Compact Lathe

The evolution of the compact, or portable, lathe has brought many a model engineers' life-long ambition to reality. No longer regarded as the scaled-down variant of the long-established permanent workshop machine, they are purpose-designed tools of remarkable ingenuity in their own right.

Compact lathes (such as the Unimat III, Peatol, Shearline and Cowell range) are inexpensive, self-contained, adaptable to a broad range of machining techniques and ideally suited for beginners and those wi...