Looks identical to the Harbor Freight 7x12 lathe. Made in China. https://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch...the-93799.html
Hi, everyone; brand new forum member.
I'm also a brand new mini-lathe owner since yesterday when I bought a lathe from an advertisement in the classifieds - I couldn't pass it up, it was only $150.
The problem, is I don't know anything about the machine; the make, model, or country of origin, etc., and the label appears to have been stripped.
If possible, can someone help to identify this machine so I can search for information about it.
Thanks, in advance, for any attempts of assistance.
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Looks identical to the Harbor Freight 7x12 lathe. Made in China. https://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch...the-93799.html
Jim Dawson
Sandy, Oregon, USA
Thanks Jim, much appreciated.
Do you think I did ok for price buying it for $150? or did I potentially waste my money?
Cheers.
As far as brand, it doesn't really matter as all of them are virtually identical except for paint colors.
If the motor runs it is a good buy. It looks to be in good shape with little use. I had one and the problems I had were:
1. Motor control board failure
2. Plastic gears
3. Lack of cross travel
It was an ok machine for making small parts but was lacking features for manual turning of parts. I have actually been thinking of getting another one to convert to CNC, but may take another route.
Good luck with your lathe. It just looks a little dusty but fine otherwise.
going by the power switch it looks like an early version of the mini lathe
my version has a large latching E-stop / power switch and
an electronic no volt release switch that prevents the lathe restarting if the power is restored after a power loss
plus an interlock on the speed control forces you to start at minimum speed to prevent damage to the motor & speed control board
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cl300m-metal-lathe/
over the years , depending on the manufacturer ( Real Bull or Sieg ), different speed control boards have been used
John
Thank you for the feedback; much appreciated.
I think, after a little experimenting, i'll have to also look at converting it to CNC. Not right away, though.
No, there wasn't one with it when I bought it, I guess that'll be one of my first additions.
What else was not included
Change gears?
Carriage feed handle?
Outside chuck jaws?
Chuck wrench?
dead center?
for spares you need to know if your machine was built by Real Bull or Sieg
my clarke CL300M was made by Sieg
just measured the bore through the gears and its 12mm and th key way is 3 mm wide
John
PS
looking here
https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/for....asp?th=127973
the key way on Real bull lathes is 4mm wide
Last edited by john-100; 05-30-2019 at 09:00 AM. Reason: add PS
Little Machine Shop Minilathe Compare
They also sell many parts and upgrades
Mini lathe home page
His videos on youtube
Mini Lathe YouTube Videos
Varmint Al's Mini lathe page
There used to be user groups, I thought they were google groups, but seems like groups.io now
https://groups.io/g/Mini-Lathes
https://groups.io/g/7x12MiniLathe
Oh, you're missing the cross slide screw entirely, that's probably a bigger problem.
The big hole, with 2 hex drive cap screw heads slightly below, in the red plate next to the plug. There should be a screw handle there, and a screw, which connects to the tool holder and moves the tool across the lathe bed (cross slide).
http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/cenlathe1a.gif
https://shop.harborfreight.com/media...mage_11832.jpg
[edit]I had highlighted the things I thought were priority to start turning, but then noticed the cross slide issue. Problem is, the screw must match the nut attached to the topslide. Without knowing if it's an exact match of existing machines, there'd be some risk of needing all those parts.
And perhaps the bigger question, why were they removed?
Make sure it powers on and variable speed works. Make sure it is stopped completely before trying to run in opposite direction. If that don't work (and it's not simple fix like the fuse), I wouldn't spend any more on it, unless you get a free treadmill due to the missing cross slide parts.
Chuck wrench $15 ebay (needed to tighten the chuck to hold your work)
Carriage feed handle (needed to move the carriage along your work)
Carriage 1/2 nut lever handle (needed to engage/disengage the carriage from the feed screw)
Cross slide screw, mounting, handle, other parts? (https://littlemachineshop.com/produc...ss+slide+screw)
and a bit would get you cutting
Change gears - Threading
Threading Dial Assembly - Tells you when to throw the 1/2 nut to engage the saddle
Outside chuck jaws - Holding larger work $20ish if they luckily match your chuck
Dead center - holding longer work. $10ish, a live center $25ish
Drill chuck and arbor - Dead center isn't much good if you can't drill the center
Tail stock - makes those prior 2 things useful
misc hex wrenches, tools, oil
Rather than buy new parts from LCMs or other, I would put out the feelers in a new thread for the missing parts. There have been so many of those machines converted to cnc that there surely has to be someone that has then left over. You see, when doing a cnc conversion, most of the pieces you need are replaced during the conversion. I'd suggest starting a new "Mini Lathe Parts Needed" thread
Thank you for the links; the one identifying the parts is quite helpful, I was actually going to look for something like that and you saved me a search. Cheers!
I'm not sure why it's missing any of the parts. While it's a worth consideration I can't answer it because I bought it from someone who said he bought it from someone else.
I expect I'll need to buy more than only a tail stock to get it up and running; like perhaps another cross slide.