Mini-Lathe Introduction
When I first started my career in the electronics industry, it was in the marine navigational field. (Radar, Sonar etc.) At that time, some 43+ years ago, much of the equipment relied on mechanical as well as electronics. Microwaves were routed about using brass waveguide. Because of this, part of my training was with basic machining practice. We did something of everything, Lathe work, Milling, Shaping, Welding and so on. Over the years this has proved to be very useful. The company I worked for did not mind a small amount of personal work being done at lunchtime, and it was a boon to have access to a machine shop. (Not to mention the advice of some very skilled toolmakers)
After a few years I moved onto other companies, and I no longer had access to a machine shop. Ever since that time I have always wanted to have my own small machine shop. Around Jan 2005 I finally got around to doing something about it. The impetus was due to a Parker Duofold ballpoint pen that I had received many years ago as a gift becoming damaged. Sending this back to Parker under their lifetime guarantee resulted in Parker not honoring that guarantee. They did offer to replace the Pen and also any others in a set with a solid black replacement, but as the pen was a gift, and I was given the matching pencil as a parting gift when I left one company, I also like the blue marble design. As far as I was concerned this was not honoring the so called lifetime guarantee. All that has happened is that the small twist device that extends and retracts the ballpoint had broken. It would not have taken Parker much effort to ensure that they had spare units on hand, but alas it appears that they are not interested in supporting their guarantee. So I got annoyed enough to think about setting up a small machine shop, and the result was, that I bought the first major component, which was a mini lathe.
I bought the Clark CLM300M. This is a version of the popular Asian 7 x 12 mini-lath.
There are many reviews of this lathe on the web, but after a couple of months of working with it, I can honestly say that I'm very pleased with it. PROVIDING you work within its limitations, it is capable of producing some very good results. It is only a small lathe, and as such you cannot take massive cuts, but taking your time is the key. I still have a lot to learn (and re-learn) and I am slowly getting better.
Eventually I might even get around to repairing my Parker Duofold ballpen!
Well, after quite a few months and a lot of thinking. I came up with a design for a new extend/retract widget. It's not quite as polished as the Parker original, where the rotating cap does not move up and down. In my version the cap moves with the ballpoint. However my design is thousands of times more robust than the Parker effort. The Parker device failed twice, in a few years. My version is still working 25 years later.
I thought that it might be useful to document the lathe and the few things that I have done to it. On the following pages you will find a series of pictures showing what you get in the package, and also a couple of simple modifications that I have done.
