well it's a lathe ru-vid.comUgkxN9zrzkkhnjUF5PQbuA_B1gYdsfCu9k6z but it wasn't what i would have anticipated. Headstock, tailstock, carriage apron are manufactured from aluminum now not cast iron. The spindle diameter for the bearings is too small allowing for a few play in the spindle so I am using some blue Loctite to take out the play.
Even a cheap limited tool like this can have a purpose for finding out if wood turning might be of interest. And if so, then upgrading. My lady friend and I long ago bought a cheap sheet metal based wood lathe for her retired father. He liked making things, and we thought he might like wood turning. It wasn't as cheap as this one, and a little larger, and it had a 110 volt motor, but still about the minimum you could buy at the time. We also got him started with four pieces of interesting unusual wood (purple heart, zebra wood, and such). He made some things and enjoyed it. Pretty soon he built his own workshop shed, bought a quite large floor model wood lathe, and then had to have a band saw of course, and some more things, and enjoyed the hobby for many, many years making all sorts of things. So it can provide a taste of what wood turning is. And the worst that can happen is that you are out 40 bucks. What is that, about the cost of 8 or 10 of the fancier cups of liquid from Starbucks?
8 or 10 Starbucks cups? $40 is more like 3 cups LOL. I agree with what you said about it being an affordable way to try it out. I was also pleased to discover they have lathe apps on the phone, a 3D virtual lathe with tools and all.
@@sunsetpark_fpv Check your math. A very commonly bought Starbucks item is a "Tall" (12 oz.) brewed coffee. It is $2.25. You could buy almost 18 cups for $40. The most expensive I could find was "Honey Almondmilk Flat White" in the Venti (20 oz.) size for $5.95. You could get almost 7 cups of that for $40. If you want to do some more interesting math, consider somebody buying just one $2.25 "Tall" cup of coffee every day of the week for their entire 40 year working life. Then calculate what that would be if that money were instead invested at a nominal 8%, at the end of 40 years, would be $236,415.49. A great many people could easily be millionaires if they didn't squander even small amounts of money every day. The government has not, so far, been able to take away the magic of compound interest.
@@trainliker100Are you talking yankee bux? Or Aussie? They are not 1:1, so prices are somewhat different on the 2 continents. EDIT: I get 1.21 Yankee dollars for my 1 British Pound, or 1.91 Aussie dollars at time of commenting (according to google, of course.)
@@trainliker100if your country is running at 8% interest, you're living in stupid inflation and might want to get out. That aside, your figures seem ridiculously high. How did you calculate your compound interest? Yes, there really are different ways to calculate.
@@mattsadventureswithart5764 Calculation of compound interest is actually quite standardized, just like mortgage payment calculation. It is even built in to calculators that doe statistics. I used investor (and then the dot) gov at the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission. I also went to two other sites and got precisely the same result to the penny. 8% is a very typical interest rate estimated for LONG term investments in the U.S. For stock mutual funds, it is 8% to 10% annualized over 10 years. 8% is a conservative number. (It's one of the reasons people are foolish to NOT be making long term investments.) I used zero dollars as the starting point, 8% interest, 30 x $2.25 = $67.50 as a monthly contribution, a 4% interest variance (although it really doesn't matter over this long period - I could have entered zero or anything - same result), daily compounding, and a 40 year term. That IS the correct answer whether you think it is ridiculous or not. Compound interest over a long period is by far the best opportunity average people have so they can retire comfortably. But when they waste a few dollars at a time here and there, buy cars beyond their means assuming debit, rack up credit card debt, and live paycheck to paycheck thanks to their poor choices, they will retire with little or no money of their own. To take it a notch further. If somebody today netting $60K per year invests 15% of their pay (absolutely a good plan) that is a $750 monthly contribution and at the end of 40 years will be $2,646,442.10. (But can actually be much higher due to investment vehicles like 401K or Roth IRA plans that help manage the tax impact). Now, that result might not "seem" so ridiculous to you when you are looking at $750 per month for that long. Just realize that the daily Starbucks cup represents an amount that is roughly 10% of that $750 per month contribution. Perhaps that will help clarify it for you.
