"The Taig Lathe" book is a highly recommended reference for anyone that owns (or is even thinking about owning) a Taig or Peatol desktop lathe.

Writen by Tony Jeffree, the book explains how to get the maximum use out of the lathe and includes several design projects that can be made to fit or improve and modify the lathe....including making your own power feed for screw cutting etc.

I don't have a "proper" cover for my TAIG Micro Lathe, but is is important to keep the lathe bed covered and dust free when not in use, so I have used a couple of cheap tea towels to do the job over the last 25 years or so (not always the same ones!).

These simple "covers" have worked well and kept the lathe bed nice and clean for over a quarter of a century!

Two standard size tea towels are just the right size to cover the TAIG (Peatol) lathe with its motor etc

The smallest and least expensive mod that I made and fitted to my TAIG was an extended tailstock lever.

As supplied, the operating lever is a small flat metal arm that works very well - but by extending it, it gives a more sensitive "feel" that I find helpful when drilling with small size drill bits.

Adding a round knob on the end to the extension also adds to the "feel" when using it.

Does anyone remember the Model Engineers Workshop magazine?

It used to be a brilliant source of ideas to help equip your own workshop - no matter how modest it might be - and they also carried a lot of advertisements for kit that I would never have seen or been aware of it I had not seen it in MEW.

One of the things that caught my eye was a very small variable speed control system that I could make fit onto my TAIG Micro Lathe.

The motor itself was the same size as the standard motor that Peatol were suggesting and selling with their TAIG lathes, but the digital control system that went with it was a very small and neat unit - so one was added to my lathe and the wooden enclosure was modified to accommodate it.

The lathe runs silently and very smoothly with this ESC (electronic speed control) fitted making it a joy to use.

I always liked to use a quick change tool post on my Myford lathes, and one day when looking on an American site that sold TAIG lathes and spare parts, I noticed a link to the A2Z CNC site - and they had a quick release tool post to fit my TAIG lathe.

After counting some pennies, a A2Z CNC tool post was bought along with some spare tool holders and it has transformed my TAIG (Peatol) lathe for me making easy and quick tool changes possible.

I mounted the lathe on a solid base and made a plywood enclosure for it to retain any swarf that I make when turning and to keep the work bench looking a little tidier.

The enclosure is made to be quite a tight fit to take up as little space as possible, but it is big enough to fit the complete lathe with motor etc inside it so it can be lifted and placed anywhere else if the bench space is needed for anything else.