When I first got mine and did the mandatory tear down I found that the leadscrew brackets were loose. So I tightened them up and found that doing so caused the leadscrew to bind up. It took me quite a while to find the problem, I thought the bracket holes were misaligned or something. Come to find out the mounting holes for the two end brackets were improperly drilled into the lathe bed and one of them was drilled very crooked. I ended up opening up the mounting holes on the brackets a bit to provide some adjustment and that did the trick. Now I can tighten up the brackets and the leadscrew will spin freely. There is a lot of improvement that can be done just cleaning up some of the machining as well. Very important to give these machines a good QC inspection of your own.
Just stumbled across your video/channel and thought "Hey, that chip guard looks familiar" :) Then I saw the shoutout in the description. Awesome video and I'm glad you found my stuff helpful!
I bought the Grizzly version of this for work when they wouldn’t budget for the Hardinge I wanted. It’s exactly the same except the Grizzly has a longer bed. The lathe became a satisfying project in itself as I tried to get it to its potential. I lapped the compound and cross slide ways to eliminate binding, machined more compact knobs for the compound and cross slide (it was too easy to bump one while turning the other), made a carriage stop and tapped a few holes in the ways to let me add clamp screws that lock the gibs. These steps transformed a clunky toy into a pretty good tool! Machining plastic and aluminum it was easy to hold within.001” with good finish. Not a Hardinge, but it exceeded my expectations! Lots of fun.
I just found this older video, so will look at some of your others. Like the nice looking handwheels. My plastic have cracked around the metal insert in them. The chip guard does not seem to give any room to make a carriage stop unless you use a long stop bolt to go under it.
Mine is on the way. After they stopped the 20% coupon being used on Central Machinery stuff it was though to get a good discount, but I found a coupon code online and got it for $499. Was 540 after tax and shipping. Bear in mind that this lathe is available on amazon but they have it at $780 + $80 shipping = $860. It pays to shop around. They list it as Central Machinery, no reference to Harbor Freight. I might have paid full price except that I know that CM is a Harbor Freight brand so I went direct to HF and saved $320. Thanks for this video! I always consider HF equipment to be a good base upon which to play with, find the weaknesses and then upgrade the cheaper components and get a halfway good tool out of it. But they always need some work out of the box.
I know this is obvious for some of the more experienced people who have gotten these lathes, but one thing that should be done is to rotate the 3 jaw chuck in it's 3 possible bolted positions to get the least amount of runout and then mark that position on the chuck and backplate. I used a centerpunch. In the best position I get 0.000737"(0.02mm), in the other two positions I get 0.003", and 0.0035". Of course when you machine the part it will be concentric, the problem comes into play when you need to turn the part around after machining one side. The dramatic error is in the chuck itself.
i had to do the same thing with mine too. Before doing that I removed the chuck and put blue Dykem on the backing plate for the chuck mount, took a scratch pass and found it was out of true about .003. Turned off the .003 to get a contestant (within a half thou) Zero reading on my dial indicator, did the check all 3 mounting positions and marked the best one. now I've got less than .0001 runout.
Great review. I have a problem buying a piece of equipment that has to be modified so much. You did a great job fixes the shortcomings of this lathe. My rule with Harbor Freight is: If it has to be plugged in don't buy it. Quality control is a real problem with equipment there, otherwise, I like a lot of their products and shop there quite often.
@@SculptyWorks Could you please give me some information? Is this machine capable of cutting 1.5 pitch threads? I own this machine and from aluminum round stock, I want to make a 12mm rear bicycle axle with 1.5mm threads. Is this possible? Also, is this machine supposed to come with change gears for threading? I bought mine second hand, and it came with no extra gears. Thank you so much.
@@smallblockchevy1022 I never used the lathe itself to cut threads, so I can't help much there (I just use tap&die when I need threads), but I /think/ the way you change the pitch is by re-organizing the exiting gears. And I /think/ you need a separate kit if you're gonna be doing metric threads. I'm afraid I'm not the best to answer threading questions.
Thanks...I can use a lathe but don"t know alot about it's mechanics so this helps...Im looking for one to tool mouth pieces for my brass instruments...
Do you think this tool would be appropriate for milling mechanical vape mods? They're typically 22-25mm tubes with threads or press fit buttons. I would mostly work with copper or brass.
