Harbor Freight variable speed mini lathe

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afsafe3

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I have read a lot of post were folks say that they use the harbor freight 8 in. x 12 in. 1/3 HP Benchtop Wood Lathe. This is the variable speed mini lathe. If you use this lathe or have use it what tools/ accessories do you use with this lathe, Mandrel, chucks, morse taper, drive center etc... I know with harbor freight you get what you pay for but I want to have something now to use while I save for a better lathe. Plus after I buy the nicer lathe I can use this one for buffing and this lathe is only about $100. So any help would be great.
 

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No experience with the HF lathe but I see it uses 1mt tooling,,,,most lathes are 2mt so tooling for the lathe pictured won't work on a better lathe.
 
afsafe3 said:
I have read a lot of post were folks say that they use the harbor freight 8 in. x 12 in. 1/3 HP Benchtop Wood Lathe. This is the variable speed mini lathe. If you use this lathe or have use it what tools/ accessories do you use with this lathe, Mandrel, chucks, morse taper, drive center etc... I know with harbor freight you get what you pay for but I want to have something now to use while I save for a better lathe. Plus after I buy the nicer lathe I can use this one for buffing and this lathe is only about $100. So any help would be great.
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I have the lathe and it has worked well for me. You get a spur center, live center (45 degrees - not 60 degrees so you need to replace it for use with pen mandrels) a 2" and a 6" faceplate ,knock-out bar, wrench, hex wrench and two tool rests included with the lathe. I have added two pen mandrels, a 60 degree live center, a 60 degree dead center (for turning between centers) a Jacobs Chuck with MT1 shank, a PSI pen Drilling Chuck for the headstock (You have to get a spindle adapter from 1"-8 thread to 3.4"-16 which is the headstock thread for the HF) and a Bottle Stopper Chuck (also needs the spindle adapter but you CAN share if you like). It's been fine for me - of course I don't turn as many pens as some of the membership does. BTW - you can't get everything in MT1 but you can get almost everything you need: Live and Dead Centers, Jacobs Chuck with Mt1, Pen Mandrels, etc.
 
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This is the second lathe I purchased. Had to buy a few Mt#1 pieces to do some turning. Other then that it has been a good lathe to play with. It will work just fine for pens. Smaller items are possible. And like you said, it will become a buffing station soon or later.
But it is a learning lathe. Something to start with and if you wait till there is a sale with a 20% coupon. Well, I believe mine cost me $98.00.
Cheap enough to find out if you like turning.
 
Charlie69 said:
No experience with the HF lathe but I see it uses 1mt tooling,,,,most lathes are 2mt so tooling for the lathe pictured won't work

:bananen_smilies008: Having this lathe and several other sizes including a micro mini metal and a Shop Smith I can tell you that the size of the taper will have nothing to do with the tooling that can be exchanged between them. All lathes have adapters that will allow you to change your added tooling from one to another. I bought the HF lathe to drill blanks and turn medium size projects on. To this I added a Barracuda chuck that comes with a 3/4 X 16tpi adapter that fits the HF and Micro Mimi Metal lathe. I also purchased the adapter that fits on my Shop Smith. Now I can start a project on any lathe and move it from one to the other without ever having to unchuck my work and risk changing alignment. I also no longer need my drill press to drill out blanks, remove from the clamp, and remount to a lathe. You can also buy adapters to change to 1" X 8tpi and 1 1/4" X 8tpi. I believe I have recently seen an adapter that will change your 2mt into a 1mt or the other way around. It may not be the best lathe in the world, but it's probably the best for that price. Plus if you don't like it you can always return it to HF for a refund. Almost all lathes in this price range are made in one in two places in China and sold under different brand names. Most tooling can be bought in both 1mt, 2mt, and other sizes. Jim S
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I have that exact lathe .... it's been a joy to use 99% of the time.

Mine does have issues with the tailstock slipping a bit, but adding a 6 inch bar clamp across the lathe ways behind the tailstock solves this issue nicely.

I generally use the cheap set (19 dollars) of harbor freight wood lathe chisels. I have the 1x30 belt 5" disc sander combo from HFT also, and I use that to sharpen and maintain my chisels. I took the 5" disc off and replaced it with a pair of 4" buffing wheels mashed together on a 10-32 1 1/2" machine screw. I use the washers that came with the buffs to keep the screw head from just plunging through and against the back to keep the buffs off the mandrel of the motor. The buffing wheels are there to polish the backs of my chisel bevels for a very nice smooth cutting action.
 
I too started out with that Harbor Freight VS mini lathe. I think it ran me $89 with a coupon. It was great to start out on, and I quickly invested well over double the lathe costs getting MT1 stuff and adapters to allow drilling.

I made well over 40 pens on it before I ran into issues with a sloppy tailstock and a motor that would randomly quit when drilling blanks. I had purchased the $19 warranty from HF, so back it went. They happily refunded 100% of my purchase, including the warranty. I wound up spending a bit more to get a Rikon 70-100 and I've been very happy with the upgrade.

I was able to send my M1 stuff to another member, so overall it was a good starter lathe, but I could not see myself using that long term.
 
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