Thread: H&F Mini Lathe Vs Ebay

Will try pick it up tonight can't wait to start making stuff it should be much better than the 24watt toy lathe i was using

I got the lathe its in really good clean condition, a little unsure if its in metric or imperial the increments are big and easy to read there is a little play in the cross section that holds the tool probably 1 to 1.5mm movement maybe i can tighten it up i was told the only problem it had were with the tail stock it has two lock screws one pull sit one way and the other pulls it the other way but old mate said just do up the rear screw and its good

i just tuned it on i think it may be on the highest speed will have to check

i bought it from ebay for $500 the last owner said he used it for steel, aluminium, brass he showed me some work he done on a model steam engine looked really nice

Originally Posted by gazza2009au

soon i will be looking for a milling machine and i'll be happy

Nah.......it never stops

If anyone is interested in that Hercus C 9 inch lathe its on facebook in Cooranbong NSW near Newcastle i think

I'll be happy with the new lathe if it can cut as nice as my $80 aluminum toy lathe, for the new lathe i am going to add two digital calipers for the measuring attached with magnets

Originally Posted by shedhappens

Nah.......it never stops

Is that what u tell your wife or is that what she tells you? haha

Congratulations on buying that Unimat MD65, you now have a lathe that will not give you any trouble at all, UNLESS you do something stupid to it.
The Unimat is about 4 times better than the chink $hit that you were looking at on Ebay, or even the crud from Scary Forbes.
Only problem is that spare parts are rather thin on the ground, so just be carefull and do not crash it.

At least with that Unimat, you wont have to bother about setting up a new chink lathe, like cleaning the grains of sand out of the body of the chink lathe, or cleaning down that garbage packing grease, or even having to adjust the gibs from brand new.

When you get your grubby paws on the Unimat, check the back of the bed casting and see if it has a flat milled surface and 4 holes drilled and tapped in the milled surface. If it has, you can get a milling attachment for it as well, then turn it into a two in one machine to save bench space.

All in all, you got one hell of good lathe for a very cheap price.

Oh, you will find that the Unimat MD 65 dials are all/is graduated in METRIC.

Mard it came with a thick L bracket i asked the seller what it was for he said its for the milling machine but i dont think i will go that route my benches in the shed are rated to 250kg from memory per shelf but i doubt they can handle much at all so i really dont want to add more weight to the lathe its pretty heavy now, a seperate milling machine would be handy

I will be making small parts with this lathe 40x30mm of aluminium so i will be doing a lot of cutting to size than cutting off the piece since i will be changing the gears a lot do u think it would be ok to use one of these voltage transformers as a motor speed controller? along with a infrared rpm meter

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AU-Digit...oAAOSwXPNaRGIT

Now i know why the lathe was cheap the small adjustment screws on both slides are maxed out i will need some modification or replacement, she cuts pretty good i was taking off 2.2mm OD in one pass and i tried my hand at cutting off a piece i used the tail stock for the first half of the cut off than moved it back

i later tried the auto feed on a small piece around 20mm long and actually worked out why there are fine dials for small stuff seen some magic smoke from the belt but i shut it off right before it smoked as the on/off feed is mechanical it didn't shut off quick enough, no damage just a rookie move

check out that bit i was cutting off its 40mm round bar aluminium that tiny center piece is holding up that whole piece even while the lathe is running flat out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEeIWq2Bklk&t=34s

Hi Gazza,

A dose of WD40 or diesel works well when cutting aluminium materials.

Hey Baron i seen WD40 was used on youtube i tried it but it just flicked all over my new white shirt lol

Hi Gazza, Guys,

Well it does wash out ! My wife says so

I get sprayed with oil from the lathe chuck, usually after I've just cleaned and lubricated it.

Very doubtful. Varying motor speeds is difficult and technical. You get better results with mechanical control such as years, pulleys etc. First, what type of motor does it have?

What you are proposing with the voltage transformer (variac) will work to a point however as Glot says speed controls are not just voltage reducers, and I don't think you would be happy with the end result, speed controllers use feedback from the motor to sense when the motor slows from being loaded such as taking a cut and they then apply more voltage to the motor to try and maintain a constant speed, as Glot says find out what type of motor you have (brush, induction or dc) and then find the correct type of speed controller for that motor.

Do you understand how the Tailstock adjustment works?

What is your interpretation of ( maxed out ) ?

Be careful trying to go down the path of motor speed adjustment.

If you have no great experience with lathe work or machining in general and you are relying on book theory for correct speeds you may end up in the same situation as you did with your welding settings.

Glot I'm not sure what motor it looks old tho so maybe the original doesnt look like there are any converters in there for the step down in power so it may be a 240v motor

Familyguy yeah i think i will just leave it and swap the gears i have a good instruction manual with the lathe i just thought the variac would be easier or me to set speeds rather than change gears for a 2mins job than change back

Pipeclay i think i have the mig sorted curly wire on a piece of wood, sizzling bacon sound when welding, the right tension on the wire, i am now just trying to work out the right tension on the roll of wire it seems it varies, the tail stock works ok its the two slides both are maxed out on the fine screw adjustments

looks like the tip of the screws wear down with use and as u screw it in for tighter clearance they reach there limit and need replacing, glad its a simple fix hope i can find the screws in Oz and get machining again this machine is awesome no more 1 and a half hours on the tiny toy lathe making 1 wheel spacer

need to build a furnace now for melting all that wasted aluminum!