Thanks for making this video. Going through your series about the mini lathe and is definitely getting me going in the right direction. Cheers!

A tool I found useful for taking down the worst high spots on the underside of the ways is one for refacing the edges of skis. It has an adjustable right angle surface to the cutting surface (albeit plastic on my cheap version). I think it will take the really rough bits out prior to lapping. I enjoyed your videos please keep them coming.

I have to say, your videos seem adventurous. As is with these Asian “Kit” lathes that need correcting, modding,and tuning up, out of the box. Yours is detailed, at length, which is awesome because it’s far better than watching anything on television, which is inundated with reality [trash] TV. And yours is like the feeling I had, as a kid, running home to watch This Ood House and New Yankee Workshop, but, kinda better because I too own metal lathes and milling machines, and a shop basement. Basically relating to your projects. Again, great content, nice detail, and awesome job.

I have found this series to be very enlightening. I appreciate the information and the time you've taken to explain how you measured and the corrections required. The down side is now I need to tear my new lathe down and check many things....the end result will be worth it. Thank you so much for these videos. Cheers from Canada!

Thanks for pointing out the problems with this lathe . I have one and i did not know where to begin . Mine had a list because it was a return . So i jumped in the deep end and learned. That being said i still like this mini lathe idea just that their manufacturing leaves a lot to be desired. It's a journey but if you have time it can do a good job once you've survived the battle.

I like the approach to lapping the ways. I have the same problem with my mini lathe and intent to fix the problem thanks to your detailed information. Very helpful!

This video makes me sad! It confirms all the issues I was afraid I'd face buying this. Luckily this video shows fixes can be had. Thanks.

Thanks! This is very helpful. I just ordered a Vevor 7 x14" mini lathe on ebay. $325 new. I couldn't resist. I had a "Smithy 1200XL" Drill/mill/lathe combo. It was pretty decent, but I am starting over setting up a small machine shop. I am prepared that this lathe is going to have to be gone through with a fine tooth comb, tweaked, scraped, modified and adjusted. I know it will NOT be ready to go out of the box, should it arrive intact.

Good video! I am in the process of building a small metal lathe. How spent much time thinking about how to design the saddle. Nice to get some a closer view of yours. Great tips as well. I subscribed to your chanel! :)

Shouldn't you be measuring the parallelism up where the cross slide rides?

Thanks so much for the videos. I’m going to have to do the same. Great tip on the single sided lapping method. There are many on the internet lapping both sides with paste.

Great content

hi great videos. i brought a mini lathe 7 years ago i must been lucky did not need to much work to get it running great. or the quality has gone down over the years don't know. made tones of stuff on mine paid for its self over and over. must say like your milling setup very ingenious. Have subscribed all the best have a good day. Jace

Hi nice to be here, Lance & Patrick.

Hi your videos are a great help as I too will embark on a similar undertaking

As a person that’s attempting to do this on a 1900’s rahn Mayer carpenter lathe I completely understand the “being scared” comment. Once the part is messed up there is no going back for sure probably why this has taken me months lmaoo

excellent video, very didactic!!!

You might have tried denatured alcohol as a lubricant to protect the adhesive. But, the elbow grease would not have diminished.

I stumbled across your channel recently and thoroughly enjoyed this series. I'm fairly new to machining, and I have had a 7 x 16 Chinese-made lathe for about a year now. Just based on the design, my lathe appears to have been made by the same company, but the manufacturing quality of my lathe seems better than what you're showing in your videos. It's a version of the Seig SC2 lathe, but it's imported and sold under the LittleMachineShop.com (LMS) label. It may be that LMS enforces contract obligations on Seig that specify higher manufacturing quality parameters. Yet, there are some things that I would like to improve on my lathe, and I look forward to following your progress.I subscribed and signed up for updates.

no matter how you push down on the saddle to keep the underside flat, lapping always has a tendency for it to end up convex . relieving the middle of the v ways 0.02mm or so from flat can avoid rocking, leaving four points of contact and allows it to wear flat. test by pushing down on the right while yr indicator is set up on the left etc... saddles wear convex after a while and start chattering under load

What kind of glued did you use to adhere the emery cloth to the bed? Really appreciate the extra detail you go into when explaining the process of your work. Something can be missed when minor details don't seem important and are left out of a tutorial. Will be adding a video on the control assembly that I modified of this same lathe. Would like your feedback if you watch it. Cheers m8

ottimi consigli bravo

Ok NO KANGAROOS WERE HARMED IN FILMING THIS MOVIE. But No Kangaroos were filmed while harming this episode !