The lathe is plenty powerful to handle the materials, but you would very likely need 'fine-tune' it to get the precision level I assume such parts might need. 👍
Couple of other user friendly suggestions that you might consider. th-cam.com/video/pVoLObnFlbE/w-d-xo.html If the wheels are made with larger diameter out of steel/brass handles they are bit heavier and allow more "fluid" with bit more control when cutting and drilling stock. Larger diameter make a big difference..... Without micrometer ticks on hub of the wheel, it gets helpful to make DROs out of digital tire gauge and some small brackets. th-cam.com/video/sHcdEutcs5g/w-d-xo.html Also a removable chip pan that can be used to empty the oil and chips out from below the ways- if you have a chip tray on yours: th-cam.com/video/Q615prreExA/w-d-xo.html I opted for this lathe which is a bit larger 8x16 but has worked well. Things have gotten more expensive with trade war and tariffs.
No idea if you'll answer this so long after the video was posted, but what's the max diameter that this lathe can handle? How big of a piece can the jaws internally and externally grip, as well as how big of an outer diameter can the tool cut? Thinking about getting this but have to make sure it can handle what I want to make. Thanks.
I try to respond comments based on whether TH-cam remembers to tell me I have new comments or not. Sometimes it forgets to notify me! 😋 Theoretically, the maximum swing diameter is 7", but I never put anything that big on mine. Also what tool you're using might get in the way of such big piece. And if it's over the carriage you may only have room for 2" to 4". So depending on what you're making, anywhere from a bit over 2" all the way to 7". It comes with two sets of jaws for the chuck; with one set you can grab a little over an inch, and the other a little over two inches. You could grab a little bit bigger but that's extending the jaws way out of the chuck and I'm personally not comfortable with having them that far out. It's more or less the same for the inside or outside grip.
I just did the bearing swap on mine, this is a must do. I just watched your carriage lock video, great design, will not torture myself as you did with the cast iron :) Just subbed, good luck with your channel. Cheers
Thanks! The bearings on mine are still fine, but I have in mind to maybe replace them at some point. And recycling cast iron pieces is entirely optional. 😉
@@SculptyWorks Is this a fox lathe? I'm asking because of this sentence from your video description, "After having this lathe for a while, Fox does a review follow-up on it." Also, I have one more question that maybe you might be able to shed some light on. I've noticed some Harbor Freights advertising a 7x10" lathe, and some advertising a 7x12" lathe. Do you know if these are actually different lathes, or the same lathe, just advertised with different specs? Thanks, Steve
@@smallblockchevy1022 I'm Fox (not the brand), so in a way it's Fox's lathe, and Fox (me) is reviewing it. 😉 There is a 7x10 and a 7x12 model, both sold by Harbor Freight. You really miss those extra 2" unless you're gonna be turning very short things, so I always recommend that, if you can, get the 7x12.
been cleaning it and doing the mods , chip guard, air vents, carriage lock later, l got 30% off $669, left plastic cover cracked,, l fixed it like a puzzle.
Congrats on your new toy! 👍 And yeah, with these 'cheap' lathes, you are the quality control. If you have broken parts, contact HarborFreight (if you bought it from them); it might take 12 weeks, but they seem pretty good about sending replacement parts.
I got the same deal. Back a couple of years ago (just before the import tariff hike) these lathes were $499 at HF. You could use the 20% coupon and get it for $399. Shipping was really cheap (like $17 or something ridiculously low) and you had to pay tax. But at the time it was the best deal around. The funny thing was that for a while, the 7x10 was actually about $100 more because they had run out of them and all new ones they received from China required the additional tariff charges. So for about a year, the 7x12 was actually significantly cheaper than the 7x10. They finally ran out of the 7x12 in the warehouse and had to bump the price up when they went to order more. When they enacted the higher tariffs I knew these price hikes were coming so I ordered the 7x12 mini lathe for $399 and the mini mill for $479. They are way more now as are all of the Chinese lathes and mills (HF, Grizzly, LMS, etc.).
I am thinking about getting my first lathe and have a question. Does this one have a pass through headstock? If so, would it accept something 1.5 inches in diameter? Also, I don't see this spec when I look at lathe specs. Is there another term I should be looking for?
I don't know the 'official name' of that bit of the lathe, always just called it the 'spindle/chuck thru-hole'. 😉 15.5 mm or just shy of 5/8" is the thickest you can put through the spindle on this lathe.