G'day everyone. As a disclaimer this review is not sponsored in any way Banggood or any other company, the lathe was purchased by myself. I also regret that I was not able to test this lathe as a disk sander or mini table saw due the the motor issue. It wouldn't surprise me if this lathe would as a makeshift disk sander if the proper arbor was made, however I would be somewhat uncomfortable using it as a table saw. It may be a project for the future. Also I didn't get it in during the review but for the shots where I was turning the cutter handle, the tool rest was as close to the work as it could be. Also the term Micro Lathe may be more apt here to describe this machine, but I was a little unsure. Hope you enjoy the review. Cheers
Hey, how big of a bowl do you think one could make with something like this? I'm trying to find a lathe to make bowls, but it has to be cheap. Any advice would be much appreciated!! I really want to get into making bowls, and my family wants to get me some tools for Christmas, but I'm going in blind and don't have a large budget! I hope I can find something that will allow me to make decent bowls, even if I have to do it all by hand. I have a pyrography pen, so I was hoping I could get tools to make bowls that I could burn some designs into and sell them+ give them to my family as gifts! ☺️
It's a toy... I suggest you get a sewing machine 100w motor. I've been using one on my minilathe for quite some time and it works well. It costs around 20usd.
its what I use for my wood lathe of around this size and its really perfect for the job. One with a foot pedal is especially ideal for small wood turning ive found.
The problem with these little hobby motors is twofold; the brass/bronze main bushing on the output shaft does not support radial loading imparted by lathe operations. These motors do work for small drill presses, however, because loads are axial. The other issue is the voltage-regulated speed: low speeds generate very little torque. High speeds provide necessary torque, but they also generate excessive friction on the cutting tool faster than it can dissipate heat, and the work burns.
Until the reveal of the motor going tits up, I was going to suggest that another starter project could be a knob, handle, lever, whatever to replace that hex bolt for the tool rest, so you could stop having to clean it out to get the key in whenever you wanted to adjust it. Still, not super surprising when you showed the chuck mounted on the motor shaft, which looked to me like it was likely to have some _major_ runout. Yikes. Still, it was cute - I was actually pleasantly surprised to see a live center mounted into a ball bearing; that was _way_ more than I'd have expected - and it'd be interesting to see if you could cheaply swap parts out to get something more reasonable.
looks like with an upgraded headstock it would be a pretty reasonable little option, upgrading to a belt drive with a sewing machine motor would be ideal
@@dordly Gets the job done till the motor breaks after a few uses, as he showed in this video. Im all for cheap tools but breaking after a few weeks is not worth it in my opinion. For a little extra you could have a much stronger machine that would last a lot longer.
I've owned a wood lathe for a couple of decades that cost around the same _price_ (adjusted for inflation). It's close to a metre long and employs a Black & Decker electric drill (other brands may fit) as a power source. 550 watts is the oldest and least powerful of my mains powered drills! I've not had much use of it as, long ago, the tailstock centre jumped off and skittered off the end of the workbench and disappeared into the local wandering black hole, so I dismounted it until the tailstock turned up. Fast forward several years and, while reorganising the underbench shelf to fit new-to-me tools, I found it in a box that was over 300mm back from the end of the bench! The lathe can't go back as that space is now occupied by my Chinese 7X14 mini metal lathe, but I still have half of my workshop to play with for when I need to turn wood instead of metal. This one seems to be best suited to turning 'softer' woods such as balsa. Technically I know it's an _hardwood, but ...
Great simple tool. One should be able to make it by himself. Bearings for the chuck and live center, larger size, long toolpost and motor rpm adjustment are must have.
Thank you for your honest review. Its clearly only good for small jewelry projects like ring carving, if that. Maybe plastic carving! If the motor is not reliable, there is nothing else to be said. Its a dud. I saw this on Amazon too and was tempted, so very grateful for your review. Many thanks!
The problem of wood dust in the hex bolt can be solved by putting a small price of masking tape over the hole in the bolt after tightening but before operating the lathe Suggestion could apply to any tool
Great video mate. First time watching your content. I think the motor died because its rated for 12V shown @ 3:57 . when you go above the rated voltage the contacts suffer if this is a DC brushed motor
Quite possibly. I am aware there are a few different models of these 775 DC motors, and the ones I have seen are typically rated for use between 12-36v, though this one night only be rated for 12, I am not too sure. Either way I never went above 14v when I used this lathe, as the high rpm was not suitable for turning. Cheers
The bearings in electric motors like that aren't designed for those kinds of loads, especially any thrust loads that may arise from certain cuts. I cringed when I saw the chuck directly mounted on the motor shaft. It was doomed from the start. Also, the "engineer" who put that bigass (relative to the side size) slot on the entire side of the bed is a goddamn idiot. Roughly approximating it, it has less than 10% of the rigidity without it. You should not be able to flex it nearly as much as you can at 3:06. On the other hand, it's not a metal lathe meant for tolerances in thousandths of an inch either, so meh. Some fairly simple modifications could make it serviceable though. The chuck just needs to be mounted on a separate spindle with bearings to handle all the loads, and you can attach the motor with a shaft coupler or set of pulleys/gears/whatever. And the bed could just have a bar bolting the top and bottom together down the entire length along the center to keep the slot. The Jacobs chuck isn't designed for these kinds of loads either, but for such a tiny machine might work fine.
