Emco Unimat 3

I've been using this lathe for the past 32 years. This is what I learnt to turn on and all those years on still use it on a very regular basis to machine very small parts.

Specification:

Centre Height: 46mm (1.79") centre height by

Between Centres: 200mm (7.8")

Spindle speeds: 130, 200, 350, 560, 920, 1500, 2450 and 4000 rpm

Review

Just recently the 3 jaw chuck has been starting to get very tired. I managed to find a brand new original chuck, not cheap, but the reviews of the Unimat 4 chuck were not so great. This came in it′s original box.

The bars are for tightening and releasing the chuck.

To reverse the jaws so as to hold larger diameters it is a simple process of scrolling the chuck until each jaw is released. The jaws are then turned around and Jaw 3 is placed in the slot where Jaw 1 was, Jaw 2 goes into Jaw 2 slot and Jaw 1 goes into slot 3.

This is a very accurate and well made chuck.

Circular Saw

The Unimat 3 had a great circular saw attachment. The real benefit of this was the prcision with which you can strip and machine wood for model making purposes.

The only downside is the Unimat 3 motor is a tad underpowered for this type of work and so you do need to take your time or you will stall it. Quite frankly anything thicker than 6mm with hardwoods is just too much for it.

If you fit the saw with a slotting saw, so there is no set on the blade teeth, the finish of the cut is very close to what you can achieve by planing - just great for model furniture etc.

Here you can see a U-section piece of wood that I machined.

Firstly I cut the wood down from a 6mm thick plank into 6mm square pieces.

The I set the guide to give a 1.5mm wide cut and lowered the saw blade to 4.5mm above the table - this is actually done by moving the table upwards on the post.

I then machined the groove firstly down one side of the wood, turned it around and di the other side. I repeated this for the 3 strips of wood that I needed.

I then moved the guard over 0.5mm and repeated the cuts to remove the wood from the centre. Once all of the wood had been removed I finished with some fine sandpaper.

Price: No longer in production. The Unimat 4 is a very close copy, not quite the same quality from the reviews I have read and a basic lathe costs ~£350

Conclusion

Just would not part with this lathe as I use it all the time. Mine is a tad tired in some areas but with adjustments here and there is still able to machine almost anything.

See also: Tools.