@@anotherOneMore7 The maximum length between centers is less than 12", more like 11" or so. That's why I made a compact live center for the lathe, because I wanted the whole 12". 😉 But if you are gonna turn something only from the chuck, then the length is... however brave/crazy you feel!
There will be more eventually! 😉 The grease is a silicone lubricant. I used because I was going specifically for a plastic-friendly lubricant, but I have used "Lucas Red n' Tacky #2" on plastic gears after that with no problem and I much prefer it than the silicone lubricant.
What is the largest diameter tube you can slide through. Meaning if I open there Chuck Jaws all the way up and put a 20 inch pipe all the way through , what is the maximum diameter that it will allow
That was pre-pandemic prices and I had coupons. HarborFreight has not been very generous with their coupons in recent times. They cost US$799 currently (but you can still use coupons sometimes). No, no, this could not be as precise as a watchmaker's lathe unless you spend an inordinate amount of time fine-tuning it and even then the tolerances might not be up to par with the level of precision needed. ...but I could be wrong, people have made some incredible things using some not-so-incredible tools. 😉
Does the quick change tool post work ok with steel? I read that some people are finding the tool holder flexing down when in contact with even mild steel because the tool post is aluminium? Thanks
I have had no problems with steel, but I also have a very gentle touch. 😉 I didn't notice any movement on the tool post, but what does move is the carriage and the cross-slide if they aren't very finely adjusted. The slop on the gibs from factory is awful!
They are made from aluminium? Depends on what you buy I guess, I got myself a slightly different style, made out of hardened steel and have no problems with it.
Brass definitely. I do it all the time. High carbon steel, yes if you go gentle and if the steel is annealed. ...one shouldn't put hardened steel on any lathe anyway. 😉 The quality of your cutting tool and proper setup will greatly influence the results you get.
It comes with the plastic gears. They have been working fine for me, and in this type of lathe I think they are actually a good thing. On a big lathe, it will tear through anything you throw at it. But on this type of small lathe, it will tear itself apart if you crash the carriage or something. The plastic gears work as a safety failure point that keeps more important and more expensive parts from breaking, should that happen. 😉
On mine that was one thing that was properly lined-up from factory! But if you need to line it up, there is an adjustment screw at the base that allows you to shift it from side-to-side. If it's off on the up-and-down axis you /could/ use shims but frankly I would return it because that would be a manufacture defect in my opinion.
This is not a harbor freight lathe ! harbor freight sells them but there built by central machinery. You can also buy this lathe directly from central machinery. Other than selling them , harbor freight has nothing to do with this equipment. A lot of people bitch about harbor freight and claim the quality sucks and automatically believe any lathe or mill that comes from them will be of poor quality also. But like I said , these lathe's an mills are built by central machinery , and are high quality.
@@SculptyWorks thank you my good man😛 I shalt use your information wisely but...what is the spacing between the middle holes in the foot bars? I am not sure how to measure them myself😅
There are various videos on the channel where the lathe appears doing what it does. 😉 Antique Chisels Restoration th-cam.com/video/A1DIkyW65D8/w-d-xo.html Snakewood & Ebony Baton th-cam.com/video/bEKGwnVhMI4/w-d-xo.html Magic Wand th-cam.com/video/cOQJPaLlyAI/w-d-xo.html Compact Live Center th-cam.com/video/B5J8NI8PJzc/w-d-xo.html Aluminum Handwheels for the Lathe th-cam.com/video/D2lSFTTdnC0/w-d-xo.html ...and others I don't remember off the top of my head. 😊
700 for that thing now with no coupons, or specials because the new HF sucks. I no longer do business with HF when they changed over to their new higher prices and no coupons (no freebies either) business model.
I have to agree, these days Harbor Freight items haven't been very attractive. I think the pandemic has hit them hard so they can't afford to do the coupons and all that anymore. It's sad.
@@SculptyWorks Their business model began to change in 2018 and by 2019 was in full swing. I used to watch the Den of Tools channel and we saw it coming as they had some sort of marketing change/takeover. The old HF was far more customer friendly. With AliExpress/Banggood/Gearbest/AliBaba/eBay/Amazon HF is destroying themselves.
At the time I bought it, I used a 25%-off coupon they send out rarely these days. Also, they have changed what you can use the coupons for. Read the fine-print and see if it can be used on Central Machinery tools (I have one in front of me right now that says it can't be used on that - and a bunch of other things I might have used it on 😢 ).
