That was then and this is now.? The choice is to buy a cheap, Indian 2 3/4" rotary, or a larger, more expensive USA Sherline.? The Sherline 20% sale is through the end of May.? So make your choice.
|
I should add that this was back in the day when Harbor Freight was a catalog only, no stores, 40+ years ago. Homier back then was of the same quality and they had more machine tools under the brand Speedway. Sadly they started sell junk later on. ?Jeff
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 09:03:07 AM EDT, Jkle379184 via groups.io <jkle379184@...> wrote:
I miss the days of when Homier would set up tents or rent a Civic center for the weekend and have huge tool sales. ?Jeff
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 07:45:32 AM EDT, Carl <carl.blum@...> wrote:
Hi John:
I didn't
notice the shipping! I thought it had free Prime Shipping. $30
seems high for something that could fit in a Small Flat Rate
box.
Also I did
grab my Harbor Freight table off a clearance rack. It seems like
HF is avoiding precision tools for higher priced rechargeable
tools. I remember in their catalog days (30 years ago) they
offered major machine tools, mid sized lathes, vertical /
horizontal mills, etc.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 7:33 PM, John Hutnick
wrote:
Amazon lists the basic 2-3/4" table for $44.95, but with $29.89
shipping and delivery June 5-13.
I could not find this rotary table on Harbor Freight.
|
I miss the days of when Homier would set up tents or rent a Civic center for the weekend and have huge tool sales. ?Jeff
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 07:45:32 AM EDT, Carl <carl.blum@...> wrote:
Hi John:
I didn't
notice the shipping! I thought it had free Prime Shipping. $30
seems high for something that could fit in a Small Flat Rate
box.
Also I did
grab my Harbor Freight table off a clearance rack. It seems like
HF is avoiding precision tools for higher priced rechargeable
tools. I remember in their catalog days (30 years ago) they
offered major machine tools, mid sized lathes, vertical /
horizontal mills, etc.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 7:33 PM, John Hutnick
wrote:
Amazon lists the basic 2-3/4" table for $44.95, but with $29.89
shipping and delivery June 5-13.
I could not find this rotary table on Harbor Freight.
|
|
|
Hi John:
I didn't
notice the shipping! I thought it had free Prime Shipping. $30
seems high for something that could fit in a Small Flat Rate
box.
Also I did
grab my Harbor Freight table off a clearance rack. It seems like
HF is avoiding precision tools for higher priced rechargeable
tools. I remember in their catalog days (30 years ago) they
offered major machine tools, mid sized lathes, vertical /
horizontal mills, etc.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 7:33 PM, John Hutnick
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Amazon lists the basic 2-3/4" table for $44.95, but with $29.89
shipping and delivery June 5-13.
I could not find this rotary table on Harbor Freight.
|
Amazon lists the basic 2-3/4" table for $44.95, but with $29.89 shipping and delivery June 5-13.
I could not find this rotary table on Harbor Freight.
|
Re: Unimat SL1000 for sale
Hello Andrei:
I wouldn't
rely on the foam. The motor and body are quite heavy and the
motor mount is quite thin.
It isn't hard
to free the motor. Just take the motor pulley off, one screw,
and then you can reach two screws to free the motor.
I also doubt
FedEx would pay you enough to buy a new motor mount.
While not
FedEx I have been burnt to the tune of $500 in the last few
years, so use caution.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 4:11 PM, Andrei wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
That is great information.?
I was relying on FedEx to do their magic foam-in-place packaging
which is great. When I purchased a telescope, the seller had
FedEx package it and I could not believe how well they did it.?
The foam in place is a little pouch. you squeeze it and it has a
chemical reaction. You place it on your object and as the
reaction continues, it foams and the foam takes the shape of
whatever you are wrapping. This way it ends up being immobilized
in the box.
I really liked it, and I figured that if I ever ship something,
I will give it to FedEx to package it for me.?
Yes.? A good description of
how to pack is on the home page here (good source for belts
and more, too).
If you scroll down a bit on
the home page, you find a box "SPECIAL NOTE:? Shipping the
Unimat" which explains it quite thoroughly.
It also describes how the
lead screw can get bent with poor packing.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
Andrei:
Who
ever packs it, have them take the motor and hand
wheels off. These often get damaged in shipping.
The motor mount can break and it is a pain to
rebuild the hand wheels.
Carl.
On
5/14/2024 12:06 PM, Andrei wrote:
Folks, I have a SL1000 that picked up recently.
