Hi,

Do the machinists in the crowd think this lathe: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44859 would be good for our work on these little engines and various other projects?? The next model up is double the price, and I just can't afford that. If anyone cares to look, I would appreciate advice on the cheaper mills Harbor Freight has as well. I checked Sherline, and what they have is out of my budget, so maybe this Harbor Freight model??

Thanks in advance for any help,
AV8TOR

Av8tor,

I have the 7X14 lathe from Micromark. I think it is much better than the one a friend has from Harbor Freight. Reason being if you need parts Micromark has them and Harbor Freight is not real good for parts. Also, I buy a lot of tooling from Little Machine Shop, they have all replacement parts as well as tooling identical to Micromarks. When you get into this you will spend more than you think for all the tooling and other assessories. But if you are like me you have to have all this neat stuff. I am ordering the Micromark milling machine also. There goes another grand.

Hi av8t0r,

It will work but in my oppinion the tool holder looks like junk. My advise would be to seach around for some auctions. In my area there have been alot of them in the past few years. Alot of shops going under! Thankfully I'm still hanging in there. Some times you can pick up an older lathe or mill for scrap prices. Also check to see if there are any machine surplus warehouses in your area, some times you can get a decent deal if you check around.

Hope this helps,

Pete

my dad recommended to me the Enco 7x10 he has a guy he works with that does his machining on one for his hobby stuff. both he and my dad are toolmakers do precision machine work and that guy likes the one he has at home for his stuff he does at home.

Have you checked this site? http://www.mini-lathe.com/Default.htm They would probably be perfect for making prop hubs and such things. I would say go for it , there are DRO sets and other cool toys for these machines available from http://www.littlemachineshop.com/ . I have one of the more expensive mills similar to this one http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33686 and I am very happy with it.

For the price it looks like it could be worth it, but I would like to see one in the flesh first. Its weight is encouraging
dont think youll get much better spec wise for that sort of money unless you go second hand, which is what I ended up doing and bought an old south bend

Hi guys, and thanks for all the input so far. Here's another one: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33684 I don't know if it's any better than the first one I spec'd. I've been doing engines for many years, but hardly done any real live machine work, so I'm pretty naive in this subject. What exactly am I looking for when I check them out?

My problem is that I live far out in the country, and I don't have access to auctions, etc. Shipping is a killer too these days. I don't however want to spring for the bucks for something I'm going to be unhappy with.

Blueberry: Does the quick change tool kit they offer look any better than the stock tool holder???

Thanks again,
AV8TOR

You can do well buying a real machine from used machinery dealers.
Worn industrial equipment is generally better than new hobby grade.
Space is the issue for most guys.

I have the Harbor Freight gear head mill. It works for me. Of course I am not an expert. I also have a Smithy lathe, mill, drill. It was nothing that I would recommend to a friend. I removed, the mill head, and have good luck with the lathe. I also have looked at the mini lathe that you are looking at. In your situation of not having a used equipment outlet handy. It may be the way to go.

AV8Tor
They are all junk. I'am on my third one thinking I found the deal. They work for things that finish like you did them by hand with a file , I've done better work without these China import lathes by hand with a drill press. Actually thats how I end up doing things. Find a US made lathe.
Best Ron

Very much agree with Ramius.We got an old logan and did a tune up to it.Its great.He is correct used industrial equiptment is better then new hobby equiptment in my book.I would go industrial all the way.Also alot of the used dealers have rebuilt (with a few years on them) industial units they will warranty.Industrial units are way better then hobby type units.But like Ramius said space is a factor.If you have no space issues go industrial with all your equiptment.

av8tor,

I didn't see that the first time I looked, it is better but the one in the link Rupurt posted looks like it would be the best. I have not personally used these companies but I did a quick search for machine sales in Arizona and found a couple. You never know what you might find, and if all else fails I'm sure you would have fun with one of those little bench tops. I have used one like them before, my biggest complaint was the tool holders are a pain, the chucks are not very good, and you can only feed about a 5/8 bar through the chuck so you always have to cut the bar down first if it is bigger than 5/8.

I can't seem to upload the links but the sites are www.activemach.com and www.adamsmachineryaz.com I'm sure that there are more hope this helps.

