Good deal on a lathe?

[sanddrag]

If I got this for $400, would that be a good deal on a small lathe? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44859

Or are these things just total junk and not worth anything?

[Rick TYler]

You want to start an endless, conflict-filled thread, just ask about cheap tools.

I wouldn't buy one. I'd save my money for a name-brand. I'd rather buy a used good tool than a new cheap one.

You will now hear from people who have bought Harbor Freight tools and love them.

Enjoy the thread!

[team222badbrad]

Yeah sometimes Harbor Freight stuff is not exactly the best quality.

I think I would spend the extra 100 bucks and get this Grizzly lathe.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...mnumber=G8688&

Shipping is probably cheaper on Amazon.com though.

If the 1 inch difference doesn't work for you then I am sure you can probably find a different brand for around the same price!

[Max Lobovsky]

I agree that this will likely be a pretty low quality tool, but that doesn't neccesarily mean its a bad deal. So far, the stuff I have bought from Harbor Freight has been noticeably not top notch, but I think it was worth what I paid. If you found a deal to pay significantly less than what Harbor Freight sells it for, I have to say its almost definitley a good deal.

[Ryan Albright]

I have seen that lathe at the harbor freight store by my house in south Florida and like everyone says its non name brand. I mean i am sure it will work....for awhile but it will eventually break and they offer no warranty. I had a buffer i bought from there and it broke after about 4 uses.

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

If I got this for $400, would that be a good deal on a small lathe? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44859

Or are these things just total junk and not worth anything?

First, let me say that I have no actual experience working with this particular HF lathe (#44859) however I would tend to shy away from it not because of it being a HF lathe or low quality as much as the design of the machine. From what I understand about this machine:

1) It is belt driven. Which makes it a PITA to change speeds.
2) I am not sure if it has reverse but I don't think so. Reverse is useful for cutting left hand threads.
3) It is an odd ball machine and finding parts and accessories for it will be very difficult.

For the same $400 or less you can get a (slightly) smaller but more capable cheapo benchtop machine from several places (HF, Homier, Cummins, Grizzly, Others). Look for the 7x machines. The 7x machines are gear driven, have variable electronic speed, reversible spindle, and parts and accessories are easy to get. www.mini-lathe.com has tons of info on these type machines. All of the 7x machines are made in China by Seig. They are cheap and out of the box they run but are not very accurate or precise. If you like to tinker with them to make lots of mods and improvements, only have a limited amount of shop space (say a small home garage), are on a limited budget, and only need to make small stuff then the 7x machines may be good for you. Think of them sort of like a pre-assembled lathe "kit" that when you get it you will need to take it completely apart (not hard at all), clean it up (it ships with tons of red goop grease on it), reassemble it, and make lots of adjustments to it to "tune it". I wouldn't even turn it on until I disassembled it, cleaned it, and reassembled it. If that sounds like a bunch of trouble then stay away from it all together. If all that sounds like a lot of fun and a cool project then go for it. This is price you pay for a cheap made in China lathe. Consider it unfinished but you can do the rest and save some money. If you purchase a "finished" American lathe of this size new it would probably cost 10x as much. There are tons of mods you can make to the 7x machines to make them better and there is lots of support on the net for guys like me that use them. Parts and accessories are no problem, just go to www.littlemachineshop.com. All of the Seig 7x machines are made in the same factory in China and are of equal quality. HF are red, Homier are blue, Cummings are yellow, and Grizzly are green. Micromark sells a red one with a digital tach, larger motor and some other stuff for a bunch of more money. Be aware that the HF 7x10 is really a 7x8 (really short) and so I would stay away from it. I think Homier sells the 7x12 lathe only of $299 but are out of stock right now. Cummins sells the 7x12 for $399 but with about $150 worth of accessories so I think it is the best deal right now. There are other places that sell the 7x (Northern Tool, Wholesale Tools, etc) as well. There are several good Yahoo groups for 7x mini-lathe owners to discuss mods, tooling, etc. Keep in mind that with any machine (lathe, mill, etc.) the machine is only the base cost and you will quickly spend more than the cost of the machine on tooling. A good place to look around is LMS (www.littlemachineshop.com). Chris at LMS is a great guy and will help you with any needs you have although he does not sell whole machines just parts and accessories. FYI: I have a HF 7x10 mini-lathe that I have upgraded to a 7x12 with just about every mod and accessory I can think of and a Homier mini-mill that I have converted to CNC. Oh yeah, and a HF micro-mill that I never use since I have the CNC mini-mill. Also, I saw your post about the $199 Homier mini-mill but it is an altogether different beast. Unless you just want a heavy bench top drill press with an XY table don't bother. It has a round column and is next to impossible to do any accurate milling on from what I hear. Again, I don't have one just what I hear. If you want a small mill again look at the Seig type mini mills that HF, Homier, Grizzly, etc. sell. They are around $400 and the same rules apply. Consider them a "kit" that can do great small work if you are willing to spend a lot of time "tuning" them. If you go for a mini-mill I would recommend getting one with a R8 spindle rather then an MT3. R8 tooling is cheaper and more common.