I thought I would have the time and drive to play
with it, but I found out that I don't.?
The machine has a bunch of accessories, including
the milling head and more.
I was going to take some pictures to share, but
it is raining outside and my patio table gets the
most useful light for pictures.
If anyone is interested let me know.
I hate these generic ads, yet I am posting one
myself. My apologies.?
As soon as the rain lets out, I am going to take
detailed pictures and provide some descriptions.
Price wise, I don't know. I grossly overpaid as
it was from the estate of someone I knew and the
sale benefitted the widow. I will accept a
reasonable offer, although I have no illusion that I
will recover my cost.
He used it to make pens and other stuff like
that, but while he was sick, the lathe went unused
for a few years. It will need some cleaning and
lubing to bring it up to daily use.
When it comes to packing, I will take it to
FedEx. They will sell me the necessary box or boxes
and they will pack the machine professionally. This
way if it gets damaged in transit, there is
insurance to fall back on. Whatever they charge for
this service plus the cost of fedex ground shipping
from zip code 22015 is going to be the shipping fee,
in addition to the lathe price.?
I am adding a small pic to show the model
designation.?
Let me know if anyone is interested.?
Andrei
|
Hi:
I have one
like this from Harbor Freight for $20:
It looks
fine, I think I used it once. This one on Amazon is $60.
This one
looks a bit more versatile at $40:
The Velmex
models are more for Laboratory / Optics work, not machining.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 12:38 PM, John Hutnick
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I use a Sherline.? For me, to get materials and manufacture a
rotary, it would be so much time that I may as well buy one.
In doing a Google search for small rotaries, I found mostly the
cheap Indian one.
Now we complain that these rotary tables are just too big.
So I found this, a Velmex USA 1.65" model, which might be an ideal
size for some of our work.
It is $990 for the base model.
|
Re: Unimat SL1000 for sale
That is great information.?
I was relying on FedEx to do their magic foam-in-place packaging which is great. When I purchased a telescope, the seller had FedEx package it and I could not believe how well they did it.?
The foam in place is a little pouch. you squeeze it and it has a chemical reaction. You place it on your object and as the reaction continues, it foams and the foam takes the shape of whatever you are wrapping. This way it ends up being immobilized in the box.
I really liked it, and I figured that if I ever ship something, I will give it to FedEx to package it for me.?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Yes.? A good description of how to pack is on the home page here (good source for belts and more, too).
If you scroll down a bit on the home page, you find a box "SPECIAL NOTE:? Shipping the Unimat" which explains it quite thoroughly.
It also describes how the lead screw can get bent with poor packing.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 12:26:18 PM PDT, Carl <carl.blum@...> wrote:
Andrei:
Who ever packs it, have them take the motor and hand wheels off. These often get damaged in shipping. The motor mount can break and it is a pain to rebuild the hand wheels.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 12:06 PM, Andrei wrote:
Folks, I have a SL1000 that picked up recently.
I thought I would have the time and drive to play with it, but I found out that I don't.?
The machine has a bunch of accessories, including the milling head and more.
I was going to take some pictures to share, but it is raining outside and my patio table gets the most useful light for pictures.
If anyone is interested let me know.
I hate these generic ads, yet I am posting one myself. My apologies.?
As soon as the rain lets out, I am going to take detailed pictures and provide some descriptions.
Price wise, I don't know. I grossly overpaid as it was from the estate of someone I knew and the sale benefitted the widow. I will accept a reasonable offer, although I have no illusion that I will recover my cost.
He used it to make pens and other stuff like that, but while he was sick, the lathe went unused for a few years. It will need some cleaning and lubing to bring it up to daily use.
When it comes to packing, I will take it to FedEx. They will sell me the necessary box or boxes and they will pack the machine professionally. This way if it gets damaged in transit, there is insurance to fall back on. Whatever they charge for this service
plus the cost of fedex ground shipping from zip code 22015 is going to be the shipping fee, in addition to the lathe price.?
I am adding a small pic to show the model designation.?
Let me know if anyone is interested.?
Andrei
|
I just wonder if it would be possible to 3d print a rotary table for the unimat? and how well one would work?
------ Original Message ------
Date 14/05/2024 17:38:16
Subject Re: [Unimat] Rotary table?
I use a Sherline.? For me, to get materials and manufacture a rotary, it would be so much time that I may as well buy one.
In doing a Google search for small rotaries, I found mostly the cheap Indian one.
