Hi All,

As I have watched this thread, my thoughts come to this.

Each of you is right. There really is no wrong answer. But it seems
like most of you have forgotten something.

I will use myself as an example: I have a very cheap, and I do mean
very cheap wood lathe. It is a Grizzly, so cheap that it is the next
thing to nothing, It's motor is a 1/2 inch hand drill which also holds
the drive center. Why? Because that is all that I could afford, it cost
me less than $100 and no, I could not even dig up another $50 for their
mini wood lathe which sells for $149.95. You see, I am on a very fixed
income, and I had to make a choice of either what I bought, or NOTHING.

It is just as simple as that. Being that cheap, it is indeed a piece of
crap, hard to use and very sloppy, with turnings limited to between
centers. I recognize its limitations, but let me tell you what my
alternative is, and that would be to make my turnings for wood gear
clocks and model trains to be what I could make with a saw, chisel,
files, sandpaper and 100 times the work to make each part.

So while I, like many others would love to have that $10,000 lathe and
twice that in chucks and tools, it is something that I will never have
in my life, unless one of you fine gentlemen chooses to donate all of
that to me. But even so, there are others out there who would deserve it
better than me, people who cannot even buy what I have, so give it to them.

I tell all of you out there these things because some of you with super
deep pockets and those with medium deep pockets tend to forget that when
a man tells you that he has only $200 to spend on a lathe, that he just
cannot spend more than that unless he stops eating, or stops buying his
medicine. Some of us do not even have a pocket. It becomes useless to
tell him that he should spend $100 more for a better quality lathe. He
knows, just as I do, that is true. But being that he cannot spend it,
just as I cannot, that it would be kinder to recommend the best that you
can in HIS price range.

As I said at the start, each of you are right, And I do appreciate your
descriptions of your fine lathes, and the problems and fixes for them.
You see, 50 years ago, I too had a fine wood lathe and good tools for a
while, But how could I have that now after I retired 20 years ago on
$400 a month pension?? My pension has not gone up. And SS is a joke. I,
like many who write in asking questions, do the best we can with what we
have, just as all of you do.

All that I ask is that you remember us poor ones when you give your good
answers. Please do not put down the poor guy who built and uses a pole
lathe because that may be all that he could afford. And always it is
better to have something than to have nothing.

Thank you for listening, I do learn much from your answers, even after
all these years. And who knows, perhaps one day one of my sons will
surprise me with one of those expensive wood lathes, and all the tools
that I could only dream of.

Zap





wrote:
Hi Cyrille

I'll make it short and sweet as what my opinion is of that lathe in any
color or any name, POS.

Go get the 5 speed Jet/Delta/Ricon/ etc. for $300.-- or less and you
get a decent lathe for the money, and if you want to sell it again you
will axually be able to do that and get your money back, most people
that upgrade do keep their Delta/Jet/etc.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

cyrille de Brebisson wrote:

hello,

Does anyone have comment on the $200 lathe from Harbor Freight (sale price)?

I have a limited budget and can not afford a $500 jet lathe, so for me
unless there is a better alternative in the sub $300 range, there is no
woodturning for me :-(

so, the question, is, knowing that it is a HF tool, is it worth it's price?
Also, what accessory will I need to purchase? I plan to do spindle turning
for furniture and small objects and my wife wants to turn bowls...

thanks, cyrille