When I first got mine and did the mandatory tear down I found that the leadscrew brackets were loose. So I tightened them up and found that doing so caused the leadscrew to bind up. It took me quite a while to find the problem, I thought the bracket holes were misaligned or something. Come to find out the mounting holes for the two end brackets were improperly drilled into the lathe bed and one of them was drilled very crooked. I ended up opening up the mounting holes on the brackets a bit to provide some adjustment and that did the trick. Now I can tighten up the brackets and the leadscrew will spin freely. There is a lot of improvement that can be done just cleaning up some of the machining as well. Very important to give these machines a good QC inspection of your own.
👍👍
Just stumbled across your video/channel and thought "Hey, that chip guard looks familiar" :) Then I saw the shoutout in the description. Awesome video and I'm glad you found my stuff helpful!
Yes, it looks very familiar! 😉
Thanks for stumbling by! ❤️
I bought the Grizzly version of this for work when they wouldn’t budget for the Hardinge I wanted. It’s exactly the same except the Grizzly has a longer bed. The lathe became a satisfying project in itself as I tried to get it to its potential. I lapped the compound and cross slide ways to eliminate binding, machined more compact knobs for the compound and cross slide (it was too easy to bump one while turning the other), made a carriage stop and tapped a few holes in the ways to let me add clamp screws that lock the gibs. These steps transformed a clunky toy into a pretty good tool! Machining plastic and aluminum it was easy to hold within.001” with good finish. Not a Hardinge, but it exceeded my expectations! Lots of fun.
I just found this older video, so will look at some of your others. Like the nice looking handwheels. My plastic have cracked around the metal insert in them. The chip guard does not seem to give any room to make a carriage stop unless you use a long stop bolt to go under it.
Mine is on the way. After they stopped the 20% coupon being used on Central Machinery stuff it was though to get a good discount, but I found a coupon code online and got it for $499. Was 540 after tax and shipping.
Bear in mind that this lathe is available on amazon but they have it at $780 + $80 shipping = $860. It pays to shop around. They list it as Central Machinery, no reference to Harbor Freight. I might have paid full price except that I know that CM is a Harbor Freight brand so I went direct to HF and saved $320.
Thanks for this video! I always consider HF equipment to be a good base upon which to play with, find the weaknesses and then upgrade the cheaper components and get a halfway good tool out of it. But they always need some work out of the box.
Where did you find the 20% coupon code. I can’t find any for central machinery.
Thanks
I know this is obvious for some of the more experienced people who have gotten these lathes, but one thing that should be done is to rotate the 3 jaw chuck in it's 3 possible bolted positions to get the least amount of runout and then mark that position on the chuck and backplate. I used a centerpunch. In the best position I get 0.000737"(0.02mm), in the other two positions I get 0.003", and 0.0035". Of course when you machine the part it will be concentric, the problem comes into play when you need to turn the part around after machining one side. The dramatic error is in the chuck itself.
i had to do the same thing with mine too. Before doing that I removed the chuck and put blue Dykem on the backing plate for the chuck mount, took a scratch pass and found it was out of true about .003. Turned off the .003 to get a contestant (within a half thou) Zero reading on my dial indicator, did the check all 3 mounting positions and marked the best one. now I've got less than .0001 runout.
Thanks for the advice, Im going to do that, it sounds like a real good idea.
Thank you for sharing. I agree with everything you have covered. Everyone stay safe, happy and healthy.
❤❤
it was amazing to see that machine, I was very jealous seeing it ..
I like the review andI have plans on getting the 7x12 version so your review is very helpful !!
👍
Great job! Thanks for the tips and the helpful information.
Great review. I have a problem buying a piece of equipment that has to be modified so much. You did a great job fixes the shortcomings of this lathe. My rule with Harbor Freight is: If it has to be plugged in don't buy it. Quality control is a real problem with equipment there, otherwise, I like a lot of their products and shop there quite often.
Harbor Freight has awesome stuff, the thing with them is, /you/ are the quality control. 😉
@@SculptyWorks Could you please give me some information? Is this machine capable of cutting 1.5 pitch threads? I own this machine and from aluminum round stock, I want to make a 12mm rear bicycle axle with 1.5mm threads. Is this possible? Also, is this machine supposed to come with change gears for threading? I bought mine second hand, and it came with no extra gears. Thank you so much.
