool videos to be helpful for basic machine knowledge and some ideas on how to do things. Here is the one for Lathes, other videos cover mills, basic power tools etc.

MIT TechTV – Machine Shop 8

 

[czechsonofagun]

I see)

On similar note, I have access now to Bridgeport 2HP at the shop I work for some pocket money. That thing is a beast with rotary table and lot of tooling, I am trying to learn as much as possible; I had much more theory on machining in my life than real hands on experience.

 

[RedDirt]

Do these machines have a threading dial on the lathe? The second thing I made on my lathe had threads and I made a few more pieces after that. There are some threading videos on youtube that help. Overall I found it is not as hard as it is made out to be for short pieces. Takes lots of small passes so I would probably buy threaded rod as well if that is all I needed.


I found the MIT TechTV Machine Tool videos to be helpful for basic machine knowledge and some ideas on how to do things. Here is the one for Lathes, other videos cover mills, basic power tools etc.

MIT TechTV – Machine Shop 8

Charlz, thanks for the video link. I checked the lathe video. Very large upload. Quite basic but still good to watch for a beginner like me.

Yes I believe the 3 in 1 machine that Guglio has and the one I am considering has a thread dial.

Hint - For those with a clone machines (same model by different brand names), the cheaper brands, especially Harbor Freight, have minimal operator instructions. You can sometimes find much better instructions by looking for downloadable instructions for the same machine by a different brand. Grizzly and Jet normally have much more complete operator manuals and instructions.

One thing I am doing in my research for the right machine is to look at the operator manuals. This can often give me a better understanding of the features and capabilities better than raw specifications. EG. many will have threading capabilities but the complications of use will vary depending on a specific machine's features.

 

[laurencen]

Threading bits can be a pain to grind, one recomendation is to purchase brazed carbide bits, they have the right angles, on smaller machines set the compound slide to 30 degrees and make the cut depth with the compound, this way the cross slide is allways set to the same and no remembering what it was last set to, if you have the option to reduce the shaft diameter after the threads you avoid turning the cross slide out with the feed engaged, less rushing at the end.

 

[laurencen]

One other recomendations for threading, my lathe has over a hunders combinations of thread pitches, bet in 20 years only used 20, for most threads under 3/4 inch a die set is a good investment and use the tailstock to lign it up,

 

[svcguy]

Just a quick note on my experience with off shore lathes. I have a Taiwan made milling machine that has been awesome. Never needed anything, so I purchased my lathe from Busy Bee in Canada. Their tag is "Craftex". Fit and finish of the lathe looked great, everything seemed in place. First thing I did was remove the lid to inspect the gear head. Drained the oil and cleaned out the swarf, floor sweepings and grinding remnants out of the gear box. This is not a joke. Always open the units and inspect inside. Once that was done, cleaned and oiled the cross slide, compound, etc. Off shore manufacturers seem to like using their used grease when preparing new machines. Again, this is not a joke. Started it up and was very happy with the three jaw chuck. Thought I would test out the four jaw, but couldn't get the 3 jaw off. After about three hours, I was able to get the chuck off. It was if it was attached with a 120 Ton hydraulic press. When I attached the four jaw, it had about 10 thousands slop on the taper for the D1-4. I called company support and they thought the D1 locks centered the chuck, didn't realize a D1-4 had a taper. They tried to be helpful and were happy to replace the chucks. Luckily the face plate taper was fine. Removed the jaws on both chucks and cut a new taper in the three and faced off the four until the taper was correct. Once this was done, I was able to mount the chucks and the machine tested out fine. Bed and everything else has been great. Moral of the story: Expect to do some fine tuning with off shore equipment. I got what I paid for and am now happy with the result. Don't make the mistake of expecting American quality with off shore prices. This doesn't mean they are a bad deal, just don't expect a $10,000 lathe for $3600. Also, don't expect an old worn out American lathe to be superior. Always take an experienced user to assess used equipment if you don't have a machining background. Buying worn out equipment doesn't pay either.

 

[California]

Drained the oil and cleaned out the swarf, floor sweepings and grinding remnants out of the gear box. This is not a joke. Always open the units and inspect inside.

We occasionally see a new Jinma owner say the same thing.

I've wondered if adding that junk in there is China's solution to hazardous waste disposal!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've wondered if adding that junk in there is China's solution to hazardous waste disposal!

LSHIAPMP
that's some funny stuff there!!!

 

[mjncad]

I've wondered if adding that junk in there is China's solution to hazardous waste disposal!

Without a doubt; but they call it 'adding value' to the product.