3 Best Mini Metal Lathes in 2021 – Buyer’s Guide & Reviews

OUR TOP PICK

It’s rare to find a versatile and reliable mini metal lathe under a thousand dollars, but the Erie SP2102 is a favorite among experienced machinists for its range of home shop applications. The SP2102 will handle wood and plastic as well as metal.

Once you’re up and running with this tool, you’ll find it offers excellent precision and efficiency of operation. The variable speed function of the SP2102, running up to 2500rpm from 0.53 horsepower, can be monitored on the digital read out for smooth and measured working of your material. What makes this model stand out in efficiency terms is your freedom to mount four cutting tools simultaneously, enabling you to switch cutting function quickly and easily from one stage of the project to the next. 

A second stand-out feature is the screw-threading versatility at this price point. The reversible motor direction can create left-handed screws, which is a feature you’d expect from a more complex model. The SP2102 also has a range of 12 to 52 teeth per inch and a choice of metric or imperial pitches.

You may have noted the emphasis we put on the importance of experience with this little kit. Although it comes with a well-written and illustrated manual, it’s one of the more complex tools to use out of the box. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news if you’re eager to get up and running, but even if you’ve workshopped with this tool, you’ll still need to leave sufficient time to learn the specific manual functionality of the unit and step through the set-up before you can get the best out of your purchase. We recommend having a stock of excess of throwaway materials to practice on.

A couple of reviewers commented upon what looks like a spate of quality control issues upon packing and dispatch. Erie’s customer service has balanced the purchasing experience for several of these customers, who have warned about how easy it is to snap the plastic gears with rookie mistakes. The advice is that this tool will do everything you need it to when you’ve totally familiarized yourself with it, but it is a good idea to buy back-up gears in plastic and metal to widen your margin of error.

The lathe unit comes with the five-piece carbide-tipped cutter kit, MT3 spindle taper, MT2 dead-center tailstock taper, and a set of plastic change gears.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

This mini metal lathe comes in the ‘mini’ class, but it can handle substantially larger material dimensions than its competitors. It boasts a generous swing range that comes from 15.83” between centers and an 8¼” swing over bed dimension, giving you the freedom to turn and tool those bulkier items.

As with the Erie, you get a four-way turret tool post, reversible direction, an LED reading of your RPM, and variable speed control up to 2250rpm. However, what you also get with the BestEquip 8x6 is a better controlled slow stop on reversed gears (avoiding that screech-to-a-halt damage which happens far too easily), an adjustable tailstock, brushless motor, adjustable auto-feed rate, and robust dual splashguards which help you to work more safely from first trials and beyond.

The brushless motor goes a long way to making this a lower-maintenance unit once you’re all set up. The 750watts provide 1HP of power, which is competitively assertive. This is a beast which needs to be firmly bolted down. The power-to-accuracy ratio is a delicate balance to maintain and you won’t get the best out of this unit unless you fully restrain the movement which comes with the torque. 

As with the Erie lathe, this is not ideal for beginners to use right out of the box and will require a well-paced prep and familiarization process. That said, it has been found to be more durable, featuring metal gears rather than nylon ones. At least the initial shopping around for instantly available spares is something you can cross off your cost list. It’s a good thing too because this tool comes in at an upper-middle price point of $1k-$1.2k dollars.

So that you can prep your workbench, allow for a unit 32” wide by a foot deep. The lathe comes with a spare 4” 4-jaw chuck to interchange with the 3” chuck already installed, an oil can, set of wrench and key accessories, and a storage box.

BEST VALUE

This is the little brother of the 8x16” BestEquip mini metal lathe with an almost direct replication of the same features, albeit in a more compact form and a couple of downgrades to lower the price point.

It goes without saying that the swing bed is smaller (7.09”), limiting you to narrower materials, and that there’s a more limited gap between spindle centers. There is no digital reading showing your speed, though the variable speed is easy to set using the little grey knob on the console panel. The power is respectable at 550watts, still generating up to 2500rpm. Thirdly, costs have been diminished by the use of nylon rather than steel gears. It is nice that it still comes with an automatic feed and a reversible threading facility. This unit also has the four-tool turret of that ease of switching process during a project.

As simplified mini metal lathes go, this will still perform well for counter facing, decoration with intricate detail, and modeling work. It comes with a more generous package of accessories than expected, such as the shockproof foot cushions, chuck claw, chuck and double-headed wrenches, protection mask and oil can. That said you’ll need all of this to speed up the process of thoroughly lubricating, bolt-tightening and calibrating the lathe before you can get to work on it.

Allow for a 27” by 9” footprint on your workbench and a stand which will take 110lb. One of the things that this unit has going for it is a construction of heavy iron (in the bed) and durable aluminum for that safe weight-torque ratio. This is not a petite device, as mini lathes go, so the presence of an emergency stop button is very reassuring.