LMS HiTorque 4100 lathe?

[Chthulhu]

Does anyone here own and/or use the HiTorque 4100 mini lathe from LittleMachineShop.com? If so, would you be kind enough to review (or mini-review?) it for us? I'm seriously planning to purchase this machine, but have found no information outside the LMS site about it. It seems to be a nicely-upgraded machine based on the ubiquitous SIEG 7x lathes.

 

[aggromere]

I have it. I bought it a few months ago. It is very well made and has expanded my capabilities. However, if I were to review it I would say:

1. Handles (for turning) on the tailstock and cross slide and cheap and tend to come unscrewed. I imagine I could find replacements if I just looked.

Other than that i am very pleased with it. What i really wanted to buy was:

http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7x16-MINI-LATHE,9615.html but they were out of stock for a long time and I'm impatient. Not sure about the quality of that machine, but it looks like the same lathe except bigger.

I find working on the 12 inch lathe to be very crowded at times (i get around it, not that big of a deal, but if I had it to do over I would get a 16 incher or bigger. But if you get the 12 inch from Little Machine shop you will be getting, in my opinion, a well made lathe. It required no tuning at all to be dead on right out of the box. it's bolted to the wooden base of a wooden crate and is fully assembled except for a couple of handles. You can search the forums for metal lathe threads. I posted a million of them asking questions trying to figure out what to get.

If you have any questions feel free to private message me and i will try to give you my run down on what you need to purchase to get it up and going.

 

[Chthulhu]

I have it. I bought it a few months ago. It is very well made and has expanded my capabilities. However, if I were to review it I would say:

1. Handles (for turning) on the tailstock and cross slide and cheap and tend to come unscrewed. I imagine I could find replacements if I just looked.

Other than that i am very pleased with it. What i really wanted to buy was:

http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7x16-MINI-LATHE,9615.html but they were out of stock for a long time and I'm impatient. Not sure about the quality of that machine, but it looks like the same lathe except bigger.

I find working on the 12 inch lathe to be very crowded at times (i get around it, not that big of a deal, but if I had it to do over I would get a 16 incher or bigger. But if you get the 12 inch from Little Machine shop you will be getting, in my opinion, a well made lathe. It required no tuning at all to be dead on right out of the box. it's bolted to the wooden base of a wooden crate and is fully assembled except for a couple of handles. You can search the forums for metal lathe threads. I posted a million of them asking questions trying to figure out what to get.

If you have any questions feel free to private message me and i will try to give you my run down on what you need to purchase to get it up and going.

Thank you, Peter; it was the near-total lack of information from owners that was puzzling me. LMS does offer an "extension" kit to 14":

http://lmscnc.com/1928

In reality, this replaces the entire bed of the machine with a longer one for about $150.

I have about another $600 worth of stuff I'll be ordering along with the lathe, from several sources, once the money becomes available.

 

[aggromere]

Yea, i thought about gettng the extended bed, but i dont think i have the skill to install it and maintain the integrity of the lathe. It really is a sweet little machine, but a metal lathe has such a big tool rest you can't get it totally out of the way. The three jaw chuck that comes with it was almost impossible to get anything centered. I purchased a six jaw self centering chuck, but it needs a faceplate adapter to fit on the lathe. I have been very happy with that. I would suggest though that rather than mounting it on the legs that come with the lathe, I would drill through the workbench and mount it directly to it. cuts down on vibration. I also opted for the insert tools so I wouldn't have to learn to sharpen metal lathe tools.

Good luck.

 

[Chthulhu]

Yea, i thought about gettng the extended bed, but i dont think i have the skill to install it and maintain the integrity of the lathe. It really is a sweet little machine, but a metal lathe has such a big tool rest you can't get it totally out of the way. The three jaw chuck that comes with it was almost impossible to get anything centered. I purchased a six jaw self centering chuck, but it needs a faceplate adapter to fit on the lathe. I have been very happy with that. I would suggest though that rather than mounting it on the legs that come with the lathe, I would drill through the workbench and mount it directly to it. cuts down on vibration. I also opted for the insert tools so I wouldn't have to learn to sharpen metal lathe tools.

Good luck.

The package I want includes a 4" 4-independent-jaw chuck, a bench to bolt the lathe down onto, a quick-change tool post and tool holders, a tool rest that fits into the QC tool post, and insert-type tooling. Later I'll see about a collet system for the beastie.

I'm still spoiled from years of working with a Hardinge toolroom lathe: