Small-part machinists have known and loved (or hated) the Unimat series of tiny lathes and mills for more than 40 years. Medium-precision products from Austria, Unimat tools popularized table-top machining at realistic prices. I built an itsy-bitsy five-cylinder radial engine for one of my model planes with an old Unimat set. The whole motor was about two inches in diameter, and it worked - jewelry with moving parts. I must have worn out two sets of eyeglasses just reading the calipers as I worked.
The Unimat PC saves the eye strain. With all the bits and doodads you really need, and a garden variety computer in hand, you can be shredding aluminum, brass, plastic, or steel with computer control for about two grand. There's a third axis-milling head available now, but the software is for the lathe only - so far.
Did I say software? Unimat's antediluvian programmers tried to do graphics without a mouse. It's klutzy and it's clumsy. But once you're set up to make that neat railing post for the doll house, making the next 47 of them is a snap. It's true CAD-CAM at less than half the price of anything else available.
A final note from the planned obsolescence department: The chucks and stuff from old Unimats mostly don't fit the new one. - Jef Raskin
Software and lathe: US$2,000. Emco Maier Consumer Products Division: (800) 521 8289.
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