This enabled me to experience how each machine feels and behaves, which I believe is more important than raw specifications. I took each one for a drive with identically sized spindles from the same plank of wood. Today’s benches, designed more for router use and taller people, have grown to as high as 36″.)įor this article, I had a chance to test out eight of today’s midi and mini lathes. Past workbenches, designed for hand tool woodworking and shorter statures, were typically 33″.
(Ideally, the center of the spindle of a lathe should be at elbow height. Today’s midi lathe makers also offer good quality stands with more than adequate height adjustment - a good thing, as putting a modern midi on a workbench may make the spindle too high, especially for a young person. Additionally, most midis and minis now have variable speed, usually with a DC motor and controller. This makes midi lathes a good choice for furniture builders who want turning in their repertoire. Typically, adding one extension extends the nose-to-nose distance between the spindles to between 37″ and 45″. Lathe makers have all added bed extensions that take the midi back in the direction of the standard workshop lathes of my youth (which had an 8″ to 10″ swing and 29″ to 36″ between centers and were intended to be placed on a workbench or shop-built stand). Delta was probably the first to dub these upsized machines “midis,” but the terminology of mini as 10″ or smaller and midi as 12″ and bigger is now part of the popular lexicon. The first mini lathes sported 8″ to 10″ swings and 12″ to 15″ between centers.ĭuring the first 10 years of this century, many manufacturers beefed up the bed of their mini lathes and raised the spindle height to yield a 12″ swing. Aimed at the rising tide of pen turners (the first pen kits came out in 1987), they were dubbed “mini lathes.” To machinery producers’ delight, these small lathes also found great popularity with model makers, teenagers and those just wanting to try turning without spending a fortune.
Find out which of these is the best benchtop lathe for your shop.ĭuring the last decade of the 20th century, a number of manufacturers brought out versions of their standard 1″ x 8 TPI lathes with a short bed.
Each includes a variety of features that will satisfy woodturners of different skill levels. We tested and reviewed eight of the top mini and midi lathes.
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