Metal vs Wood Lathe..Have you tried?

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palmermethod

palmermethod

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Old dogs and new tricks. In my youth I was a machinist and apprentice tool & die-maker. The bench-lathe was the most common type, mid-sized I think we would call them. Very sturdy and precise.

The main differences to a wood lathe are the screw drive, for automatic feed of the cutting tool as well as thread cutting. Multiple tool bits on a single tool holder make progressive drilling, facing or boring easier.

Now I have a standard midi-lathe (Grizzly) and to be honest, I am not a skillful turner. I have been thinking about replacing the wood lathe with a metal lathe.

There are a few penturning with a metal lathe on YouTube which has reinforced my view. The fellow had a metal cutting tool which left some turning marks that needed to be sanded smooth. Otherwise it was a pretty straightforward project.

Of course the wood turning tools and tool rest would work the same as a wood lathe. What do you thin? :)
PM
 
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I use a sherline bench top lathe for all my turning at this time. I am limited to 5.5in diameter but I am not turnig anything other than pens and pen parts on it at this time. If I ever go to turning larger projects I will have to get a different lathe.
Mike
 
For the past few years, I have made all my pens, mandrels, bushings and a few other things on a 7x12 metal lathe. It has worked great for me on any material I have tried. I don't think I have see a pen on this site that couldn't be turned on this lathe.
 
BRobbins629 said:
For the past few years, I have made all my pens, mandrels, bushings and a few other things on a 7x12 metal lathe. It has worked great for me on any material I have tried. I don't think I have see a pen on this site that couldn't be turned on this lathe.
Click to expand...

That's my thoughts too. I see Harbor Freight has a 7" x 10" on sale for around $500 or so. Think I'll check it out. :)
PM
 
I have a Grizzly 7x12 mini metal lathe for around $600. I do 99% of my pen turning on it. I have a Jet 1014, but I really rather use the Grizzly for pen turning. Word of caution,
If money will stretch buy the 7x12 in lieu of the 7x10. The 7x12 is a full 12" between centers while the 7x10 is only about 8" between centers. There are several brands of the mini metal lathe, they all come from the same factory in China. The differences are very little. I chose the Grizzly. Others may differ, but mine has worked out o.k. after some tuning up. One of the advantages of the metal lathe is you can make your own bushings.
Have fun!!
Ben
 
When I bought my 7X12 metal lathe I did my homework and found the same thing Ben mentions above. they are all the same machine from the same company. At that time the best price I could find was the Homier Speedway version. For pen turning I think it is a fine machine right out of the box. for more precision you will need to do some fine tuning. for example the tail stock on my lathe had to be tweaked as it did not come from the factory aligned with any real degree of accuracy. I also took the entire lathe apart and lapped many of the parts for a more precision fit. I enjoyed the work and got to know the lathe very well in the process.

I have turned literally hundreds of pens on this lathe. mainly slimlines in a production type situation. My son and I made 200 slimlines for the troops in 3 days with it. Using the metal tool bit and all. so there is no doubt in my mind that it is a fine machine for making pens. I also used it primarily in the drilling sanding and polishing of over 500 50 cal BMG kits. I don't think it is more popular as a pen making machine simply because it is expensive in comparison to other adequate lathes. I do the finishing on all my pens on the metal lathe as well. to me it has a silky smooth feel compared to my wood lathes. it is much quieter than my oldest wood lathe, and the variable speed is convenient when finishing. I have a new wood lathe now that has some of these features as well but anymore it is me and my kids in the shop. so as I turn out the pens they use the metal lathe to sand and finish them.

in all it is a perfectly adequate machine for making pens and if your comfort level is better with that set up. by all means be comfortable. it has the added plus of being able to create your own tools. I have a bit of personal experience with that from time to time as well. Custom pilots for my pen mill, A neck sizer for when I was putting together the 50 cal BMG kits so that every brass casing had the perfect fit around the bullet. as well as many other little doo dads that I think will make life a bit easier.
 
Atlas 12 X 36

Back in my working days as a modelmaker, I turned 100's of wood items on the Atlas lathe in the shop. I wish I had one now, but it is too late for me to justify the price of one for the little turning I do now.
 
Back when I was in MS and HS, I used to turn wood on my dad's old 12 x 36 Craftsman metal lathe. Worked just as well as the lathes we used in MS wood shop. Now that I have "inherited" it from my dad (the quotes are because my dad's thankfully still alive) I am using it for drilling pen blanks, making pen parts, etc. The bulk of the turning of pens is handled with my HF 8x12 mini wood lathe. Rather than getting rid of the midi lathe, I highly recommend keeping it and adding the metal lathe to the arsenal. Having 2 lathes capable of wood turning is really handy (in one ex. I was letting the CA dry on one pen blank that I had turned on the wood lathe, while I turned the finial on the metal lathe).

Paul
 
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