I have 1 of the aluminum types and I got it with a asurion warranty because of this video. But it still hasn't died. I might mess around and make myself a tool like you did because mine came with some tools that literally get shaved down by the wood. I can see the material change shape before my eyes as I try to use it. Believe it or not... I used the blade from a $6 ebay knife (the blade cracked because it was a $6 ebay knife - so I literally just held the broken "damascus" blade and turned several tampers with it for my tobacco pipes. I love it.
modellers could use it but you'll get only about 100 hours out of these 775 motors unless you turn only the softest materials. step up to the under $300 wood lathes such as HF, Grizzly or ShopFox, etc and you'll get a solid machine for turning though they are not micro size like this one. I didn't like the small toolrest
It’s small. Good for starting out and testing the waters. Could make a chess set with it, small handles for tools like chisels and such, rings, drawer knobs, wooden nails, dowels, and all sorts of stuff for miniature projects. For anyone who’s actually into woodworking and already has a couple tools, I’d recommend spending a bit more and getting one of those 200€ ones. Still, this mini tool has its place.
My wife bought me one for Xmas I wanted something to more less play with and see if it drew my interest. It actually does work I bout some wood dowels cut them down and made some handles for my files lol . Third time I used it the power box failed so I dug through my electric junk and found a power supply but the current doesn't adjust so ordered a $12. Current control box so we'll see if that fixes it. Think she paid $40 For it so I never expected much.
They use 775 motors lol ...I have one they are not any good ....save your money buy something else. The price is what got me my opinion stay away from any of them ...or build your own!!
HELLO SIR, I PERMISSION TO USE YOUR 1 MINUTE SNIPPETS VIDEO FOR ME TO USE FOR SELLING ON THE MARKETPLACE, I WILL INCLUDE YOUR VIDEO LINK AND CHANNEL NAME. ok?
I have one of these and with a few upgrades you can have yourself a nice little lathe. I think I have around 100$ in mine. I make wood rings on mine and it’s perfect for it.
turn it into a parts polisher spinning a barrel or large round container, run it til it drops The motor isn't powerful enough, bad design and/or parts selection....like my chop saw, the too huge disk can easily overheat and stop the motor causing smoke and sparks.
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't mention it bit I was intending to use this lathe for wet sanding, as the powder coat would be very useful in protecting the bed. I used it a bit for that purpose, but only at low rpm. Anything above 3000 rpm gave a poor finish.
3000 is a ton for a lathe afaik. that motor isn't made for this it fried! I'm gonna make one with a dremel 4000 with 1:10 gear ratio, and unlike this, isolate the shaft from the one the force is applied to also for a task like this, you should monitor the motors current to avoid frying it, they see to have just literally wired it up to 12-24v which is stupid. sadly I will have to trust Dremel's engineering on my project as unless I plan on opening it apart, I trust them to have designed it to not fry after prolonged use for such an expensive rotary tool! dremel 4000 has a max speed of 35000 rpm which is insane for this, I'll probably run it at 15,000 (to also insure the motor won't fry) and with 1:10 it'll turn into 1500 rpm which is tbh still a ton but meh! I will have to probably see if they sell gears pre-made somewhere as I don't trust my 3dprinter to make accurate and strong enough gears for this that don't wobble or wear super fast
Just a heads up here. It does not work well on 120vac. There simply is not enough starting current, so you would have to replace the power supply to use this in the USA. I subbed in a heavy model train power supply to get mine working right. ed: Oh and I just use mine for light polishing, and limit the Voltage to 12v.
I have one, cheaper version. For an unique project (I was looking for a shifting handle for my car, can't find one pleasing me... you know the rest :p) it's ok but yes, my own has bearings almost dead, it's too small too fast. As you said, it's a toy, and seen as that it's ok but not a real tool
I myself am all about cheap tools. I bought a similar lathe 3 years ago just strickly for making wooden model car wheels. These tiny lathe machines have a few flaws! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!!! The first flaw is the two screws that hold the drill chuck in place are so close to the center that you can't even get a screw driver in to adjust it. The tool rest is so short that it gets annoying have to reset it. The center of the chuck to the bedway is only 1 1/4" so you can't turn anything thicker than 2 1/2" diameter. As far as the sander tablesaw attachments they are completely useless bcs once you put the blade on and secure the slotted cover there isn't any clearance for the blade muchless on the opposite side the cover when attached is at a lower level than the drill chuck. The only thing useful would be the sander but they didn't provide a base to rest your part on to even attempt to sand anything!!!🤬 The problem is the design overall! It is garbage. I wished I'd returned mine for a refund but now its too late. If anybody wants mine it is for sale!
