harbor freight

[rs1300]

new to the forum and have a question. i am thinking of purchasing a harbor freight mini lathe and am wanting to get some feedback on there mini lathe (7 X10). i also considered buying the next size up and am looking for pros and cons?? sorry for the generic question but not sure whre to start. i am wanting something to "assist" me in making small parts, brackets, experiment etc.. i searched around a while but couldn't really tell much difference in the mini lathe reviews. thanks in advance

[Hobbiest]

If you can afford the next size up, do it! Always buy the biggest most capable tool that your budget will allow!11111

[BIG AL]

Do a search right here on this site, visit homeCnC web page, click on the members list and find his home page. Lots of info already here.

[Chagrin]

Buy the same lathe from Homier.com instead -- it's 7x12 and $30 cheaper. I've been quite pleased with mine.

http://www.mini-lathe.com/ has lots of details on these machines.

[Mr.Chips]

RS1300
If you really like the Harbot Freight unit, print out the one mentioned with the price and Harbor Freight should match the price, they have done this on items I have purchased.

[Jcadwell]

I bought the 7X10 about two weeks ago. It is a functional piece of equipment out of the box, but it is not a precision instrument. I'm taking mine apart and polishing pieces, and trying to get slop out. You get what you pay for. I could buy 10 harbor freight 7X10s for the price of a comparable prazi.

The lathe as it came out of the box was unusable for me. Expect to set it up, and set all the gibs, after you've taken the entire lathe apart to clean all the red grease off everything. Now that it is partly back together, the crosslide has about a thousandths slop, and the handwheel has about 5 thousandths backlash. I'm in the process of converting the handwheels to ball bearing to help that. The threading leadscrew has about 1/4" of slop. All kinds of stuff needs a little bit of shimming and massaging.

If you like to tinker, and get to know your machine, and have some free time, the 7X10 is very workable. It doesn't come with much in the way of accessories, expect to spend 150$ more minimum just for the basics (jacobs chuck, tooling, a 4 jaw chuck, etc).

The 7X10 is really a 7X8. I'm looking at the bed extension kit available from www.littlemachineshop.com for 150$ for another 6" of travel, to make an honest 7x14.

The 9X20 lathe floor model at HF didn't look any better. I imagine that you'd have to do all the same things to make it workable. The 7X10 has a cult following, and all kinds of parts and assistance is available from littlemachine and from www.mini-lathe.com

I bought mine on sale at $329.99. Print out the ad and bring it to the store or it will be floor price at 399.99.

Good luck.

[rs1300]

thanks for all of the replys so far. great information from all. i will prob go with the 7 x 10 (9) and work on improving it if needed. but is it safe to say that everyone agrees the larger HF lathe will also need some attention as well. if that is the case i will most likely go with the smaller one. please keep any opinions or experience with them coming. i am open to listen to what is said. thanks again.

[CNCadmin]

I have a speedway, (identical to the HF) I love it, for what I do, it works great. I would go for a bigger bed, the smaller bed is hard to work around, I'm going to buy the 14" converstion when I get a chance.

[rs1300]

if you don't mind telling me what would a longer conversion cost if i decided to upgrade at a later date??? i am pretty much sold on the mini HF unless something here makes me want to spend the extra 300 - 350.

[Jcadwell]

150$ for parts, 15$ more for taps and bolts, and 4+ hours of time. I'm getting tired of my 8" of throw, I'm about to throw in the towel and order it. Doesn't everbody need a few more inches?

[Hobbiest]

From what I hear, all of the mini lathes need this kind of "blueprinting" done to them. Personally, I am going to get rid of my big wood lathe, and buy a metal lathe that I can still cut the wood pieces on. 20" would be good...9" is way too small. Plus, if I have a larger bed, I can make more things (is something burning? Oh...wood fire up above.)!

[HomeCNC]

I just wanted to make a comment on the Asian lathes. I have the 9 x 20 from Enco. I got this because I was very happy with the Enco drill/mill. Needless to say that they are two different animals. My mill is quite capable of doing very good work with good finishes. The lathe on the other hand is CRAP! To this day I can't get any kind of a "Good" finish on my cuts. I even have preminum carbide insert tooling.

I have done the so called 4 bolt fix for the tool post holder. I can't even guess what would happen if I used the old 2 bolt mount.

Forget parting off anything over 3/4" inch in size. The vibration will shake things off the wall. The real scary thing is when you do try to part off something it trys to pull in the tool. There is so much play in the slide. I have varaible speed on this thing. I have tried all speed under the sun. It's not like I don't know what I'm doing. I do have a background in machining!

I have heard from other 7x people that this lathe is fine when you do the required changes. I would stay away from the 9x lathe at all costs. Go find a old used Atlas or Clausing, they would be 200% better.