Ball Turning Attachment For Lathe-Turns Round Convex Metal-Sphere Radius ball turning

The media could not be loaded. I watched a few Youtube videos before purchasing this product and it seemed to bolt on to some lathes without any modification. However, on my new Vevor 7 X 16 lathe it was way too short to reach the chuck centerline. It needed a .485 thick spacer to raise the cutter to material centerline. Actually I just got a piece of .500 aluminum and fabricated the spacer. This left it .015 high but it works great for the moment.The bolt holes were no problem they all lined up perfectly and the stock screws were correct although on the very short side. It was only the height that needed adjustment.So FYI : The height of the cutter from the base on the one I received was 2.225 in / 56.5mm. You may want to check this dimension on your particular lathe to determine if you will need a spacer.I am very happy with this product. If it is mounted and used properly it is rigid based on the design, the bearing provides a very smooth turning action, there is no chatter at least on aluminum and it produces perfect chips if speeds and feeds are correct. I believe it is the best design out there. However, I have spent time improving the rigidity of my lathe. There is plenty of room for improvement on these Chinese lathes

I installed this on my 7 X 12 lathe in minutes with no modifications necessary. I turned my first ball right away and had a blast doing it. I’m no expert and it was very easy to figure it out. It’s easy to switch back and forth between concave and convex configurations.

Not rigid. Too much play to cut anything. Hopefully I can fix it. Not usable out of the box.

The replacement for the first tool (received without a cutter bit) was complete. After I insured all screws were tight, I attached it to my lathe using a quick-change tool holder. First thing I tried was to simply turn a rounded end on a piece of Delrin plastic. It took a bit to get used to the process, but I turned a very nice half round onto the end of the plastic. I then chucked up a short length of 1/2" aluminum rod. I insured the rod end was far enough out of the chuck that the tool would not impact the chuck jaws in use. I undercut a length of the shaft from about 1/2" from the end of the rod back about an inch and turned that down to roughly 1/4 diameter. Then I set the tool horizontal to the work, touched off at the dead center of the rod. I moved the cross feed out far enough that the cutter was clear of the work. I then started the lathe and moved the bit in until it made contact with the right hand end of the work. I swung the handle left and right and knocked the edges off the work. I advanced the tool and swung the handle between the center of the end of the rod and back as far as it would go - that is, until it struck the undercut section of the rod. I continued advancing a little at a time until I was cutting the entire surface of the nicely-forming ball on the end of the shaft ! Once I had tool cutting during the entirety of the swing I stopped cutting and polished the ball and shaft with 400 grit sandpaper. The result a smooth, shiny ball about 3/8" diameter. I hadn't measured anything exactly in this test, just wanted to see if it worked. IT DOES!! Feed slowly and use enough speed to prevent chatter. I think this will work for all the small projects I may want balls for. I will try drilling and tapping the next one with 1/4-20 thread so I can screw it onto a "handle" - this is still test, try, learn mode. But think it will get lots of practical use in the future.

Well designed, made from quality components. Works well.As noted in other comments, it does not do well making concabe features in the ends of stock. It does fine with concave on the side of stock.

Nicely engineered. Do believe this the only ball turner to fit directly onto the mini lathe and it does perfectly on my micromark 7x16

First issue I had was that this is not the one in the photo, and it did NOT have the scales it claimed, so I bought a metal ruler from HF and will rivet it in and make a pointer (this will probably be better than what's on the photo anyway). I have a job to do and can't wait for a return or refund.I dont like the way the handle attaches, it forces me to have the cutting tool on the back side of the work, but this is something a welder can fix.And last but not least, the pivot action is rough, but not terrible.

It does NOT fit directly on the cross slide of my HF 93212 7x10 mini-lathe. It is 13/64" too low. I'll have to machine a 13/64 plate to fit underneath, and drill and tap the plate to mate with the cross slide and with the turning attachment. This is not a huge issue for me since I have a milling machine, but until I find the time to do the mod, I won't be able to evaluate the ball turning attachment. Also, I hate to drill and tap the cross slide!