Any more questions just ask!

Chuck

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

First, let me say that I have no actual experience working with this particular HF lathe (#44859) however (...) If you go for a mini-mill I would recommend getting one with a R8 spindle rather then an MT3. R8 tooling is cheaper and more common.

I am way more of a woodworker than a machinist, and you are clearly The Man. We might be getting a grant for $2,500 or so to spend on tools. We already have everything you'd expect in a good high school woodshop (including two drill presses). What metal-working tool would you buy for $2,500? I am not thinking of handtools, by the way. We're OK on calipers, grippers, pounders, &c. Thanks!

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

I am way more of a woodworker than a machinist, and you are clearly The Man. We might be getting a grant for $2,500 or so to spend on tools. We already have everything you'd expect in a good high school woodshop (including two drill presses). What metal-working tool would you buy for $2,500? I am not thinking of handtools, by the way. We're OK on calipers, grippers, pounders, &c. Thanks!

Oh no, please don't confuse me with The Man! I am only a hobby machinist trying to learn how to work with metal in my garage! I do hang out at the machine shop at work a little too much though.

Hmm, $2500. Well, of course it depends on what type and size work you want/need to do. Just off the top of my head here are a some ideas how I might spend that $2500. No particular order:

Option 1) You could get one of the small 7x12 Chinese lathes ($400 - Cummins), a mini-mill ($400 - Homier - R8 Spindle), and a small metal cutting bandsaw (<$200 - HF, Homier, others), and still have a good bit left over after shipping for tooling (lathe chuck(s), mill collets, end mills, lathe bits, mill vise, parallels, etc.). This would give you a fairly good "mini" machine shop. It would take a bit of time tweeking, tuning, and adjusting the machines but you it might me nice to have a "portable" shop to take to your competition pits. You would learn a lot about metal working and the machines while you take the machines apart, adjust, and tweek, and make mods to them to get them to perform better.

Option 2) If I could only buy one machine and needed something larger than a "mini" machine I would buy a mill before a lathe. A mill is more versatile. Of course, you still need some way to cut your material down to a workable size (bandsaw/hacksaw). "Rong Fu" has a good reputation for decent quality import (Taiwan IIRC) mill drills and you could get a basic true "Rong Fu" for ~$1100. Figure $1500 with power down feed. Another $200 for a stand. So for ~$1700 not including shipping you could get a pretty decent ready to run larger R8 mill without any tooling. Stay away from the look alike/knock off "Rong Fu" mills. If you can find a square column "Rong Fu" you would be better off than a round column but I think they are a good bit more expensive. You will still need at a minimum: a mill vise, some parallels, some R8 collets, and of course some end mills. The down side is this mill is going to be about 700 lbs so portability to a competition is out of the question. A good place to start if you like this option is ENCO (www.use-enco.com).

Option 3) Buy a used mill locally. Don't laugh! A used Bridgeport in good working order and good condition (not worn out) can't be beat. Check with local machine shops in your area and see if they have anything they are looking to get rid of. Times are tough these days for many machine shops with a lot of production work going overseas. Also, many shops are converting over from old manual machines to new CNC machines. There are deals out there if you look. Watch out for power concerns. Machines may require 3 phase power and that may be a problem for you. If you know any machinist get them to take a look at any potential used machines for you before you buy. Look at Ebay to get an idea of what used machines are going for that you may be interested in but be careful of actually buying a machine on Ebay that you can't check out in person. Shipping costs can also be a problem. If you are lucky you might find a machine locally that has some tooling with it in a ready to run package deal. If it is for a school don't be afraid to ask if the shop could make a donation to the school. You never know!

I am curious what other CD folks would do with the $2500!

I hope this helps!

-Chuck