Just picked it up - Peatol / Taig Mini Precision Lathe

[raynerd]

I use to own a Unimat 3 mini lathe many years ago and I really enjoyed it for small work. Looking back now, since owning my Asian Lathe and Boxford it was tiny in comparison but there was somthing about its size that has appealed to me. I`ve been looking since summer to find a tiny lathe perhaps eventually for turning small parts or as a dedicated clock wheel cutter and the Sherline or the Taig/Petol were always rated more highly than the unimat. I can`t afford a lot, infact when I say I`ve been looking for one, I really mean keeping my eye open on the right price. A few sherlines have gone on ebay but for £300+ and a coule of Taigs have sold for £250 and way above! These things seem to really fetch a good price for the size of them!

Anyway, about a month ago a Peatol came up on ebay for £345 Buy now or "Make an Offer". It looked in OK condition but what interested me most was the fact that it had the milling attachment and also had been fitted with a lead screw which is quite a tricky little add-on and exceptionally useful. Infact, I always thought if I ever got one I`d have to add the lead screw myself. Cheekly I put in an offer of £110 and it was immediately rejected. The lathe "sold" after a few days and that was that. Last week I got a message on ebay saying that the lathe was here if I wanted it!! He`d been let down twice on ebay, both times with people asking to post it when the ad. clearly stated it was collection only (I knew this as he was <10 miles away from me).

Anyway, last week I collected the lathe and it really is smashing. The guy was great, it has a touch of surface rust as it has been in the shed but it will come up great when I have more time to look at it. It was such a pitty, he used it to make violin and bow parts, his work was absolutely first class but his eye sight had failed him. The lead screw mod is excellent and seems very well done. He also chucked in a box full of taps, dies...etc and a couple of plunge clocks including a nice mitutoyo. Really impressed with it so far and hope to start getting some use out of it soon.

Specs of the Taig/Peatol lathe: http://www.cartertools.com/specific.html

[dsquire]

Craynerd

Just curious. How much jail time do you get for theft under $5000.00? Do you want a file or a hacksaw blade in your cake when SWMBO comes to visit?

Sure looks like a good deal to me. I'm just jealous.

Cheers 

Don

[chuck foster]

congrat's on the new lathe  ..............looks to be in good shape.
i bet you will get lot's of enjoyment making parts on the one.

chuck 

[sbwhart]

Hi Chris great buy 

Have fun

Stew

[Bernd]

I have to agree with Don. I think you stole that lathe for that price.

Nice snag. Looks to be in pretty good condition.

Bernd

[NickG]

Chris, looks a good buy at that price with the accessories it came with - but I am curious as to what can you do on it that you can't on the boxford, milling machine and shaper!

Ok as a dedicated clock wheel cutter, but didn't you just rig your rotary table up for that? You won't be able to mount it on that will you? 

Nick

[boatmadman]

Nice buy.

I have had one of these for a few years, the most frustrating thing I find is allen screws everywhere - must get around to modifying them!

I would love to see detail on the lead screw and the clock indicator mechanism for travel lengthwise.

I made a dividing head for mine, great little extra.

Ian

[Stilldrillin]

Blummin well done Chris!  

Enjoy....  

David D

[andyf]

Great buy, Chris! It'll fit in a suitcase, so no more hobby deprivation when you are away on holiday 
Andy

[CrewCab]

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask  ............ you definitely stole that Chris ......... but it seems you and the seller are happy so well done mate, cracking find  ........... enjoy 

CC

[raynerd]

Hi Guys, yes I did get this for a good price but I think the chap was happier after he had sent a few emails and had spoke to me and knew it was going to be used or at least homed well. I`d feel worse if I could have afforded to give him more and I was just being tight but at the present time I really can`t and like CrewCab has just said, I`m happy and he is happy so all is well.

Andyf  - this will certainly fit in a suitcase! Lol, no more sweeping up swarf, I`ll just pick the hole lot up, turn it upside down and shake it

Boatmadman - I`ll get you some more details of the leadscrew over the next couple of weeks once I have had time to look at it myself. If I`m being honest, I`ve only spent an hour or so with it just to check it all over. Hopefully I will make some swarf with it soon. Regarding your dividing head, do you have any details or pictures? Was it a dividing head based on the head stock pullys?


