[david010567]

Hey Bro... Where art thou?

So I've got this 20% off coupon at Harbor Freight and I've been wanting a small 7X Mini Lathe for a long time. I mostly want to do basic turning with aluminum and a little bit of milling, mostly slots and small hobby stuff.

After a bit of research Ive discovered that the 7X12 somehow is 4" longer than the 7X10 (Chinese measuring)

The 7" x 10" is on sale till Thursday for $399.99 (but probably won't accept 20% off coupon)
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html



The 7" x 12" is $529.99 -20% = $423.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-12-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93799.html



Planned Accessories as budget allows:

Tooling Package, Mini Lathe $159.95
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3486&category=


Milling Attachment Package, Mini Lathe $179.99
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3766&category=1

[david010567]

Am I dreaming?? any suggestions on getting into a small lathe?

[Ground Pounder]

Pure envy.

[david010567]

Here is some good beginner videos of the 7" x 10"...

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[Barry Built]

Dave, if anybody deserves this lathe its you.. Just get it!!

[Rocky]

One of the guys I work with has oen . Its not bad You just need good tools to use it and make sure the chucks dont have any endplay .

[zman]

if you are still shopping take a look at this one. a little more but the spindle's read in inches, not metric. has a little more bling, but the harbor freight lathe works fine, just have to tune it up some.

http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7X14-MINI-LATHE,8176.html

[david010567]

Originally Posted by zman

if you are still shopping take a look at this one. a little more but the spindle's read in inches, not metric. has a little more bling, but the harbor freight lathe works fine, just have to tune it up some.

http://www.micromark.com/MICROLUX-7X14-MINI-LATHE,8176.html

WOW!! I missed that one... That is really nice. It also comes with metal gears, digital speed read out, cam lock tail stock and those zeroed inch reads would come in handy. I never even considered the metric issue.

[davensocal]

How does the milling part work? Do you just chuck an end mill and then drive the piece on Y and Z axis?

I turned one of the HF mills into a CNC.. :-)

Had to replace the crappy guides (quills?).. Overall it worked very well.. Had a hell of a time getting the Z-axis tuned, finally discovered the dial gauge was changing whenever I stepped next tot he work bench because by fat a$$ was deflecting the concrete and twisting the whole rig.. I figured that was about as accurate as I was going to get!

[david010567]

I guess just like , planes, Moto-bikes or anything else... The options become endless.