On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 01:02:31 GMT, (Gary Coffman)
wrote:

How small? The Sherline is *tiny*. It is really a *micro* lathe rather
than a mini lathe. They're fine little machines, and there's a ton of
accessories available for them, but they are *tiny*. A similar machine
is the Taig (which I own). Neither will natively cut threads, though
there are ways around that.

Then I'm guessing it won't do. I'll have to find something else.

I was looking at the Emco machines as well as the ones sold by harbor

Emco or ENCO? Big difference.

Had no idea there was Emco and Enco. I was referring to the modular
lathe/mill/drill unimat thing. But from what I heard, it's pretty
cheap, so I dismissed it.

Has anyone successfully made gears on a Sherline, or is that just a
ridiculous proposition?

Well, lets just say it would be a *challenge*. Straight spur gears are
possible, but any other gear form is going to be very difficult. I'd strongly
suggest you consider *purchasing* gears, or salvaging them out of other
equipment, rather than trying to make your own with a micro lathe. You
might have a bit better luck making them with a mill and rotary table.

Well... I actually WANT to make the gears. Any of the stuff I've made
over the years I could have bought for far less money, but that was
never the point. And I wasn't suggesting doing it on the lathe, but
with the mill and rotary table as you mentioned. But forget the
Sherline, is there ANY mill that can make decent gears for around
$600? If not, then screw 'em.

Can anyone suggest a better machine for around the same price as a
Sherline?

You really need to tell us more about the size work you're going to do.
If you're familiar with Battlebots, give us the class closest to the size of
the robot you're building. That'll give us a better idea what sort of
machinery to recommend. I'm thinking that unless your robot is going
to be a flyweight, you're going to need bigger machinery than Sherline.

Gary

My aim is to build a small, two-motor, autonomous robot, probably one
foot long at most, ten pounds maybe. No saw blades, or cannons, or
spiked balls, just wheels. I also would like to be able to machine
parts to modify paintball guns and other small mechanical devices.
And then, in my search for a lathe I've also come across various
examples of small steam engines and so on, built with small lathes and
mills, and I now have an itch to try that out too.

I really want to be able to make threads and gears. If I can't do
that, it's not worth it for any price. And I mean to make gears on a
mill. I'm actually in the market for a lathe AND mill, I've just been
saying lathe a lot cause I'm lazy. Sorry.

So I'm gonna back away from Sherline. Now I'm thinking of getting an
Atlas or Craftsman as suggested by Bob May, or a Grizzly 7x12. I read
somewhere that the Grizzly and Harbor Freight 7x12 were almost the
same machine, but the Grizzly has more features. So any
recommendation there?

And as for the mill. Grizzly and Harbor Freight have a mill too. Any
comments on those?

I'm hoping to spend about $2000 on a lathe, mill, and tools.

Thanks to everyone for the help, I really, really, reeeeeeally
appreciate it...