Hi Richard,

The chuck is heavy duty and works well. I use it all the time.

Dan

"Richard Clements" wrote in message
.. .
sounds like you have the same setup as I do, but I don't have the chuck
yet
works for me, but then I haven't done that much
dan cordes wrote:

Hi Searcher,

The HF lathe you ask about is a very good $79 lathe. Remember that!
Yes
you can do bowls, spindle work boxes etc with it.
I have the same lathe and have enjoyed it for several years now. As
purchased it is good for spindle work.
You'll most likely want a scroll chuck and smaller face plate to do
bowls
and boxes and stuff. I found a good chuck at Grizzly G1194 with a 3/4' X
10 insert G3159 http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2005/main/096.cfm?
and found home made face plates made by William noble at a reasonable
price. http://www.wbnoble.com/
The set of turning tools from HF 47066-2VGA it's a set of 8 in a wood
box. http://order.harborfreight.com These are a great set of HSS tools.
DO
NOT get any of their other sets. They are not worth your time. I have
these and I purchased a separate bowl gouge. The only other tools I would
like now are a bigger scrapper and some specialty tools. But the set of 8
is a great start. The also have a nice steady rest for $20 (4092-1VGA).
The draw back to this lathe is the 3/4" X 10 treads. Not a standard
size.
When doing spindle work do not over tighten the piece in the lathe. The
head can flex away from the tail stock if you are overly aggressive.
When everyone else talks about their more expensive lathes, remember
turning has been around for centuries and the HF is much better that what
our "forefathers" turned on.
But with all that said, I would love to get a Nova 3000 DVR someday. I
have turned on it and it was very nice with it's digitally controlled
speeds it rotating head stock. But I have done just as nice work with the
HF $79 lathe as I did on the Nova $2000 lathe. Just ease of operation and
availability of some accessories.
Bottom line for $300 or so you can get set up with the HF lathe,
Grizzly
chuck, the HF tools, a bowl gouge and some extra faceplates. Can the
others say that?
Good luck in your search and don't let the lathe snobs get to you.
Research, find what you like and go with that.

Dan



"Searcher1" wrote in message
news:5a4_d.3311$uw6.1133@trnddc06...
Sorry, I accidentally posted this in binaries

I see that HF has a lathe on sale for 79 bucks. Its made by Central
machine.
I was wondering how this would hold up to hobbyist use, Would it be
worth
the money?

Searcher1