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Harbor Freight 8x12 Lathe Review

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11-30-1999, 12:00 AM

Harbor Freight 8x12 Lathe Review

balsaman

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Harbor Freight 8x12 Lathe Item # 44859-1VGA - $439.99

HF 8x12 lathe

Introduction

This is my first lathe. I was looking for an inexpensive and compact lathe for hobby use. After much research I decided on this one. Even though it has a mere 1” larger swing than the very popular 7X mini lathes, it is physically twice the size and double the weight.

Product Overview

The lathe arrived in a very sturdy 20”x20”x37” plywood box which weighed in at 265 lbs. It was delivered to a US address for free other than a $5.00 handling fee. When I opened the box I discovered a very safely packaged lathe bolted to the bottom of the box and a small steel tool box full of the accessories. The accessories include all the wrenches (both open end and allen) needed to operate and adjust the lathe, t-handle chuck and tool post keys, “outside” chuck jaw set, #2 MT (tool post) dead center, #3 MT (head) dead center, threading change gear set, and “tumbler reverse” gear. It does not come with a chip tray or splash guard. I inquired about the splash guard when I made the order, and even though the Harbor Freight web site says “sold separately”, the employee I was speaking to on the phone was unable to locate a splash guard for the lathe. If he had, I would have ordered it. The only assembly required was a couple of the hand levers had to be reinstalled on their hand wheels. They had been removed for shipping.Although the lathe did not have the thick red grease everywhere common to the 7x series lathes, there was a thin layer of some sort of clear grease over all the bare machined surfaces. Even though some have reported that this lathe is ready to go “out of the box”, I felt I wanted to spend some time cleaning it up because I could see what looked like machining and grinding dust impregnated in the clear greasy coating. I took a couple hours and removed the compound, crossslide, carriage, and tailstock. This allowed me to clean the ways and other moving parts. I used WD40 to clean things up and then reassembled it using clear lithium grease and 3 in 1 oil. The ways and other machined surfaces have a very nice finish and all the moving parts have a very smooth feel. I spent an hour or so adjusting various gibs and such to remove any play but still allow free motion. I could probably spend another hour on it to get it even better, but for my purposes it’s working quite well as is.

The lathe uses two belts on a variety of pulleys to achieve a total of 6 different spindle speeds from 125 to 2000 RPM from the single speed motor. One is of a timing belt and the other a “V” style belt. The timing belt is fixed from the motor shaft to a set of intermediate pulleys, and speeds are selected by moving the V-belt to one of 6 possible locations. Speed changes are easy and quick, and I have not had to move the adjustable “tensioner” yet.A set of threading gears are included with the lathe. The instructions include a chart for selecting the appropriate gears for both metric and imperial threads. Although I have not tried any threading yet, the gear changing scheme seems somewhat cumbersome but doable. Probably something that gets easier once you have done it a few times. Also included is an intermediate gear that allows cutting left hand threads or cutting away from the head. Using this feature means moving one fixed gear to another location, and installing the intermediate gear between this gear and the spindle gear. I can see no easy way of doing this without taking the V-belt pulley assembly off the spindle, as it’s in the way. It almost appears as if this feature was an after thought and it is definitely not something you want to do often. I am probably going to try and devise a better method of reversing the leadscrew.

Operation

This is my first experience with operating a lathe, so take what I say with the appropriate amount of salt. An experienced friend came over with some tooling, and in no time we had the tool height set up and a chunk of 1” round steel clamped tightly in the 3 jaw chuck and supported by the dead center in the tail stock. We selected 1000 PRM and started with a couple light cuts of between 10 and 20 thousands and were successful at producing the lathes first chips. Next we tried successively heavier cuts up to 60 thousands at a time. The lathe had no trouble at all and the surface finish was great with no sign of chatter. Although I have not used the lathe extensively yet I have had opportunity to face a few parts, drill holes, use a parting tool and a boring bar. I also used the lathe to make the modifications necessary to adapt the compound to Little Machine Shops Quick Change Tool Post (see my CNCzone review on the QCTP here for details). All these functions were no problem at all.

Conclusion

This lathe seems to be a very good value. I can’t remember the last time I bought a tool that weighed this much for so little money. It has just the right amount of mass to get the job done. It is a bare bones lathe that will require the user to supply many of the bare minimum essential “accessories” required for even the simplest of tasks, such as a drill chuck, live center, and basic tooling, but it allows you to get started without breaking the bank, and get the accessories you need as they are required. It isn’t perfect. The gear changing is awkward, and the reverse gear is feature is very crude, but overall I am very happy with it. It has done everything I have asked of it so far with good results and without complaining.

Specifications

Standard Equipment: · 4'', 3-jaw chuck with 3 reversible jaws

· Two dead centers—MT #2 and MT #3

· Open-end wrenches

· Round nut wrench · Tool post wrench

· Hex wrenches

· Two drive belts

Specifications:

· Motor: 3/4 HP, 110V, 8 amps

· Spindle speeds: 125, 210, 420, 620, 1000 and 2000 RPM

· SAE threads: 18 threads from 12 to 52 TPI

· Metric threads: 12 threads from 0.4 to 3.0 mm

· Distance between centers: 12''

· Cross slide travel: 4-1/2''

· Tool slide travel: 2-3/4''

· Swing over bed: 8"

· Spindle bore: 3/4"

· Spindle taper: MT #3

· Tailstock taper: MT #2

Product Rating

Value for money-

Company backup (Service)-

Overall Performance-

Design-

Manufacturer Links

Website: http://www.harborfreight.comCustomer Service:1-800-444-3353

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