SpudFiles

Can anyone lead me in the right direction of buying a mini metal lathe or wood lathe.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... t?q=lathes

Noice, the lathe I bought for 500 is now listed for 1,000.

8tonsemi wrote:a mini metal lathe or wood lathe

Both are different things, what do you want to achieve and what's your budget?

Lathes do not come with tooling. Tooling being but not limited to: cutting bits/chisels, live center, steady rest, drill chuck, boring bar etc... Do your research.

jrrdw wrote:Lathes do not come with tooling. Tooling being but not limited to: cutting bits/chisels, live center, steady rest, drill chuck, boring bar etc... Do your research.

Sorry I should of been more specific I have done research I just wanted to know what a good lathe was.

This is a good lathe, anything less than it is a compromise on some level, it just depends if you can live with that compromise.

A little out of my budget lol. I was in the 150-1000 dollar range

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-1 ... 93799.html

This would probably be the best compromise.

I'm very happy with mine: http://www.sherline.com/4400pg.htm

The limitations for larger parts are obvious though.

Though I do not own it, I have heard only good things about the Sieg SC2 7x12. In case you didn't know, Sieg makes the majority of mini lathes in the US, rebranded by many distributors, including LittleMachineShop and Harbor Freight. Especially awesome in the SC2 (but not the C2 from HF!) is the brushless motor, which lets you make faster cuts and you don't need to change between gear ratios any more. Also, it comes with a cam lock tailstock so you can change tools quickly and tons of new safety features.

Check out this review, and read some of the others on that site.

If you can spare the dough, the Micro-Mark 7x16 is an upgraded version of the SC2 so you can turn larger pieces.

Can you tell what I want to buy once I get the money?

I bought a 8X14 lathe from Bob at LatheMaster.com a couple of months back and was very satisfied. It looks like he is out of stock right now but Harbor Freight sells the same one (different color). Harbor Freight lists it as 8X12 but it is really 8X14. Link: http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-x-1 ... 44859.html

The 8X12/14 lathes are about 150 pounds (or more) heavier than the 7X12 lathes and are a lot more beefy and sturdy.

Thanks for the help. Everyone
Shardbearer-That looks like a great lathe

All though it shouldn't surprise me I'm shocked at the price increase of the lathes sold by Harbor Freight. I got mine (8X12) when it was $650ish on sale for $545.00. Now they want $999.00! It's still the same Central Machinery made lathe.

That being said, mine has paid it's self off and now makes me money and is fun to use every time I use it. If you have the budget to tool it up it's worth every penny!

Look on ebay and find an old lathe like a Southbend, there generally more rigid than those harbor freight Pieces of crap, they can also be pretty cheap.

Example

Example 2

Oh gosh no - don't buy the first example.

I've used 2 of them. One I had to do extensive welding work to make a frame and add a new motor to as well.

They don't have any position indication worth using. I don't think they have any to be honest lol - it may have had a cross slide dial but it didn't work well at all (tried to calibrate with a magnetic base dial gauge)

Just save your money and buy a nice used South Bend, 9"+ atlas, Logan etc. something that was made nicely. If you have the money and don't feel like searching for used stuff - plenty of nice work has come from properly maintained Harbor Freight lathes as well - but it's always better to buy bigger than you currently need, because it always seems like you need a bigger lathe down the road!

I'll look into the lathes you posted thanks