Many, many, MANY years ago in the mid 60's I built a small micro lathe 50mm Centre height X 250mm between centres for model aero engine repair. The bed was made from a 50mm wide X 12mm thick piece of bright mild steel, surface ground all round etc. The combination of the steel bed and a Meehanite cast iron saddle wore well and even today, after 55 years of frequent use, the bed has not shown any scoring or wear...…..without Vees to worry about, the square section bed is the easiest format to make and maintain. One thing.....did you also make sure the crosslide vees were dead square to the bed otherwise you will get a concave or convex face to anything you face and you will have to do all that work again, but this time a re-machine of the saddle/bed vees would be needed. Looking at the design of the saddle and if everything went pear shaped you "could" make a new saddle from a slab of cold rolled steel as it would wear very well with the bed iron.....piece of cake with only one vee and a dovetail.

Just curious about how the smooth surface is instead of scrapped

Have we check is it square between saddle and bed way?

I've found that Windex (ammonia based window cleaner in the US) works great with wet/dry abrasives and emery in lieu of WD40. I'm also a user of WD 40, but it does feed on adhesive and is pretty good at removing labels.

Thanks for putting the videos up. What kind of adhesive did you use to glue down the emery cloth down?

Could we use very fine grinding paste to do the work?

Mike from mo. US here, ive been watching this vidio series,,nice work!! I picked a ms 210 laythe,,i thought for doin some hobby work,,,now this thing is the hobby..very upsetting on fit..as well you know how these ..things can be.😨,,anyway,,i was wondering what material did you use for saddle clamps? Mild steel or cast... and the scrapping..was it to help oil retention? Thank you for the vidios...i have lots of work ahead..nice to know im not alone 😊 keep up the good job, mike t.

You are indicating a cast surface. You should be going by the slides right?

Is the saddle square? as in when facing will the face be convex or concave. Iam asking because my saddle is about 0.3 of a degree off square and my facing is convex.

Nice to see how you worked on your lathe but how many time will you have the saddle clear down on the tailstock end. On these short bed lathes you will probably never be but half way down to the tailstock at the far end.

What spray glue did you use to secure the emery paper to the ways?

What are your ideas about the gears? gonna stay with plastic?

I see so much work being put into this type of lathe and other modifications to make it lasting. Would it be cheaper for someone purchasing new just to spend more for a better lathe?

I you have to do something like this again, use windex (window cleaner) instead of WD-40 for wet sanding. It lubricates and won't dissolve the glue for the tape.

What grit Emery did you use? Great video btw, subbed 👍

My lath needs to do the opposite. Lapping the V rail-way instead. I am afraid I also need to lap the under-way.

It'll cost more in materials and tools and measurement devices to fix this lathe than the lathe cost itself, assuming you don't already have this stuff in your shop. Speaking from experience.

Can you make more mini lathe videos?

Whats improved and what not my expericence tells me snadpaper leaves a concave surface but it seems like you are using lapping paper instead of sand paper

why not measure off the bottom of the dovetail? that is where the cross slide will ride so that i where geometry matters

中国产的机床，总的材料质量太差，如铸铁、钢材、轴承，寿命极短，其中钢材的热处理硬度不均。离现代国家距离不小。

If these Chinese mini-lathes were ambulances, every patient would die. Good ole China always makes good-looking machines from 20 feet away but when you touch it you realize it's CHINESEIUM. I have spent so much money on my Harbor Freight 7x14 mini lathe ($500 new) that If I had it to do over again I would have spent $2500 (American) on a "good" lathe. They are fun to mess with though, remaking every part 2 or 3 times till I get them right.😂