Pete

Ron you must be doing something wrong or be very good with a file, this pic is from minilathe.com

i bought a similar lathe like the harbor freight has and i only paid $75 cuz it was in a truck fire ( no damage) well thats about all its worth,, the gibs for the cross slides are cheezy if they are tighnt enuff you cant hardly move the handles.... too much play in everything.... but if you are slow and careful you can chew some pieces out of some stock

Again, on the mini lathe site he discribes how he polished the gib strips, maybe this could help. These machines appear to be far from perfect but with a bit of time spent on setup the are capable of producing worthwhile parts. Any lathe no matter how much you pay will produce crap if it is badly setup.[X(]

I have the Homier 7 x 12 mini lathe- and the Homier mini mill. Are they junk? yeah- and no- they payed for themselves in my book the first year I had them- and like mentioned above- with careful setup and a good set of machining skills you can produce good parts. For the money, it is a decent functional little lathe. I swear there is not a week that goes by that I don't use it for something that I could not do if I didn't have it.
Now, if I could go back, and had known how much i would use it- I'd of gotten the 9 x 20 Enco- just for the extra capacity- I have found that alot of what I want to do requires a bigger machine.

If all you want to do is turn flywheels and make prop adapters and ignition hubs then the 7 x 12 is a perfectly adequate machine.
Unless you get lucky as can be and find a good used industrial machine at a sale or auction you just cant beat this little
chinese lathe for 299 bucks- period.

Little machine shop.com can sell you Every Single replacement part for this lathe or the homier mill for that matter- at reasonable prices.
Although in three years I have had to replace nothing- but I do take care of my equipment.

I say if you want a little lathe to do odd jobs and tinkering then get one of the them- the Homier, and the harbor frieght are basically the same machine.

AV8TOR,
I considered the small lathes at HF until a machinist buddy convinced me to go with the 9x20 from HF. Glad I did. I actually wish I'd gone the next sized up but you can get carried away with that kind of thinking. They ARE cheap quality and I had to do some readjusting on the carriage to get it to work right. But once all that was done its been producing very nicely. The instructions are typical worthless chinese crap. I modified the tool post on my lathe from the junk that is used on the small ones with a quick change (series 100) and love it. I also bought the big mill from HF, used, from my machinist buddy. He went grizzely and CNC. Using the mill takes more patience than the lathe. Its the learning how to make the cuts at what speed and adjusting the gibbs just right. Just plan on sacrificing some metal and dive in. I know that the poor quality is strictly me when working on the mill cause I've seen the beautifull work produced from my buddy on the same machine. It always looked like he just clamped it down and just did it when in reality he new a ton of tricks of the trade on how to quickly align the work piece just right. If you're gonna do a lot of work like production stuff, I agree with the others about going to the auctions and getting better equipment. But for once in awhile hobby stuff, the chinese junk works. At least later if you decide to dive in you can get the good stuff. I'll bet most of the chinese stuff is used a little at first then sits and rusts.
Edwin

I have a 9x20 also, and for the money you can't beat it. It's also very well supported in a Yahoo mail list. Just for search 9x20 Lathe and you will find it. They have produced a manual for fixing all the things that are wrong, and have another manual for upgrades and improvements. Both downloadable in pdf format. I think you have to join the group to get them, but it's well worth it.

Steve

Running man,
Got a pointer. Sounds good.
Edwin

Similar to what others have said, you need to buy the biggest, heaviest machine lathe you can afford price wise and space wise. Voltage is also a consideration because as lathes get above 10" swingover, they are generally operated on 230 volts. Try to find an old Clausing or Atlas bench lathe that is in good working order with some attachments. I have a 10 X 40 Clausing floor lathe that is around 35 years old. It maintains extremely close tolerances for my GCBM R/C 25cc gas engine parts. I gave $1,500.00 for it with a bunch of attachments. Those little micro lathes will work, but you have to take extremely small cuts, which take a lot of time. The operative phrase in machine tools shopping is: "Buy cheap, buy twice (or maybe more!)".

My humble opinion,
GPB

[link=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/9x20Lathe/]9x20 Lathe Group[/link]

Well, thanks for all the input. Since I don't have $1500 or more to spend on a good used large machine, and transport and space is a problem, I went ahead and got the little 7 x 10 guy and accessories. When I couldn't get a round prop hub adaptor using my drill press and a file, I resorted to using the drill press in combination with a small side grinder. Workable results, but a hassle and not very professional. The cheap little lathe has got to be better than how I was doing it!! I will have a lot of other small jobs for it as well. I also like the excellent support available on the websites for this lathe.

AV8TOR

did you get the harbor frieght one? you will have to after you use it a few times give us a report. i am still mulling the idea of getting the Enco 7X10. the harbor frieght one looks exactly like it but a different color. the enco seemed cheaper. i want one for prop hubs and such.

It will be fine, just take very small cuts with it and you won't get any chatter. If after a cut your piece has lines on it resemblying surface deep screw threads, you are taking too deep a cut. When you drill the center hole, go real slow and check your run out. Happy machining!
GPB

The only difference between all the 9x20's and 7x12's is the color of the paint. They are all made in the same factory in China

Steve