Now we complain that these rotary tables are just too big.
So I found this, a Velmex USA 1.65" model, which might be an ideal size for some of our work.
It is $990 for the base model.
|
Re: Unimat SL1000 for sale
Yes.? A good description of how to pack is on the home page here (good source for belts and more, too).
If you scroll down a bit on the home page, you find a box "SPECIAL NOTE:? Shipping the Unimat" which explains it quite thoroughly.
It also describes how the lead screw can get bent with poor packing.
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 12:26:18 PM PDT, Carl <carl.blum@...> wrote:
Andrei:
Who ever
packs it, have them take the motor and hand wheels off. These
often get damaged in shipping. The motor mount can break and it
is a pain to rebuild the hand wheels.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 12:06 PM, Andrei wrote:
Folks, I have a SL1000 that picked up recently.
I thought I would have the time and drive to play
with it, but I found out that I don't.?
The machine has a bunch of accessories, including
the milling head and more.
I was going to take some pictures to share, but it
is raining outside and my patio table gets the most useful light
for pictures.
If anyone is interested let me know.
I hate these generic ads, yet I am posting one
myself. My apologies.?
As soon as the rain lets out, I am going to take
detailed pictures and provide some descriptions.
Price wise, I don't know. I grossly overpaid as it
was from the estate of someone I knew and the sale benefitted
the widow. I will accept a reasonable offer, although I have no
illusion that I will recover my cost.
He used it to make pens and other stuff like that,
but while he was sick, the lathe went unused for a few years. It
will need some cleaning and lubing to bring it up to daily use.
When it comes to packing, I will take it to FedEx.
They will sell me the necessary box or boxes and they will pack
the machine professionally. This way if it gets damaged in
transit, there is insurance to fall back on. Whatever they
charge for this service plus the cost of fedex ground shipping
from zip code 22015 is going to be the shipping fee, in addition
to the lathe price.?
I am adding a small pic to show the model
designation.?
Let me know if anyone is interested.?
Andrei
|
Re: Unimat SL1000 for sale
Andrei:
Who ever
packs it, have them take the motor and hand wheels off. These
often get damaged in shipping. The motor mount can break and it
is a pain to rebuild the hand wheels.
Carl.
On 5/14/2024 12:06 PM, Andrei wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Folks, I have a SL1000 that picked up recently.
I thought I would have the time and drive to play
with it, but I found out that I don't.?
The machine has a bunch of accessories, including
the milling head and more.
I was going to take some pictures to share, but it
is raining outside and my patio table gets the most useful light
for pictures.
If anyone is interested let me know.
I hate these generic ads, yet I am posting one
myself. My apologies.?
As soon as the rain lets out, I am going to take
detailed pictures and provide some descriptions.
Price wise, I don't know. I grossly overpaid as it
was from the estate of someone I knew and the sale benefitted
the widow. I will accept a reasonable offer, although I have no
illusion that I will recover my cost.
He used it to make pens and other stuff like that,
but while he was sick, the lathe went unused for a few years. It
will need some cleaning and lubing to bring it up to daily use.
When it comes to packing, I will take it to FedEx.
They will sell me the necessary box or boxes and they will pack
the machine professionally. This way if it gets damaged in
transit, there is insurance to fall back on. Whatever they
charge for this service plus the cost of fedex ground shipping
from zip code 22015 is going to be the shipping fee, in addition
to the lathe price.?
I am adding a small pic to show the model
designation.?
Let me know if anyone is interested.?
Andrei
|
I use a Sherline.? For me, to get materials and manufacture a rotary, it would be so much time that I may as well buy one.
In doing a Google search for small rotaries, I found mostly the cheap Indian one.
Now we complain that these rotary tables are just too big.
So I found this, a Velmex USA 1.65" model, which might be an ideal size for some of our work.
It is $990 for the base model.
https://www.velmex.com/Products/Rotary_Tables/Manual-Rotary-Tables.html
|
Folks, I have a SL1000 that picked up recently.
I thought I would have the time and drive to play with it, but I found out that I don't.?
The machine has a bunch of accessories, including the milling head and more.
I was going to take some pictures to share, but it is raining outside and my patio table gets the most useful light for pictures.
If anyone is interested let me know.
I hate these generic ads, yet I am posting one myself. My apologies.?
As soon as the rain lets out, I am going to take detailed pictures and provide some descriptions.