@@smallblockchevy1022 I never used the lathe itself to cut threads, so I can't help much there (I just use tap&die when I need threads), but I /think/ the way you change the pitch is by re-organizing the exiting gears. And I /think/ you need a separate kit if you're gonna be doing metric threads. I'm afraid I'm not the best to answer threading questions.
@@SculptyWorks Well thank you anyay brother. I appreciate the response
Great video! Nice job, and thanks for a well made, well paced video.
Learning is necessary for me. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks...I can use a lathe but don"t know alot about it's mechanics so this helps...Im looking for one to tool mouth pieces for my brass instruments...
This lathe is well capable of turning brass pieces. You just have to make sure the machine is well tuned, for optimal results. 👍
Ok..Thanks
Awesome video! Thanks for the great info!
Do you think this tool would be appropriate for milling mechanical vape mods? They're typically 22-25mm tubes with threads or press fit buttons. I would mostly work with copper or brass.
The lathe is plenty powerful to handle the materials, but you would very likely need 'fine-tune' it to get the precision level I assume such parts might need. 👍
Couple of other user friendly suggestions that you might consider.
th-cam.com/video/pVoLObnFlbE/w-d-xo.html
If the wheels are made with larger diameter out of steel/brass handles they are bit heavier and allow more "fluid" with bit more control when cutting and drilling stock. Larger diameter make a big difference.....
Without micrometer ticks on hub of the wheel, it gets helpful to make DROs out of digital tire gauge and some small brackets.
th-cam.com/video/sHcdEutcs5g/w-d-xo.html
Also a removable chip pan that can be used to empty the oil and chips out from below the ways- if you have a chip tray on yours:
th-cam.com/video/Q615prreExA/w-d-xo.html
I opted for this lathe which is a bit larger 8x16 but has worked well. Things have gotten more expensive with trade war and tariffs.
Nice review. Thanks for making this video and posting
Its so... clean. I love it
Yes, I noticed that not only the lathe but the work area around it is pristine. My guess is that it doesn't get a lot of use.
No idea if you'll answer this so long after the video was posted, but what's the max diameter that this lathe can handle? How big of a piece can the jaws internally and externally grip, as well as how big of an outer diameter can the tool cut? Thinking about getting this but have to make sure it can handle what I want to make. Thanks.
I try to respond comments based on whether TH-cam remembers to tell me I have new comments or not. Sometimes it forgets to notify me! 😋
Theoretically, the maximum swing diameter is 7", but I never put anything that big on mine. Also what tool you're using might get in the way of such big piece. And if it's over the carriage you may only have room for 2" to 4". So depending on what you're making, anywhere from a bit over 2" all the way to 7".
It comes with two sets of jaws for the chuck; with one set you can grab a little over an inch, and the other a little over two inches. You could grab a little bit bigger but that's extending the jaws way out of the chuck and I'm personally not comfortable with having them that far out. It's more or less the same for the inside or outside grip.
I just did the bearing swap on mine, this is a must do.
I just watched your carriage lock video, great design, will not torture myself as you did with the cast iron :)
Just subbed, good luck with your channel.
Cheers
Thanks! The bearings on mine are still fine, but I have in mind to maybe replace them at some point. And recycling cast iron pieces is entirely optional. 😉
@@SculptyWorks Is this a fox lathe? I'm asking because of this sentence from your video description, "After having this lathe for a while, Fox does a review follow-up on it." Also, I have one more question that maybe you might be able to shed some light on. I've noticed some Harbor Freights advertising a 7x10" lathe, and some advertising a 7x12" lathe. Do you know if these are actually different lathes, or the same lathe, just advertised with different specs? Thanks, Steve
What torture is there with cast iron?
@@smallblockchevy1022
Did you watch the carriage lock video? I was referring to the big chunk of cast he cut with a hand hacksaw
@@smallblockchevy1022 I'm Fox (not the brand), so in a way it's Fox's lathe, and Fox (me) is reviewing it. 😉
There is a 7x10 and a 7x12 model, both sold by Harbor Freight. You really miss those extra 2" unless you're gonna be turning very short things, so I always recommend that, if you can, get the 7x12.
That's a lot of helpful information.
been cleaning it and doing the mods , chip guard, air vents, carriage lock later, l got 30% off $669, left plastic cover cracked,, l fixed it like a puzzle.
