Cheap Lathe!

It's a Harbor Freight lathe, should be MT1. get the model and serial number and order your parts from them. Delivery will be

6-8 weeks probably. Depending on which lathe and condition, it should be usable, just not fancy.

Dave in Fairfax

Have a yard sale of your own. Put the lathe in it. Rejoice at whatever you may get for it. Don't look back. Buy your kid a good used Jet mini and get him started turning the right way................ without the frustrations of frantically searching for non-existent accessories.

Barry

Dave is right - not to mention which if your son breaks it, finds he hates turning or whatever, you are not out much. The same cannot be said for a Jet Mini.

BTW, he will need a set of gouges, HF eight piece set for $39.95 is not a bad way to go. You can always upgrade - IF there is an interest in turning on the part of your pride and joy, that is.

Deb

Hi Walt, HF lathes vary from dangerous junk to quite usable, so I'm not sure if this model will encourage or turn off your son's enthusiasm. I wouldn't spend much time or good money after bad on it since you have a lathe & tools and can safely supervise him to decide if turning interests him. If it does, I'm with Barry. A jet mini will hold its value if you resell, which you won't. :)

How about cutting it down to make a polishing and/or sanding head? Or if you have the space, you could add a length of allthread with a series of buffing wheels for a dedicated finishing station? Or it could be used to hold and rotate pieces for spraying, carving etc. away from your turning lathe. I don't know if it can be used for turning wood. It's the old turned off by cheap but bad junk vs encouraged by inexpensive but adequate no frills decision. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

No wonder I saw a month-old Central Machinery 14x40 on sale on Craigs list for $129 today! Oh well...

I make most of my finishing stuff (ring clamp for bottom finishing, expandable drum for waxing, etc.) for the Shopsmith, so I don't have to keep changing the setup of the mini all the time..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

====================== Walt, It sounds like he may have bought one of their bottom of the line lathes. If it is the one I think it might be, it's a 40in sheet metal contraption with a minium speed over 1100 RPM. The new price on those on sale is well under $100. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is dangerous, but safety precautions are in order if you try to mount any thing near it's rotational capacity and is unbalanced. Give us a model number, or go to Harbor Freight Tools web site and use the keyword "lathe" to see if you can find it. Good luck!

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

Thanks to all for your help.

My son is a pretty fair turner already--did some nice spindle and bowl work in school, so I suspect that if the lathe doesn't suit him, it will become a boat anchor fairly rapidly.

I don't understand how buying a set of cheap chisels will make a cheap lathe work better. He has a set of Buck Brothers (carbon steel) chisels that I gave him for his birthday 15 years ago, that I cleaned up and sent to him. He graciously let me use them until he needed them. I think good tools will make the experience a lot better.

We'll see how it works out, and maybe there might be a Jet in his future. I love my 1440.

Walt C

Hi Walt, Good chisels compensate for poor lathes about the same as good books compensate for poor practice. ;)

Those earlier Buck Bro's tools with their small ferrules, distinctive handles and good steel were great weren't they?. I still have mine and I bet many besides us have kept and still use them. As with the old Marples, they fit with today's mini lathes just right.

I was wrong to presume that buying a second hand HF lathe made your son a beginner. Apologies to him and all HF owners. I have many of their tools.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

My HF 12x36 is a #2 MT.

__ to contact me send email to bill13510 @gmail.com

OK, but he didn't say which his was, or hadn't when I posted that. Some of their lathes had MT1 as well. with a more complete description we might be able to give more info.

Dave in Fairfax

======================== The HF clone of the Sears monotube is also a 12X36 and is an MT 1. Yours is probably the Jet clone.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

It is (an underpowered) SKU# T34706

Yes, I'm the same Bill as posted above. I had a serious glitch in my computer that ended up with a re-install of my entire hard drive. I didn't get my settings exactly the same this time around as last.

Bill

The website shows that as a discontinured model. Sorry about the HD, I just had the same problem. %-( Ken's probably right about it being a knowckoffof the Jet monotube.

Dave in Fairfax