[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by LedLover96

My team has no lathe.

We do not have the money, nor the space for it. On top of that, we would not know how to use one to its full potential, as out robots are mostly COTS and aluminum extrusion, so we do not feel the need to get a lathe, we prefer to spend the money we do have on other tools.

Originally Posted by CENTURION

I don't think we've really run into a situation where we would need the lathe though. Besides maybe the occasional end-drilling of some round stock, which can be done on a drill press accurately enough too.

My team was in your boat for many years. We picked up an old Atlas-Craftsman 618 this year, restored it, and bought some modern tooling for under $200. Completely and totally revolutionized our build process. It's one of those tools that you don't realize how useful it is until you have it. From being able to move to hex shafting, to adding retaining rings to our robot, to custom boring gears and taking advantage of timing belt pulley stock, to precise spacers, to being able to correct oversize round stock rather than buying it new, this cheap little lathe did incredible things for our team this season, and we don't know what we'd do without it now.