And BTW, it's on sale for $499.99, not $99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/garage...nch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html

 

$499 is way too much for that lathe! They do specials, reasonably frequently if my memory serves me right.

 

Yes go ahead and post em up. I can't get enough tool pron. Is yours a craftsman 109?

3 jaw would be nice, but I wouldn't want to give up the 4 jaw either. I don't plan on machining exclusively circular objects.

Here's some pics of mine, I haven't used it in at least 5 years. Looks like the gears need some lube

 

"Here's some pics of mine, I haven't used it in at least 5 years. Looks like the gears need some lube "



So many innuendos, so little time...

 

Sure that's a good point their little lathes are just Chinese no-name junk. I've seen a few instances where people have bought them and fixed them up, which is pretty much a must for any cheap new lathe or mill. And second hand tools too.

Fortunately a lof of stuff on the little Chinese lathes is adjustable, mine needed the main chuck runout fixing, and I was able to get it pretty good. The tailstock was badly out of alignment and it adjusted ok but it is not perfect, to get it closer will need some machining.

You should check out the metalworking forums there should be threads on testing and aligning lathes, maybe even your exact model.

I was reading a discussion on the hobby machinist forum about HF tools, and gained a new perspective. Anything you buy from there, should be purchased with the understanding that you are actually buying a kit; some disassembly, reengineering, and reassembly required. If you walk into it with that mindset, and not the mindset that you're buying a "ready for operation" tool, then you can still realize value in it and feel good about your purchase.

Speaking of getting chinese stuff for cheap, I walked into Costco for the first time yesterday and saw these industrial shelving units. I bought identical ones from Home depot last year for 250$ each; different brand name and coating are different, but the shelves are identical - probably came off the same production line in the same factory in China. These had a price tag of 64$. I loaded up 2 of these 200lb boxes on the flat cart and wheeled them + a couple pairs of pants up to the front. Waited in line for half an hour and the lady finally rang them up and told me my total was >400$. She said when she scanned them, they came up to 169$/ea. I told her the sign said 64$, she send a peon to verify. Peon confirmed, so then a manager went to confirm the peon's confirmation. Manager came back with the sign all torn up and said "sign was wrong, but we are required to honor it." He put his little key in the register and gave me a 237$ discount. Thank you kind sir! Now I have 2 parallel rows of crap in my garage, like a little mad scientist department store.

 

Yep that pretty much says it all for any cheap lathe or mill, and some not-so-cheap ones too...

And congrats on the shelving!

 

Workshops are so nice, only problem is they take a lifetime to build. I'd kill fora lathe right now.

 

Work-Force-One has a program that trains out of work people on the lathe.

They are really proud of this program and the sponsor company says..we can't

find people to take our high tech jobs. At the new normal of $12.00 an hour after

all that training...the new high tech jobs. You should see the pitch...$12.00 for

a old $36.00 an hour job.

 

"Me!". Thats what she said!