Mini unimat?

[Carl Fisher]

Can anyone tell me anything about this little machine? Unimat DB200
Is it worth looking into?


Miniature Lathe UNIMAT

 

[KenV]

Carl --

Unimat was marketed as a competitor to Sherline and Taig for micromachining in days before the Made In China lathes hit the US market in volume. Maybe a bit on the small side, and more DIY oriented for the model engineer.

Wish it was about 3000 miles closer. That one has a bunch of accesories.

 

[Gregf]

If you can get that for $200 snag it.

 

[plano_harry]

Oh man, I sold one of those for $500 (basic model) to get my HF 7x10. The DB200 is a great machine. It is a watchmaker's lathe. I bought mine to make parts for brass model railroad engines about 45 years ago. The one you are looking at has all the bells - threading screw, table saw and probably other stuff I don't know about. It is a Shopsmith in a box. Drill press, milling, you name it. For $200 it is a steal! It is just pretty limited for pen making from length standpoint and not much room over the ways. That is why I went with the 7x10. If you need something that is not in that box, it is going to cost you.

 

[Carl Fisher]

Does it do threading and would it be capable of making one body or cap or front section at a time? I'm looking for a way to experiment with thread sizes for some designs I'm working on without dropping tons on tap/die sets.

Or would I be better off saving up for the HF?

 

[Tom T]

That is cool.

 

[Carl Fisher]

Basically my goal is to be able to cut accurate and repeatable tenons, male and female threads of varying sizes and various tapers and facing.

I can do it by hand on the wood lathes, but being able to dial in the precision over and over again is something I'm after.

 

[plano_harry]

Carl, I didn't have the threading attachment, so I don't know. It appears to be a very complete set so you wouldn't want to part it out, but that threading option is around $180 and the power feed is probably even more. If your luck is as good as mine, you could easily sell it on ebay for enough to buy the HF. Wish I could tell you more. Check youtube, some guy is selling a CNC kit for it!

 

[Rockytime]

Basically my goal is to be able to cut accurate and repeatable tenons, male and female threads of varying sizes and various tapers and facing.

I can do it by hand on the wood lathes, but being able to dial in the precision over and over again is something I'm after.

The Little Unimat is a collectors dream. Outside of that is intended for very small projects. The tubular ways are not rigid enough for more than light cuts. I would love to have it just for the pride of ownership as it is beautiful and worth every penny. If it were me I would spring for the Sherline lathe. It is a bit pricey but is very accurate and made in America. There are infinite parts and accessories available. If you need absolute precision that is a good way to go. The Taig lathe is very well made and with a bit of fine tuning the Chinese mini lathes are also quite nice. But for $200 grab it!

 

[Carl Fisher]

I'm thinking of picking it up if for no other reason than to try and make a quick $100 on ebay with it. From what I'm reading about it, it's probably ultimately too small to do all of the things I want from it.

 

[mredburn]

You should be able to sell it for enough that you can buy a used Sherline lathe. The Sherline has a gear kit that allows you to thread std imperial or by adding an additonal 127 gear metric threads. OF course they do have a metric version. I have had the unimat, Taig, still have my Sherline lathes. THe Sherline will do what you want and have a larger resale value when you want to move up in size if you do. I gave my Unimat to my dad and he got around $400 for it without the saw accessory when he sold it. good luck with it.

 

[Carl Fisher]

Well, I shot an email off to the seller yesterday since they didn't list a phone number. We'll see where this goes.

It's a little over an hour drive for me each way but if I can turn this to bootstrap me up into a Sherline or HF machine, it might just be worth it.

 

[plano_harry]

Carl, just did a check of completed listings on ebay and basic models like mine are going for $500+ The one you are looking at has more gizmos. If it is still there, you will be quite lucky at $200

 

[Carl Fisher]

The seller hasn't returned my emails even though the listing is still active.

 

[Dalecamino]

I'm thinking of picking it up if for no other reason than to try and make a quick $100 on ebay with it. From what I'm reading about it, it's probably ultimately too small to do all of the things I want from it.

You're right!:biggrin:

 

[Carl Fisher]

Well, I started contacting him within an hour of the initial craigslist posting and I never heard back from him. Sent him another request that was ignored again and as of today the listing has been removed.

I'm guessing he either figured out he could get more or someone was even faster than I was. I just hate when people completely ignore you

 

[Chatham PenWorks]

It was likely spoken for in the first 20 minutes at that price.