Congrats on your new toy! 👍
And yeah, with these 'cheap' lathes, you are the quality control. If you have broken parts, contact HarborFreight (if you bought it from them); it might take 12 weeks, but they seem pretty good about sending replacement parts.
Thanks for the tips.
How can you buy a 730.00 lathe for 400.00?
It was cheaper when I bought it (I think it was $500?), and I had coupons. 😊
I got the same deal. Back a couple of years ago (just before the import tariff hike) these lathes were $499 at HF. You could use the 20% coupon and get it for $399. Shipping was really cheap (like $17 or something ridiculously low) and you had to pay tax. But at the time it was the best deal around. The funny thing was that for a while, the 7x10 was actually about $100 more because they had run out of them and all new ones they received from China required the additional tariff charges. So for about a year, the 7x12 was actually significantly cheaper than the 7x10. They finally ran out of the 7x12 in the warehouse and had to bump the price up when they went to order more.
When they enacted the higher tariffs I knew these price hikes were coming so I ordered the 7x12 mini lathe for $399 and the mini mill for $479. They are way more now as are all of the Chinese lathes and mills (HF, Grizzly, LMS, etc.).
I am thinking about getting my first lathe and have a question. Does this one have a pass through headstock? If so, would it accept something 1.5 inches in diameter? Also, I don't see this spec when I look at lathe specs. Is there another term I should be looking for?
I don't know the 'official name' of that bit of the lathe, always just called it the 'spindle/chuck thru-hole'. 😉
15.5 mm or just shy of 5/8" is the thickest you can put through the spindle on this lathe.
@@SculptyWorks Thanks. Is that maximum length of an object to be worked on 12 inches?
@@SculptyWorks If you changed out the chuck, could the pass through be larger than 5/8" or is is limited to 5/8" by something else?
@@anotherOneMore7 The maximum length between centers is less than 12", more like 11" or so. That's why I made a compact live center for the lathe, because I wanted the whole 12". 😉
But if you are gonna turn something only from the chuck, then the length is... however brave/crazy you feel!
@@anotherOneMore7 The size is limited by the hole in the spindle, so a bigger chuck won't help there.
Thank you. Very helpful.
👍👍
I have no use for one, but I want one!
No you don't.
more red laithe vids please. What grease or oil did u put on white plastic gears?
There will be more eventually! 😉
The grease is a silicone lubricant. I used because I was going specifically for a plastic-friendly lubricant, but I have used "Lucas Red n' Tacky #2" on plastic gears after that with no problem and I much prefer it than the silicone lubricant.
this guy sounds like dracula LOL seriously, good video
Welcome to Transylva... I mean, thanks? 🧛♂️
What is the largest diameter tube you can slide through. Meaning if I open there Chuck Jaws all the way up and put a 20 inch pipe all the way through , what is the maximum diameter that it will allow
15.5 mm or just shy of 5/8" is the thickest you can put through the spindle on mine.
$400 bucks after discounts? How...? What is the precision like? Could it be a watchmaker's lathe? Thanks.
That was pre-pandemic prices and I had coupons. HarborFreight has not been very generous with their coupons in recent times. They cost US$799 currently (but you can still use coupons sometimes).
No, no, this could not be as precise as a watchmaker's lathe unless you spend an inordinate amount of time fine-tuning it and even then the tolerances might not be up to par with the level of precision needed. ...but I could be wrong, people have made some incredible things using some not-so-incredible tools. 😉
helpful. thanks for posting the video.
Does the quick change tool post work ok with steel? I read that some people are finding the tool holder flexing down when in contact with even mild steel because the tool post is aluminium? Thanks
I have had no problems with steel, but I also have a very gentle touch. 😉
I didn't notice any movement on the tool post, but what does move is the carriage and the cross-slide if they aren't very finely adjusted. The slop on the gibs from factory is awful!
@@SculptyWorks ahh right okk that's good to hear. Thanks for your reply. Good luck!
They are made from aluminium? Depends on what you buy I guess, I got myself a slightly different style, made out of hardened steel and have no problems with it.
Does the chuck guard open? cause that could be a safety hazard if you keep it closed
The curved plastic 'shield' thing? Yes, it opens; in fact it's on a switch that prevents the lathe from turning on if it's open.
Was one of the first things I removed from my machine. Can't necessarily recomment since I can trust my hands, others might not.
Will this handle brass and carbon steel ?
Brass definitely. I do it all the time.
