I bought the Craftsman 21715 earlier this year. I was upgrading from
Harbor Freights $79 lathe which I learned on for two years. I thought it
was a big improvement. Wrong. I had an off balance bowl blank on it and
the spindle started wobbling. I found three loose bolts on it which I
tightened. Then the drive belt started slipping. I looked to see how to
fix it and found it to be much of a problem. It was under warrenty so I
called Sears Repair. He had to order a new belt which was a month and a
half to arrive. After three weeks I heard that this model was hard on
bearings which cost $80 each so I took my lathe back to Sears and got a
refund.
With my refund I added $245 and bought the Jet Jwl 1442 for $715 from
Southern Tool. It was free shipping and I received it in four days.
The jet is 1 horse power and variable speed and I have not been able to
stall with any out of balance bowl blank. I was worth the extra $245.
The day my new Jet Lathe arrived, Fed Ex delivered the belt for the
craftsman lathe. Tommie


http://www.angelfire.com/va3/tommiesplace.com