If you're new to machining or simply new to the 7x series of mini lathes or
mini mill, check out the following resources:
LittleMachineShop.com
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LittleMachineShop.com provides us with a "Free Mini Lathe User's Guide". It
is an Adobe PDF document containing 35-pages of what should have been
included with the mini lathe to begin with. If you want to learn more about
your new mini lathe, *read this user's guide*! There is a link to it on the
site's home page.
This site is also the *best* place to get replacement parts and accessories
for you mini lathe and mini mill. The prices are great, customer service is
*excellent*, and they ship very quickly.
mini-lathe.com
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Frank J. Hoose, Jr. provides us with one of the *best* resources out there
on the 7x series mini lathes, mini mills, and other machines. The site is
intended primarily to help new and prospective owners understand the
capabilities, limitations and frustrations of these tools and how to modify
and fine-tune them to get results one might expect only from a much more
expensive machine. The reviews of the machines and accessories on the site
are comprehensive and very well illustrated.
Also, I'd highly recommend subscribing to the *Premium Content* section.
There you'll find detailed tutorials on Tramming the Mini Mill, Knurling,
Boring, Cutting Threads, etc. as well as some great projects in a easy to
understand and very well illustrated format.
Please read the Safety page for important safety tips.
Varmint Al's Mini Lathe Page
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Another great source of information is Varmint Al's Mini Lathe Page. Besides
a lot of well written information about the mini lathe, there are some
excellent links to other mini lathe related web sites.
This is by no means a complete list. Doing a search on
using the keywords "mini-lathe" or "7x10" will provide
thousands of links to pages to help you along the way.
Also, I highly recommend the following two books:
"Tabletop Machining" by Joe Martin
"Home Shop Machinist's Handbook" by Doug Briney
Although written for the Sherline machines, they offer a wealth of
information that applies to any lathe or milling machine.
Have fun!
- Brice
