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At one time when I was younger and butch I had a mini-lathe which I could move about if necessary. I bought the Penn State Universal Duplicator which worked quite well. I sold the lathe when it became too much to lift, and purchased the Proxxon DB250 wood lathe. It is very light and meets my requirements for turning miniature columns. I couldn't find a duplicator accessory for this model so I built one. It is about half-size of the PSi one.

Hi all, mom looking for an inexpensive but decent lathe. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Has anyone adapted the Sherline thread cutting attachment for use on the Taig lathe? Any tips appreciated. Thanks.

The X-axis crank (radial axis) on my Taig cross slide will not stay put in the location where I stop it. If the handle is at the top of the "dial", then gravity will cause it to return to the bottom. No amount of cranking on either of the two set screws (front and radius of "dial") seems to change this. It is so loose as to be way beyond what I would imagine possible for backlash. Needless to say, this makes it nearly impossible to do anything that resembles precision machining without using calipers at each step. Am I tightening the wrong set screws? I appreciate any suggestions.

I'm in the process of making 46 fancy tassels for a customer, and they need turned wooden "heads". I've offered the wooden tassel heads in my passementerie classes, but just turned them free hand and sorted them into matched pairs afterwards. Now the need for consistency arose, so I got Pete Boorum to fashion a duplicator for my CarbaTec knockoff lathe. These heads need a hole drilled through lengthwise, to enable a hanging cord to be attached. I'm using a #52 drill bit, chucked into the tailstock of my lathe and drilling the hole first by sliding the tailstock up to the end of the 1/4" cherry dowel (I find cherry splits out less than regular dowels or walnut or oak) and cranking it in. But the drill bit wants a pilot hole or it flexes and doesn't center itself. Since I'm making these with the bottom end to the right, that can cause a seriously off-center hole at the top. Reversing the template won't help, an off-center hole at the bottom flange means no wood to attach the skirt to. Currently, I'm having most success starting the lathe, then using a graver ground down to a sharp point and my eyeball to poke a pilot hole. With about a 75% success rate on a good day. If I have created a "pimple" in the center, by scribing a circle, I can always turn the dowel in the chuck and try again. But I'm wondering if there's a way I haven't thought of??