Proxxon Micromot DB 250 MICRO Woodturning Lathe

Great for wooden ship modellers

Perfect lathe for small projects

I opened the suspiciously rattling box to discover all items loose within the box, no packing whatsoever. I suspect a returned item that hadn't been inspected before being resold as new.Needless to say damage had occured, with one side of the motor housing being broken completely. The sad fact is I needed the machine deperately, and as it obviously was still in working order I glued the side back in position (see photo) and made do.Despite the unsatisfactory way the item had been received, the mini-lathe lived, and lives, up to the manufactures rightly deserved good reputation. It performs its duties well and absolutely as it should.Its quite noisy, but it can hardly be expected to run silently, but it does what it is intended to do well. The supplied collets cope with most diameters of round dowelling very well, but are not really expected to be a permanent solution, and the purchase of a good quality three jaw chuck. (Not 4 jaw, a 3 jaw is self centering, a 4 jaw is not!). Such a chuck will soon become an absolute requirement. The chuck manufactured by Proxxon themselves is the obvious choice and turns the lathe into a much more capable and professional tool.Highly recommended. (But try and ensure its a new item).

This is a follow up review having been using the lathe lately. My praise remains the same, I find it easy to use and very quiet, it runs very smoothly with no problems. I have been tapering my boat masts and cannot fault this product in any way. Would definitely recommend and buy againBought this to assist with my modelling, especially the masts which have a taper over their length. Also bought the chuck so I do not use the collets. This machine is perfect and of very good quality, I would definitely recommend it. I have read reviews where it says it is noisy, I would say far from it, I was surprised how quiet it is (it is a motor so there will be some noise).

Has to be one of the best small lathes out there and the customer support from Proxxon is first class! I bought the three jaw chuck NO 27 026 and the tail-stock drill chuck NO 27 028 well as I need to bore out some tubes for the wooden clock I'm making and these have made everything just so easy!Highly recommended!!!

well made lightweight model lathe. due to a poor designed tool rest can only be used for small items up to 25mm dia a redesigned locking could possibly increase this to 35mm. Extras you can get are also fair quality but basic. One thing I would liked would be a zero start as the sudden 1000rpm puts a great strain on the motor when the 3tooth chuck is fitted much better to be able to wind it up gently. This little lathe is only for making very small items like Christmas decorations, for that it is very good.

It's worth nothing - I bought this as a gift for a friend, knowing little about wood turning myself. I think I was fixed on the 'bargain price' and ignored the fact that it was actually absolutely tiny. Think about suitable for a regular sized pencil. However, once the gift recipient had stopped laughing they did remark that it was just too small for their needs, but that the quality of the device was excellent.This may seem like a 'Warning: Coffee Hot' piece of advice but I fell for irt, and I'm sure the company doesn't want to handle many returns from people thinking they're buying a bigger lathe. Speaking of which, thjey handled the returns process superbly, were understanding, and prompt with a refund. I'd have no hesitation recommending them to others.Five stars because post sale customer service was top notch, and it would be unfair to drag down a raitng because I didn't read correctly.

2nd update: The first one broke after a couple of weeks as the speed control stopped working, now the replacement has done the same, also after a few weeks.Update: Reviewed revisted down from 4 to 1 star as the speed control no longer works and only has top speed. Only 3 weeks old. Replacement coming in a couple of days and I'll put it back up if it's still working after a yearOriginal review : Good quality micro lathe. Able to handle wood, plastics and even small amounts of softer metals if you take small cuts. It has regulated speed so it doesn’t slow down under load. Would have been nice if the speed was adjustable down to a few hundred rpm to aid varnishing and painting. The only let downs are the awful tool rest which looks like it was made by a schoolkid on his first day in metalwork class (I swear I could get a smoother surface finish by scraping it with a brick) and the collets which I assumed from the pictures were blackened steel but are in fact plastic of some type. I use it with the optional 3 jaw chuck so I’m not too bothered about the collets. I also use it as a mini disc sander with a 3 inch sanding pad I picked up on Amazon. You’ll need an adaptor as it comes with a 2 pin EU plug. It’s a bit overpriced but if you want a micro wood lathe to pop on the table and is much more capable than the £40 drill-chuck-attached-to-a-motor ‘wooden bead makers’ you can get, then this is your tool. Just make sure you’ll never want to do anything bigger because for the same cost you can pick up a workbench mountable lathe that can do far bigger pieces.