7" x 10" Mini Lathe....Harbour Freight..

[ulev1st]

Are they worth a damn for small little projects or would I be wasting $400?

[OldCarGuy]

Are they worth a damn for small little projects or would I be wasting $400?

A small lathe can be very handy around the garage. And they are easy to learn how to operate.

I would suggest that you purchase a small used South Bend, Craftsman or Atlas lathe. They are better machines than any imported model, parts are readily available, and have a far better resale value. When it's time to upgrade.

I just sold a Craftsman 6" lathe for $550.00...

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32323

I don't know how serious you may want to be. But it would not be a bad idea to go a little larger. Like a 10" to 12" swing with 2' to 3' between centers... You would be looking at $1,000.00 to $1,500.00. But it is so much more machine!

[Vicegrip]

Handy little chunk of junk. No good for real fine work but handy for little items like pivot bushings and one off non exact parts. I used mine a while ago to turn down an old steering wheel hub for the base of a quick disconnect hub. I cut the old hub skirt off, turned it round and clean. Rough cut some flat stock drilled a center and then turned the two rings. Turned some existing bolts down for the centering pins as well.

[krehmkej]

Agree that bigger/heavier machines can do more better, but, within their size limitations, these machines are incredibly useful for small jobs around the shop. Forget turning stainless or anything very big. Lots of tooling is available at a good price. I was given a non-working early (Taiwan) one, and enjoyed repairing and setting it up. My space is very limited, so the bead-blast cabinet was sacrificed to make room for it.

[Major Ramifications]

The last time I checked, the gears in these machines were plastic. Still, any lathe is better than no lathe.

[MXtras]

If you get the 7X10, you will later wish you had gotten the 9X20.

If you get the 9X20, you will wish you had gotten a 12X36.

If you the 12X36........

It's like a virus. Just ask OCG.

Scott

[cambyz28]

Search the web for reviews of the 8x12 Harbor lathe. It is well worth the money and IMHO twice the lathe of a 7x10 and if you wait till they are on sale not that much more. The can make of your shop with all the shavings but I never bought anything better for the garge even if it mostly just to play with.

[katit]

I was looking for mini-lathe a while ago. Consensus here was that I should be patient and wait for right american iron(you can look for my post earlier). Well. To date I've seen 2 or 3 South Bends on local CraigsList. And you don't know which condition they in...

Even though I do like nice stuff I asked myself few questions:
1. Where do I keep it. Do I want to pay for delivery?
2. Do I want to be in business of restoring old machinery or I want turn chips?
3. Do I have proper qualifications to evaluate old lathe? If bed is bad whole lathe is junk..

After those questions answered - I decided to get old american in next life when it falls on me and proceed with china made one for now. Actually, I found decent Enco lathe but got quotes $250 to move it in. Then same amount to move it to next house. Then parts is not available...

So, I found barely used 9x20 lathe with X2 mill and metal table for lathe for $600 total. Barely used. Lathe almost not used.

Am I happy? Sure. For projects that I did this lathe can do very well. After new compound base it turns stainless just fine. And after I added VFD ($200 mod) I can't be happier. Parts readily available from Grizzly.

If I was buying new I would get Grizzly 10x22 and call it done. Thats a good compromise of manageable weight and decent size

I wouldn't do 7x10, thats too small and features lacking.

[Uncle Buck]

South Bend, Clausing, Atlas/Craftsman, Sheldon, Logan/Montgomery Ward, Myford. Any of those would be a great place to start. Ideally no smaller than 9" swing, nor greater than somewhere around a 12"-14" at the outside. If a 9" is too large, then I would look for a small 6" Atlas like OCG sold. The Atlas is not the highest quality machine on the block, but it is still head and shoulders better than any of the like sized imports.

(No offense intended to the 7 x 10 guys)

[Vicegrip]

No offense taken! I got it for a reason and it fits the reason well. I also called it mostly junk too and that was for a reason as well. Under $250 at the time, arrived on my doorstep in a box and has worked without a hitch or repair after about 20 min of unpack, plug in and setup. I also understand what it is and what it is not. I have things to make and build and don't want to go without while waiting for a machine and figuring out where to put it on the shop floor.

[35mastr]

A lathe is on my serious items list to get. Now that I have some more covered space to have one. I have been shopping around for a while now and have not found what I actually want. I want a good ole iron one but not soo big that it will take up the whole shop.

[paranoid56]

i sold my atlas small lathe for 600 bucks and bought the harbor freight unit LOL i couldnt be happer with the switch. yea, the atlas was nice but it was old as shit, missing parts, has more runout then the HF. sure you could fix it, but it wasnt worth my time. the HF unit worked great and never let me down. i made soo many damn chips with it too :D get one yhou can afford as most of hte tools will work on any of the smaller lathes.

[Uncle Buck]

i sold my atlas small lathe for 600 bucks and bought the harbor freight unit LOL i couldnt be happer with the switch. yea, the atlas was nice but it was old as shit, missing parts, has more runout then the HF. sure you could fix it, but it wasnt worth my time. the HF unit worked great and never let me down. i made soo many damn chips with it too :D get one yhou can afford as most of hte tools will work on any of the smaller lathes.

No doubt, some of the old iron you find within your budget could be clapped out just as you describe. I think for some of us that are die hard dedicated to the old iron we just consider the old stuff a labor of love and often are happy to spend the time, money and effort it requires to put the old stuff back in good shape to enjoy for as long as we care to do so.

If you are one that can content yourself with import machinery that is just great too. :thumbup: