On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:21:48 GMT, "dan cordes"
wrote:
Oh, man, I hate to get in these discussions. I know there are people
who argue that there are good values to be had at HF--that if you buy
a cheap tool for only one or two uses and get that out of it, then
you've done well. I never have and never could subscribe to that
philosophy, although I suppose maybe I've been more fortunate than
many in that I've usually been able to get better tools for my
projects over the years.
Anyone who thinks that HF is just an outlet house selling the exact
same tools as Woodcraft or Rockler but somehow, magically, at a lower
price, is living in a fantasy world.
If you are talking about this one,
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34706 it's
a nice lathe. My buddy has this one and works great. It has a 1"X8" spindle
thread so it's a standard thread size for acc. like a chuck or face plates.
It works well for spindle work and I have turned a bowl on it to show him
how to turn bowls.
This looks to be a copy of an old Delta gap bed lathe and it appears
to have a Reeves drive. Nothing wrong with either of those, although
an argument could be made that the design is dated. Since Sir Roy
regularly turns with a spring pole lathe, I don't think "dated design"
is a good argument.
Lathes need to hold wood, turn wood, support tools. There's not a lot
of science in that. I made my own lathe once that was able to
accomplish that. The HF almost certainly will, too--to an extent.
HF's problem is always about quality, durability, and reliability.
Let's start with electric motor--you're taking a chance. It's not
going to be a Baldor or a Marathon. Next, bearings--you're taking a
chance. Pacific rim bearings aren't Timkens. How about the quality of
the castings--you're taking a chance. There's a large variation in
casting quality among Pacific rim suppliers. Don't think that HF's
castings come from the same foundry as Delta's.
Do you have $200 to throw away on this experiment? If you do, fine,
but consider it lost money. For a little more than that, you can have
a Jet Mini, which aces the three categories mentioned at the beginning
of this paragraph, and will handle probably 75% of the turning you are
likely to be doing in the first year or so you have it. Then you can
get almost all your money out of it by selling it, and you'll have the
market to yourself, since few Jet owners sell their Minis. That should
tell you something.
One big difference between this lathe and the Delta (later model, very
similar, 46-701, which I have) is that the splay on the legs on the
Delta is much greater. Unless there is a lot of distortion in the
photograph, that stand appears potentially unstable, almost unsafe.
I always recommend the HF tools set
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47066 You
can't beat this set for spindle work. It's the same set several other
dealers carry for about 1/2 the price. For bowls you normally need a bowl
gouge. If you get just one I would recommend a 1/2". Nice general
application sized tool.
Well, they say "famous name manufacturer" which doesn't say a thing
about the quality. Sorby is a famous name manufacturer I would trust.
Pittsburgh Forge may be a "famous name manufacturer" (it's one of HF's
house brands) that I would not.
The ad shows five tools (not a gouge in site), but lists eight. The
box looks big enough for five, but not eight. I have a HF about ten
minutes away--I may run down there and take a look to see what it
actually includes--the ad is certainly ambiguous since it doesn't
really say how many are in the set.
And of course nothing here stated addresses quality. In my view, I
already know the answer to that question, but there are some who may
find them good value. Chisels can be considered consumables, depending
on how much turning you do (and if you do enough to make them
consumables, the HF lathe isn't going to stand up to it anyway), so
perhaps they won't be complete throwaways.
Good luck.
You'll need it. There are very, very few things at HF that I would
throw any money at. I bought some casters from them for my clamp
stand. I don't know what the wheels are made of, but they stink to
high heaven. I can close my eyes and find my clamp stand anywhere in
the shop in seconds. At around $20, I can afford to have them fail
early and replace them with better ones. We'll see how they do. I
wouldn't take that same chance with a piece of machinery.
All you HF lovers may proceed to pile it on.
--
LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
http://www.woodbutcher.net
Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997
email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.