A new small lathe on ebay from China.

Talking of cheap Chinese lathes, I am amazed by the price of these CNC machines. I know that they are tiny and may not be of the best quality (even though they look pretty reasonable), how can they produce something so complex and turn a profit for so little? I have seen these on E-bay for less than £100.00 (just).

**LINK**

Regards,

James.

1. they are not CNC machines so that saves a bob or two

2. They copy a Unimat1 so have no design costs

1. they are not CNC machines so that saves a bob or two

I have just noticed that, which does completely change the matter.

James.

I love the comment at the end of the listing on that one

It's a basically a cut-down copy of one of a UNIMAT 1:

Neil

I think I went through this stage of trying to buy a new chinese lathe with the hope that it at least cuts out the possibility of buying a worn lemon.

But at 15KG!

The trouble is a new lemon is just as useless.

Anyway I decided to buy an ex school Colchester that was well looked after. It took nearly 2 years to find but was worth it.

My advise would be to avoid this.

Headstock speed 20,000RPM - could you use the headstock as a basis for a tool post grinder and there would be a small chucked in as well. Perhaps the tailstock could be used for something ??? At that price, it gets you thinking.
BobH

Add the cross slde as the basis for a vertical slide, the tailstock as part of an indexing system and some leftover usful bits...?

Following on from the recent thread on choice of drawing instruments, you might be able to use it to sharpen your pencil but 6 watts of power might be a bit low on torque.

Michael

Edited By Michael Briggs on 12/11/2015 12:17:13