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.

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?

Just my .02,

Jeff

--

Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can smile when things are going wrong, you've thought of someone to
blame it on."

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
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

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 doubt you will find them readilly available there. I could be wrong.

My understanding is that these and their ilk are produced by the
various companies co-ordinated by a government agency in order to
produce export goods.

In any case, I don't expect you could beat the North American prices,
as you will not be buying in container load quantities.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

I spent about 6 months in Hong Kong about 10 years ago. If things are the
same now as then, the best buys seemed to be for silk and jewelry and the
worst for high tech stuff like PCs, though software was dirt cheap so long
as you didn't mind getting it on cheap floppies. Optics were also the same
price or more expensive as here in the US. I'd expect that buying a 7x10
lathe there would not be a good idea. They do have some interesting machine
shops set up in little cubby-hole type stalls in the shopping districts,
though. You might find an intereesting old US lathe at one of those. It
would be a hoot to bring back an old SB.

"DanBlather" wrote in message
news:ARtfb.33840$%h1.23586@sccrnsc02...
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.