On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 16:44:34 GMT, the renowned Jeff Wisnia
wrote:



DanBlather wrote:

I'm going to be in China for a couple of weeks and was thinking about buying
a mini-lathe, something like the Harbor Freight 7X10. Anyone ever done this?
Suggestions of what to look for or avoid?

Thanks.

I don't know about buying one there, but I wonder if you'd find ones with 120
volt motors that easily over there.

And, unless you've got some angel (or employer) picking up your freight bill for
you, I'd check out the transportation cost of getting a one 100 pound package
(and, the crating costs.) back home, not to mention possible US customs fees.
Those costs are likely to bust any purchase price savings on what you can buy
here for under $400 when they're on sale.

And, you may get unlucky and happen to buy one there which suffers some kind of
infant mortality. HF will help you out, but whoya gonna call in China?

A more practical problem might be actually finding a place to buy
them. You'd probably have to have some expert help (more expert
perhaps than your concierge). I scoured the multitude of industrial
supply and hardware shops around Boundary street in HK a few years ago
without seeing a single lathe (lots of chain hoists, hydraulics,
cutoff saws and other "close, but no cigar" stuff. Probably some kind
of industrial supply shop in the outskirts of a decent-sized
industrial city. If you're having it sea-shipped back, you might want
to go for a bigger one or buy several items just because the overhead
costs will dominate anyhow, or get the smaller one from HF instead (at
$3xx including shipping, it's pretty cheap).

Check out the free luggage allowance, though, some are pretty generous
(2 checked bags of up to 70lbs each on Cathay, provided part of your
trip goes to the US or Canada). If you're like me, you don't have much
other luggage (I tend to leave with just a carry-on). Watch the
per-bag limit with a lathe- but maybe it could be taken apart a bit.
It'll be 240V 50Hz with a funny plug, but it should work okay on 240V
60Hz in most cases. A bit inconvenient if you want to just plug it
into 120V. I'm not sure I'd bother- things like calipers might be a
better deal and much lighter per $ with no power source issues.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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