Harbor Freight

[nit wit]

Has anyone had experience with Harbor Freights mini metal lathes?
I assume they are probably junk like the dial calipers I bought.
Why is Chinese food so good and their tools suck?
Nit Wit

 

[berryfarmer]

keep an eye on e-bay you can buy a south bend for what some of the "imported" junk goes for..... :imo:

 

[flaming canvas]

Has anyone had experience with Harbor Freights mini metal lathes?
I assume they are probably junk like the dial calipers I bought.
Why is Chinese food so good and their tools suck?
Nit Wit

They have been cooking for thousands of years and making tools out of something besides bamboo for 15. :blah:

 

[hawkeye2]

They do have some limitations but can be quite useful and if you are interested in doing the work there are modifications and improvments you can make to turn one into an excellent machine. Try searching the web under miniature machining.

 

i have one ,, it run me about 450 i think . i really like it , it works good and is smooth . i would say if there is a draw back its the gears are plastic so you have to be carful not to stall it, though i have not broken any teeth yet when i have . :redthumb:

 

[BLAHMAN]

Has anyone had experience with Harbor Freights mini metal lathes?
I assume they are probably junk like the dial calipers I bought.
Why is Chinese food so good and their tools suck?
Nit Wit

If you ever saw how they cook some of that food, you'd change your mind kinda quick! Ever notice that those Chineses food palaces are within walking distance of the pet store or neighborhood vet? Yikes!!!!!! :no:

 

[Tumblernotch]

I have a Central Machinery combination vertical mill and lathe that I got from Harbor Freight. It's not super precise, has no power feed, and it's lowest speed on both mill and lathe are faster than I like, but it is very heavy built and can take some punishment and is accurate enough for me to make jags and gun parts with. The same size machine made in the states will cost you between $2,500 and $3,500. This one runs for $699. I paid $549 three years ago on sale. I would rather have a South Bend or a Cincinnati or such but poor people have poor ways. :cry:

By the way, my dial calipers work fine, it was the digital one that went haywire.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Ever notice that those Chineses food palaces are within walking distance of the pet store or neighborhood vet?

Bah. Urban myth. Pet-stores want too much. Not enough meat on a $40 kitten. I don't believe it for a second. Not when a 20 minute drive gets all the free road kill you can shovel for the cost of gas. ::

 

[Protrucker]

Anyone know how the "Smithy" equivalent of this machine compares? (accuracy, quality, price)

 

[Tumblernotch]

I've seen the Smithy machines in catalogues which I'm sorry to say I don't have with me and it looks to me like they would be a better machine though costing a good bit more. I don't know anybody who has one so I don't know how good they really are. To be honest, if I could have afforded something better than the Central Machinery machine, I would have bought it. It is a barebones machine, no frills. I can't cut threads with it (no power feed or any provisions for thread cutting), limited speed control (lowest lathe speed 500 rpm., you ought to see me knurl!, lowest mill speed 450 rpm) and you can't adjust tailstock offset. With care I have been able to make a tumbler with it as well as a great assortment of jags, short starters and other parts, including lawn mower and washer/dryer parts. Smithy and most others offer these things. I would recommend a Smithy or better yet a South Bend or one of the other American made ones. If you want a small bench lathe, a Prazi or a Myford are very good, but very expensive. Jet makes a variety of machine tools and are fairly reasonable in price and I've heard both good and bad about them. They used to be made in the States, but are now Chinese made.

I'm working on a design to slow my machine down with a reducing pulley. That will help a lot. Remember that whatever machine you buy, you will soon find out that the tooling and accessories can be expensive and by the time you get everything you think you'll need, you'll find out you need something else and then you'll have as much invested in tools as you have in the machine.
:imo: :results:

 

[loojack]

I don't know about the mini lathes, but I have never had any luck with Harbor Freight tools! The last thing I bought was a bead roller off e-Bay, had I known it was HF I would NOT have bought it. The set screws were so soft I rounded one off with the 3" hex wrench they sent with it. :results:....loojack
Hear 'bout the new Chinese cookbook? It's called Woking Your Dog! HEHEHEHE ff:

 

[BLAHMAN]

Ever notice that those Chineses food palaces are within walking distance of the pet store or neighborhood vet?

