05-08-2012, 11:20 AM
I went "lathe crazy" as a high-school freshman, but really could do nothing but read about them. Later, in the army, I purchased a new Unimat, and did a few things with it but ultimately college, career, marriage etc. caused machine-tool interests to fade into the background.
About eight years ago I gave the Unimat to my son, and he used it regularly, eventually deciding he wanted something bigger. During his 18-month selection process, he regularly talked about various machine-tool brands to me - frankly it went in one ear and out the other - but he persisted to the point that my own interest was slowly rekindled.
Upshot: he's equipped with a Precision Matthews 11" lathe and their biggest benchtop mill, and I'm equipped with a 12" Grizzly lathe and their now-discontinued RF45 clone.
But my equipment sits in the middle of a garage undergoing a major reno, and is really not useable right now.
So, I'm still reading, but nowadays we have blogs, so more sources of vicarious machine-tool experience.
About eight years ago I gave the Unimat to my son, and he used it regularly, eventually deciding he wanted something bigger. During his 18-month selection process, he regularly talked about various machine-tool brands to me - frankly it went in one ear and out the other - but he persisted to the point that my own interest was slowly rekindled.
Upshot: he's equipped with a Precision Matthews 11" lathe and their biggest benchtop mill, and I'm equipped with a 12" Grizzly lathe and their now-discontinued RF45 clone.
But my equipment sits in the middle of a garage undergoing a major reno, and is really not useable right now.
So, I'm still reading, but nowadays we have blogs, so more sources of vicarious machine-tool experience.