go to littlemachineshop.com and look at the comparison chart for all the small lathes and mills.i did and i went with the cummins 7x12.it is a little longer than the same size HF and at least $100.00 dollars cheaper.i also got a load of accessaries that dont come with the other lathes.the thing i dont like is cummins is not west of the mighty missisip as far as i know so if somthing goes wrong my warranty issues are going to sucksince im in AZ.meanwhile there is a HF 40 miles from me so i could just take it to them.but im betting my lathe wont break down in the warranty period anyway(what if anything ever does) its uassally within the first week after the warranty runs out.(murphy).anyway,i used to be a diesal mechanic and have a degree in Agricultural and industrial mechanics so i can fix about anything.I only use course threads for my prop bolt in aluminum because its very hard to strip.fine threads belong in steel most of the time.take a weedy engine totally apart and see how many fine threads you have.Most all your bolts in an auto engine are also course thread and any 2 stroke air cooled engine.i just used a slide caliper on one of my hubs thats 1-1/4 inches long and theres no difference between either end so i know my lathe is running true at least for peices say up to 1-1/2" long.theres also a lathe forum here in the engine conversion section,check that out.theres been 2-3 people that bought the HF and said the space between centers was 2" shorter than advertised,but maybe they had the tailstock in it when thay measured or somthing else figured in.I waited for the Cummins truck to show up and paid $399 for mine with a lot of extra attachments that the others didnt have at the time i bought mine.