I believe it burned up because it's a 12v motor (4:00) and it comes with a 12-24v power supply. Anything faster than the slowest is over volting the motor. You said even on the lowest speed it's still too fast, for sanding. That's probably the maximum speed that motor is supposed to go. Good review and I think I'll take the advice and just skip this. I have some neat old vintage motors that would make a fun project building a small wood lathe.
@@artisanmakes Oh hmm it is rated for higher voltage then. Maybe a nice brushless motor upgrade, one that doesn't have any big air holes for wood chips to get sucked into it. Could still be a useful tool just for small stuff.
If you make that style of tool in square cross section HSS and grind the face so its a long diamond shape it actually makes a really useful turning and marking tool that makes a fantastic job of cutting were almost all other lathe tools fail. honestly I wouldnt want to spin something 60mm round on that tiny spindle at those kind of speeds. I hjave had work pieces leave the lathe at high speed but never a chuck..........
I bought on of these the other day and after 10 minutes of working with it, the motor would not turn on. We let it sit and it did eventually turn back on, but not very encouraging. Part of me wants to return it, but part of me also would like to know how to modify or replace the motor for longer life. Have you come up with any replacement motor ideas? I’ve seen used sewing machine motors on eBay, but I’m not sure how one would swap out the shaft. Did you ever do any modifications to yours?
What about using a woodworking chisel to knock off the corners and take shallow cuts to keep from burning out the motor? Is 3,500rpms the lowest the motor will go? Thanks!
5:527 - using the cutting tool upside down certainly didn't help the results, and puts a lot more load on it since you are pushing really hard trying to "slide" the wood off, rather than cutting it..
@@artisanmakes Well, the biggest top water fish in the world. I know you can buy is about. Ten inches by two inches Do you think it would handle a piece of wood that size? That would be the max I would. Ever attempt to do
i suggest the motor probably has Bushings and not bearings. Like has been said not designed for side load.. however i want one of these lathes now just for the parts. OR maybe make the parts. The Bed looks off the shelf to me i have similar used for bolt together shelving. Great video even though the out come wasn't great the idea and motivation is Great
I have one of the aluminum framed models. Had the exact same issue. The switch burned out after 3 days (lotta use in those 3 days though) they come with a 6A switch and the power supply is rated for 5A which isn't much of a buffer. Get yourself a 15A or better switch and you'll be good to go.
I also bought one of the aluminum versions, and I have to say, it seems to be more rigid than the steel one, based on how much deflection you were able to get. My motor wasn't the first thing to go, though: first, the bearing on the live center was complete crap from the start, and even though it still functioned as a live center, it made a lot of noise, and I doubt it would have run much longer before seizing. The second thing to fail was the power brick. This appears to have no overcurrent or short circuit protection, as the first time I stalled the motor (which is really easy to do with a wood lathe), the power supply went "pop" and stopped producing power. Also, as you mentioned, the laser-cut and heat-bent motor housing was broken into four pieces in shipping. This wasn't too big a deal, since the motor ran fine without a housing, but it seems likely to me that the failure of your motor was caused by sawdust getting into the bearings. All in all, not a great experience, but I suppose good enough to get a sense of whether or not you want to buy a real lathe.
As you have an actual metal lathe, how about machining a real spindle to go in the head of this piece of trash, some thrust bearings to hold it, and getting a cheap DC motor with a speed controller to manage the power. Wouldn't cost that much, or take too much time, but I think you could force the trash to be kinda usable :)
@@davidwillard7334 ahaha, we don't always do things because it's the most economical option, but quite often we do things because they're fun, or a challenge
I don't think I've ever seen these with a name brand. I assume there is just one factory in China pumping them out and eBay sellers just drop ship them under various names.
Aussie, but from NSW. Been to most states but Tassie is one I have yet to visit. Hopefully I'll make it down there once this lockdown is a thing of the past. Cheers
yeah bro I was weirded out when I saw a 40 dollar lathe online. Thanks for the review. I need to make jewelry boxes but I can see that flexing and it's driving me crazy. I can measure fractions of a mm with my eye and that would never make me happy.
I was thinking about what you were saying about the bushings or bearing in the motor wearing out .I am guessing from side load. Maybe if it was not screwed down it would lighten up the side load 😊👍