Price wise, I don't know. I grossly overpaid as it was from the estate of someone I knew and the sale benefitted the widow. I will accept a reasonable offer, although I have no illusion that I will recover my cost.
He used it to make pens and other stuff like that, but while he was sick, the lathe went unused for a few years. It will need some cleaning and lubing to bring it up to daily use.
When it comes to packing, I will take it to FedEx. They will sell me the necessary box or boxes and they will pack the machine professionally. This way if it gets damaged in transit, there is insurance to fall back on. Whatever they charge for
this service plus the cost of fedex ground shipping from zip code 22015 is going to be the shipping fee, in addition to the lathe price.?
I am adding a small pic to show the model designation.?
Let me know if anyone is interested.?
Andrei
|
My suggestion is to machine your own from scratch. That is what I intend to do. I will design it in CAD then build.
--
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/?OFF-SET-tailstock-center-65965#post105972
?SMALL TURRET TOOL POST PLANS?
?LARGE TURRET TOOL POST PLANS
?MINI-LATHE CARRIAGE LOCK PLANS
?SMALL QC TOOL POST PLANS?
?QUICK CHANGE LATHE TURRET
?MINI LATHE COMPOUND PIVOT MODIFICATION
|
Heres a thought. many years ago i made 2 rotary tables of sorts. One manually rotated by hand for my sherline it had a thread to hold a drill chuck. It had a 2"(50mm) table. Rotated by a tommy bar in the side holes. Two an old 1980's Ford windscreen wiper motor machined and modified to make a 2.75 "(70mm) rotary table. The wiper motor is the dark grey part. ?The ratio of the worm drive was dreadful but it functioned for me then.?    
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Re: Spindle Bearing Lubrication
in USA they are about 10 dollars apiece for Chinese crap and double the price for Japanese. without a doubt, you can find more expensive ones, as well, but I could live with NSK Japan bearings, all day.?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
They are E13 magneto bearings. Not too hard to find in the UK, where a lot of vintage motorbikes use them. Not too sure about anywhere else. It is an old spec, and I have not been able to find a more modern equivalent which might be more widely available.
A quick look on Ebay (UK) brings up item 195980528632 from NSK, so a respectable make. ?10.56 each from Holland. Plenty more listed. Same part number works on Ebay.com, still shipped from Holland. There are several listed within the USA.
|
Re: Spindle Bearing Lubrication
They are E13 magneto bearings. Not too hard to find in the UK, where a lot of vintage motorbikes use them. Not too sure about anywhere else. It is an old spec, and I have not been able to find a more modern equivalent which might be more widely available.
A quick look on Ebay (UK) brings up item 195980528632 from NSK, so a respectable make. ?10.56 each from Holland. Plenty more listed. Same part number works on Ebay.com, still shipped from Holland. There are several listed within the USA.
|
Re: Recommendations for learning the basics
They were probably using the chuck because they either didn't have a faceplate, or were too lazy to swap it for one.? In machining there are usually multiple ways of skinning the proverbial cat (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me!), some better than others, but it's good to know that there isn't one "correct way" to do anything.? YouTube comments are full of people who are certain there is only one way to do "X"; all that shows is their own ignorance.
-Dave
On Sunday, May 12, 2024 at 03:02:21 PM PDT, Brad Barton via groups.io <xbartx@...> wrote:
On Sun, May 12, 2024 at 02:24 PM, Nate Crouch wrote:
If your ultimate goal is to learn manual machining/ basic lathe work, don't waste your time going through the lens?of the Unimat platform.
I didn't go looking for a lathe, my son saw it at a neighbors garage sale. He know I work on old brass locomotives, simple stuff of rebuilding them, not building the from scratch. The idea of being able to make my own tiny metric screws, mill a new part or make a new motor mount is what made me buy it. It was very cheap and I figured not much to loose.
Faceplate & lathe dog are used together for turning between centers. That gets you the most accurately made parts your lathe can make.??
?
The video I looked at showing the use of the lathe dog still had a chuck mounted and that confused me. The chuck must not have been holding the stock.
|
I'm not interested, and if I bought one anywhere, I'd expect it to be a "project"; it's just that the removable base does present an interesting option.
-Dave
On Monday, May 13, 2024 at 03:34:29 PM PDT, John Hutnick <johnhutnick@...> wrote:
Look up the price and Seller and you will see.
If you are thinking good quality, you have to spend money, like Sherline.
The Ebay one is very likely crappy.
|
Carl
OldToolmaker