The versatile and inexpensive mini-lathe has become the best-selling item of machinery in the hobby engineering market, and is often purchased as a first step by beginners. These miniature versions of industrial metalworking lathes are a good choice for model engineers or anyone else who is interested in metalworking and has a need to fabricate small precision parts.
Mini-Lathe for Home Machinists presents a complete course on using and improving the new generation of budget lathes. It's a perfect choice for beginners as well as for those who are experienced with the lathe, but have never tried the mini-lathe. The skills and information that the reader will pick up from this book can be applied again and again to future projects on the machine.
Based on the author's experience using a mini-lathe in his own workshop, this book covers all of the basics, from safety and materials to setting up and tuning the machine for best performance. It includes detailed instructions for making useful components like shafts, bushings, spindles, part-off tools, DRO handwheels and a radius turning attachment. Readers will learn how to use accessories and perform a full range of essential tasks, as well as how to adjust the mini-lathe for use as a milling machine.
The book provides an in-depth explanation of the different parts of the mini-lathe, and addresses how they can be used to complete different projects. Chapters are broken down into easy-to-understand sections, and include hundreds of clear illustrations that will help guide readers as they set up a machine and start to use it.

This book follows on from the same author's introduction to the Mini-Lathe (Workshop Practice Series No. 43) and presents a series of projects which are intended to extend the versatility of this little machine. In some cases, additional machining capacity will be required, which some readers may find at their local model engineering club. The book covers the Mark 2 Mini-Lathe, and specific tools such as the radius turning attachment, the tailstock and the dividing head, and includes techniques such as taper turning and knurling. Whilst specifically written for the Mini-Lathe, some of the projects in this book can equally be applied to other small model engineering lathes and in many cases the concepts can be scaled to suit other equipment.