Bah. Urban myth. Pet-stores want too much. Not enough meat on a $40 kitten. I don't believe it for a second. Not when a 20 minute drive gets all the free road kill you can shovel for the cost of gas. ::

Thanks for wreckin' my supper :no: :no: :boohoo: Got anymore urban myths you wanna destroy? :cry: :cry:

 

[Treerat]

Ate at a Chinese place the other night with inlaws. Out of five orders for Pepsi we got four concoctions that tasted like Dr Pepper and one root beer. What kind of QC is this?
Anyway I only have the one Harbor Fright machine(drill press)and its just barely ok. Wish I had waited on a Delta although both my Delta table saw and band saw say Taiwan on the sticker :cry:

 

It is a barebones machine, no frills. I can't cut threads with it (no power feed or any provisions for thread cutting), limited speed control (lowest lathe speed 500 rpm., you ought to see me knurl!, lowest mill speed 450 rpm) and you can't adjust tailstock offset.

mine does all that . came stock with a 1/2 inch threw chuck and center. has auto feed , variable speed from 450to 3000 , highlow gear settings , can be upgraded to a 1 inch threw chuck and drill chuck center as well as a reverse . if i use the longest tools i can exstend the center by 6 inches and turn longer stock

 

I see two theme's here. No make that three. One is you get what you pay for, and when it comes to tools, more is better. Two is Caveat Emptor, Let the buyer beware, and three is that I think I'll pass up the Chinese Food. :crackup: :crackup: :sorry:

 

[BLAHMAN]

I see two theme's here. No make that three. One is you get what you pay for, and when it comes to tools, more is better. Two is Caveat Emptor, Let the buyer beware, and three is that I think I'll pass up the Chinese Food. :crackup: :crackup: :sorry:

Does Caveat Emptor override truth in advertising?

 

[Birddog6]

I have always considered anything I buy at Harbor Freight as a "Use one time & toss it" item. Not a place to get any quality, it is a place the thrives on Price Only. However, there are some things there that will get you buy such as the lathes, drill presses, grinders & etc. IF you don't work them too hard or expect too much from them.

You get what you pay for in most things in life..........

To some people $ 500-700. is allot of money for a lathe & they think it should be of quality for the price. No so. A small quality Lathe will cost you $3000-4000 ............ as that is what a quality small lathe costs. The precision & durability of the machine is where the cost comes in..... And all imported tools are Not the same...... The Jet, Delta, Enco, & several others being a better grade than some of the real Elcheapos you find at the flea markets & HF & places like that.

It boils down to if you want real quality you will have to pay for it. Just like buying MAC, Snap-on brand wrenches vs. the elcheapo imported wrenches at the flea market, that when you use they bend, they spred open & bust your hands.......
Is it better to buy a clunker & be unsatisfied for 10-12 years & Then pay even more for a good one, or buy a good one the first time & be done with it........ The good one the first time is the cheapest buy in the long run... IMHO.

Really depends on what you expect from the machine. If you are going to just do RR tips & jags & etc., I think the cheap one would do fine. But if you are Serious about precision....go for the good one & do it right the first time.

:results:

 

[Tumblernotch]

I wish I could afford a high quality lathe and milling machine. I had a chance to buy a 20"X48" Pratt & Whitney from a former employer several years ago for $2000.00 and had to turn him down for lack of money. Talk about being heartbroken! I knew what I was getting when I bought my combination mill & lathe. Actually, I have been pleasantly surprised that it has done as well as it has. I'm not a trained machinist and I don't need super precision. I can still get parts turned within a thousandth or two and that's close enough for the woman I sleep with. With no power feed, it has forced me to be more skilled with my hands and since all the feed wheels are marked in metric increments, I'm more careful in measuring since I use the American system. It is a heavy built machine, heavier than some more expensive and has taken a good bit of punishment. No, I'm not 100% happy with it. I want all the bells and whistles. More speed control, power feed, thread cutting ability, more distance between centers, etc. I will one day buy something better. But when I bought this one, it was all I could do to scrape together $600 and I knew it would do the work I intended, which was to make a few gun parts and accessories, tools for my shop and repair parts for my mower and appliances, not to mention learn basic machining.
:m2c:

 

[Herb]

I wore the jeweled bearing out of a 6" Mituyoto calipers once or twice, and now have a Harbor Freight dial calipers that works very well, maybe two years now, and it only cost about $12 on sale. Use it most every day. I don't find any fault with their tools. I don't like the bad comments about Chinese food. Hell, don't some of you talk like mountain men? They sometimes ate dog or puppy and hoped the hair was off it! I personally have eaten cottontail rabbit, jack rabbit, possum, coon, beaver, muskrats, fox and grey squirrels, ground hogs, white tailed and mule deer, antelope, elk, moose, cabrito, lamb, mutton, beef and horse. And that's just the warm blooded stuff.

 

[jrdavis]

Has anyone had experience with Harbor Freights mini metal lathes?
I assume they are probably junk like the dial calipers I bought.

I bought a cheap Chinese grinder took the end guards off and put Slick 50 in an oil can and squirted it up in the end of the shaft on the bushing/bearing are. It runs a good bit smoother...it now sits on a $29.00 stand from HF with two $9.00 shaft extension from Kovel Knife works with buffing pads on each end. for under $100 bucks it makes a dandy buffer.
Most of us are "Tinklers" and like to make things
or make other thing work I thinks that is part of the fun of this hobby.