High carbon steel, yes if you go gentle and if the steel is annealed. ...one shouldn't put hardened steel on any lathe anyway. 😉
The quality of your cutting tool and proper setup will greatly influence the results you get.
How can I make the chip guard
Mine is a little fancy, but any sheet metal you can bolt to the carriage would work.
Question, what's the actual dimensions of the lathe?
About 28" long, 9" wide, 12" tall.
@@SculptyWorks thanks I really appreciate it (＾∇＾)ﾉ
does this lathe have metal gears or plastic?
It comes with the plastic gears.
They have been working fine for me, and in this type of lathe I think they are actually a good thing. On a big lathe, it will tear through anything you throw at it. But on this type of small lathe, it will tear itself apart if you crash the carriage or something. The plastic gears work as a safety failure point that keeps more important and more expensive parts from breaking, should that happen. 😉
How did you line up your tailstock on you mini lathe?
On mine that was one thing that was properly lined-up from factory!
But if you need to line it up, there is an adjustment screw at the base that allows you to shift it from side-to-side. If it's off on the up-and-down axis you /could/ use shims but frankly I would return it because that would be a manufacture defect in my opinion.
@@SculptyWorks Thanks, Like your channel!
This is not a harbor freight lathe ! harbor freight sells them but there built by central machinery. You can also buy this lathe directly from central machinery. Other than selling them , harbor freight has nothing to do with this equipment. A lot of people bitch about harbor freight and claim the quality sucks and automatically believe any lathe or mill that comes from them will be of poor quality also. But like I said , these lathe's an mills are built by central machinery , and are high quality.
Its a harbor freight brand
Those are put together by the school of the blind, along with pens.
Could you give measurements?
Of what parts?
@@SculptyWorks of the foot bar thing and the chip catch if you could😛
@@SculptyWorks by foot bar thing I mean the holes in the metal bits you used to widen the space between rubber disks not sure if that was clear😅
@@nullsnaggle5198 Hehe, the 'foot bars' are 8 x 1½ x 3/8 (inches) each, and the chip tray is 8½ x 27½.
@@SculptyWorks thank you my good man😛 I shalt use your information wisely but...what is the spacing between the middle holes in the foot bars? I am not sure how to measure them myself😅
Why don't you film something where it shows what it does, I mean what does it do. Thank you
There are various videos on the channel where the lathe appears doing what it does. 😉
Antique Chisels Restoration
th-cam.com/video/A1DIkyW65D8/w-d-xo.html
Snakewood & Ebony Baton
th-cam.com/video/bEKGwnVhMI4/w-d-xo.html
Magic Wand
th-cam.com/video/cOQJPaLlyAI/w-d-xo.html
Compact Live Center
th-cam.com/video/B5J8NI8PJzc/w-d-xo.html
Aluminum Handwheels for the Lathe
th-cam.com/video/D2lSFTTdnC0/w-d-xo.html
...and others I don't remember off the top of my head. 😊
700 for that thing now with no coupons, or specials because the new HF sucks. I no longer do business with HF when they changed over to their new higher prices and no coupons (no freebies either) business model.
I have to agree, these days Harbor Freight items haven't been very attractive. I think the pandemic has hit them hard so they can't afford to do the coupons and all that anymore. It's sad.
@@SculptyWorks Their business model began to change in 2018 and by 2019 was in full swing. I used to watch the Den of Tools channel and we saw it coming as they had some sort of marketing change/takeover. The old HF was far more customer friendly. With AliExpress/Banggood/Gearbest/AliBaba/eBay/Amazon HF is destroying themselves.
Prices are skyrocketing on everything and everywhere, not just HF.
@@larrybud Now, but when I wrote this HF had no excuse as they started this shit since 2019 before the pandemic.
@@generalawareness101 Your comment was 1 year ago, 2022.
How did you get it for $400? I tried the 20% off coupon and they do not work and it’s listed at $599
At the time I bought it, I used a 25%-off coupon they send out rarely these days. Also, they have changed what you can use the coupons for. Read the fine-print and see if it can be used on Central Machinery tools (I have one in front of me right now that says it can't be used on that - and a bunch of other things I might have used it on 😢 ).
@@SculptyWorks 600 minus 25 percent is $450 plus tax.
@@ismael9841 the prices fluctuate mine was $750
$400? It's about double that now...🤷🏻♂️😕
Yeah unfortunately prices have gone up on everything since then.
Let’s go Brandon 🤗