Would this be a suitable lathe

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Recently I have been considering buying a metal lathe to advance my kitless pen turning. I have come across this one and was wondering if it would be suitable for this. I have also looked at the Sieg ones, but they are hard to find where I live. Any advice would be welcome
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1604309834756.png

Thank you very much,

Renzo
 
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magpens

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I agree that it should do what you want to do.

HOWEVER, ..... how is the second picture related to the first ? ..... I fail to see the connection ..... are they two different lathes ?

With regard to the first picture ..... seems to show belt-changing ( or gear-changing ) as the only method of speed control .....
Electronic variable speed control would be much better
 
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HOWEVER, ..... how is the second picture related to the first ? ..... I fail to see the connection ..... are they two different lathes ?
I have looked into it and it appears to be from another lathe. Must be a mistake in the listing. It seems to require belt changing to change the speed.
 

frank123

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You should be able to do a whole heckuva bunch more than just pen making with that one. It should serve any need you have well enough.

I'm not familiar with that model but the quality and precision of the machine would be important and most of the lower priced -affordable- lathes straight from the factory need some adjusting and tweaking to get high precision. Lathe mods become sort of a hobby in themselves. You might see if there is a hobbyist discussion forum for that model and see what the users talk about.
 

bmachin

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Not totally sure, but I believe well known YouTube machinist Stefan Gotteswinter uses an Optimum milling machine which says something in favor of the brand.

Make sure that it comes with all the change gears in case you plan to do any threading in the future.

Looks to be a nice machine.

In answer to your question re suitability, The big downside that I see is that changing speeds by changing pulleys is a pain.

Bill
 
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Dehn0045

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I agree with @magpens as it looks like two different lathes. The first looks like approx 10x20 mini and the other one looks like a 16x40 class gearhead. I am far from an expert, but as Mal also notes, I would want variable speed (although at the right price I could live without it). Next is the motor voltage, I'm not sure what you have available, but most 14 inch swing lathes are 220v, up to 12 inch can be 110. Then consider power feed - lower end mini lathes will use the threading lead screw for power feed, this causes additional wear on the lead screw. When you are at the 12 inch swing and smaller they are all pretty similar, just different levels of quality for the same thing (or add ons like DRO). But over 12" things can get weird fast. Just my 2 cents.
 
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