NickG - my opinion is probably void due to lack of experience in this hobby but there seems more "feel" and control in turning small parts on a small lathe. The boxford is great but when you have a small bar chucked up in the 6" jaw with a huge lathe bed it just doesn`t seem as comfortable as with a small lathe. The little Peatol is also setup very rigid so that fine cuts can be taken with high precision ..... in theory!  Regarding the wheel cutter, although I have setup my milling machine and RT to cut wheels, if I do get into clock making as I intend to, the plan would be to purchase a small 3" rotab (or even use my current 4" vertex) and mount this upside down on a bracket supported by the milling attachment. I could then use my CNC rotab software to control the indexing, mount the wheel blank on the rotab and use the headstock to spin my cutter. It could  be left perminantly setup just for this job. Something like this but either a commerical rotab mounted upside down or a home made worm gear attached to my CNC gear:



...but Nick, Quote - "but I am curious as to what can you do on it that you can't on the boxford, milling machine and shaper!" in truth, nothing but it is a good excuse for more  and also  lol ....

Chris

[Andy]

You've got a good lathe there, Chris. I have one of those, due to sell it soon but only because I need to raise money for a mill. I'd keep it otherwise.

The Taig/Peatol is a great machine, with its modular build and profusion of T slots, ideal for adapting to special purposes.

The tailstock, with its lever action spindle, is great for getting 'feel' when drilling small holes as well. You seem to be missing that bit. £32 from Peatol in the UK.

[NickG]

Ok Chris, I do get what you mean about small machine for small components, it sort of feels right. I did actually think the same at one point but now I know that my lathe, despite its size, can turn very small things very well and I'm guessing your boxford can too. I guess it would save a lot of set up time though if it was almost a dedicated machine for wheel cutting.

Anyway, nice find, I know we all like new toys!   

Nick

[NickG]

Chris,

I've just been looking at a thread I am following on HMEM and the guy is using a peatol lathe. His pic shows a dividing attachment and tool post grinder that might be of interest.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6474.msg76011;topicseen#new

go to page 12 and scroll to near bottom.

Nick

[raynerd]

NickG - I have been thinking of indexing in a small lathe like this for a while now, prior to even buying this one. This idea of mounting in the headstock and cutting with a spindle on the tool holder seems a more effective method, easier to setup and change. I have also seen that dividing mod shown in the link but the divisions are done at the tailstock. It is great for simple divisions but your are limited by the number of dividing disks owned. Infact, this mod requires all the drive pullys to be removed to change the disk, or at least that is the design I`ve seen. Since I`ve gone to the effort of setting up my CNC indexer, I really wanted to use that. It is truely unbelivable and makes cutting wheels and dividing a doddle. However, if I want to use it on my lathe, I need some worm gear setup to get the torque and correct movement, connecting the stepper motor directly as a 1:1 ratio is apparently  no use. The only other way I have thought about doing it would be to mount a cheapo 3" rotab on the back of the headstock and run an expanding mandrel through the rotab MT into the headstock spindle. The CNC indexer could be connected to the rotab and the headstock divisions again made by the CNC indexer. The disk could then be mounted in the head stock and the wheel cutter mounted in the tool post grinder.  That is forgetting that this method requires the design and making of a tool post grinder!! Perhaps in the grand scheme of things it would be easier to mount on a mandrel attached to a divider on the tool post and cut with the headstock??  Decisions, decisions! More than one way to skin a cat, it is just choosing the best method.

[boatmadman]

Some pics of my dividing head here. It was built from plans by a Tony Jeffrie, here:

http://www.jeffree.co.uk/modelengineering.html

Ian

[Dean W]

. Something like this but either a commerical rotab mounted upside down or a home made worm gear attached to my CNC gear:



Chris

Hey, that's my setup.  How 'bout that!
You can see more about it by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Dean

http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/projects.html

[raynerd]

This isn`t an advert for my sale - I DON`T own the lathe anymore, I sold it on ebay back in November. I`ve just noticed it is back up for sale again

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peatol-Taig-Lathe-Milling-Slide-Leadscrew-Mod-unimat_W0QQitemZ270723841186QQcategoryZ112399QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D2%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8039374382152688704

Notice the pictures?!!! - go back to page 1.

Humm I do miss it but I have a taig/peatol downstairs in bits waiting to be put back together again.

Chris