Desktop Lathe recommendations and method suggestions for shaping ship masts

[paul ron]

I have that very lathe ,and can say I like it better than my old Unimat.

id love to own an old unimat. i see them occasionally for sale but they are asking rediculuos prices.

ive used my delta floor drill press as a lathe. i made a live center and tool rest. its ok for occasional small jobs, but having a lathe is a better solution.

whatever you get, just be sure its a sturdy machine.

 

[Bob Cleek]

I'd love to own an old unimat. i see them occasionally for sale but they are asking ridiculous prices.

They always were expensive and now that they've been out of production for decades, they've become a cult item. They were, in their day, the ultimate modeler's machine tool. Gerald Wingrove's book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling, which is a great read, albeit a bit dated today, inspired thousands of ship modelers to buy one half a century ago. Wingrove did all his amazing modeling on a Unimat SL/SD, including his famous metal miniature motorcars. Sherline and Taig fill the market niche these days, but at a far greater cost because you have to buy separate lathes and milling machines to do what the single Unimat can. While the basic Unimat SL/SD model in good shape can be had for six or seven hundred bucks, it's the tooling and attachments that have become hugely expensive. Still, the used Unimats are less that the current equivalent machinery. The basic Unimat SL/SD is a combination lathe, drill press, and milling machine. From there, if you can find and afford them, there are attachments to turn it into a mini-table saw, planer, scroll saw, jig saw, disk sander, threading lathe, a power feed option, extended bed, jeweler's spindle for really small work, a bench grinder, and polisher, a flex-shaft attachment, and so on. Then there's usual range of tooling: three- and four-jaw chucks, live centers, tail stock Jacobs chucks, center rest, collet holder and collets, etc., etc. I have no idea what a complete Unimat SL/SD "system" would be worth today.

The thing I can't figure out is why somebody hasn't started making them again. It seems to me that either the Indians or the Chinese could turn out the whole Unimat system with enough meat left on the bone to make a healthy profit. I doubt there are any patents that would prevent it. There's nothing unusual about the mechanics of the thing. If you get the chance to get your hands on one, grab it!

 

[paul ron]

right on bob. i had an oportunity to buy a new one back in the day but i was in an appartment then. once i got into my house and established a nice workshop in the basement i just got a nice wood working lathe instead. i made new balesters for my stairs and turned bowls and candle sticks... but the unimat remained on my wish list. i worked in a nyc hospital and being friendly with the maintenance shops, i had access to a real metal lathe the size of a car. so i had the best of the best at my fingertips. the unimat lust fell the wayside. but once retired 16 years ago, the unimat has been nagging at me n kicking myself in the butt ever since thinking how relatively cheap i could have gotten one new. also the fact it has so many transformations makes it the amazing all in one complete shop machine for the hobbiest home shop.

btw my full sized lathe makes a nice shelf for crap in my shop now. i rarely need such a large lathe anymore.

still kicking myself!

 

[Roger Pellett]

Unlike Paul, I’m not kicking myself.

Very early in my career, after leaving the navy, the Ohio State Legislature voted a cash award to those who had served in the military during the Vietnam War. While my hazardous duty during four years of naval service was limited to a week’s ride, underwater on a nuclear submarine I still qualified and received the money. It was enough to buy a Unimat lathe.

Before spending the money, I saw an ad in our local paper for a used metal lathe; cost $125. It was an old sears Duncan brand lathe. I bought it instead. The rest of Ohio’s money went elsewhere. I got the lathe up and running and enjoyed using it for many years.

Years later, the Company moved me from Ohio to Duluth, MN and the promotion meant that I could shop for a new lathe. I don’t remember why I passed on a Unimat; perhaps it was no longer made. Anyway, I bought a Sherline. I have not been sorry. It is a rugged well made machine capable of withstanding my mishaps. I actually use the milling column more, but I do turn brass parts. As I learn by making mistakes, it’s a better choice for me than a Unimat.

Roger

 

[Philski]

If you want something versatile and inexpensive (at the possible loss of perfection every time) buy a pillar drill (about £100). Make sure it has a table that can be raised and lowered. The dowel you want to turn is a cut a bit (1") oversize in length and mounted in the chuck. The bottom end of the dowel is centered firmly on a sharp pin (small hardened steel masonry nails are good) which is fixed in a small vice fixed to the table. Make sure it is all plumb (vertical) That way both ends of the dowl are fixed, and you can sand the taper more readily. This will also accommodate dowels up to 12" long.

The nice things are - a pillar drill is not really a space or a money hog, and you can actually use it for drilling, too.

The main reason I use a lathe is because it is versatile, robust and available. I can use it for far more than ship building. I initially purchased it to turn spindles for a rocking horse I built for my grand daughter. Of course lathes, wood and metal require more TOOLS! (And we all need more don't we)

 

[Bob Cleek]

Roger, I started with my dad's Craftsman wood turning lathe, bought new with turning chisels for $50 in 1950. About twenty years ago, I bought an Atlas/Craftsman 12 x 42 from the widow of a master machinist who had bought it new and babied it for all the years he had it. It came with just about every bit of tooling and attachment they ever made for the thing, plus a bunch of machinists' tools, most Starrett or Brown and Sharpe. She wanted $750 USD for it and that was the fastest I ever got $750 USD out of my pocket. Then, about ten years ago, I mentioned the Unimat lathes in a conversation and a fellow says, "My dad had one when we lived in England. I've never touched it because it's got a motor that runs on British 220 VAC. You can have it, if you want it." Well, that was the most expensive freebie tool I've picked up in a long while. I must have put about $1,500 USD rebuilding what turned out to be a hard-used and abused Unimat. Of course, everything had to be found on eBay at pirate's prices (which have only increased since then.) I put a later model continuous duty motor on it. (The early motors were limited duty... about 8 min. before you have to quit and let them cool off.) Then I replaced the bent lead screw and did a rebuild on the headstock with new bearings. Then, began the hunt for tooling and it got really expensive. I took a pass on the threading tooling, the power feed, and the collets because that was all covered by my Atlas/Craftsman lathe. I skipped the scroll saw and the mini-table saw because I already had a scroll saw and a Byrnes' saw. Still, the little bits and pieces all added up. If I had needed a smaller lathe to begin with, I would have definitely gone with the Sherline. Owning the Atlas/Craftsman had taught me the problems with finding parts and tooling for out of production machines. I do have to admit I got bit by the collecting bug when I rebuilt the Unimat. There's nothing I can do on my 3" Unimat that I can't do on my 12" Atlas, but the Unimat is more fun to use on the small stuff.

 

[Roger Pellett]

I used to drool over those Atlas lathes. When I was shopping to replace my old sears lathe a local dealer sold Jet lathes; a Taiwanese clone of the Atlas. Having at the time some interest in gunsmithing, I was tempted. I now realize that I only knew enough about gunsmithing and machining to be dangerous to myself and others others, and shooting is limited to punching a few holes in a paper target with a 22 rifle maybe once or twice a year. In hindsight. For me, the Sherline was the right choice.

Roger