HF lathe, dumb ?

[Scott Donley]

Hi. First, I have not used a lathe since high school, a looong time ago. HF has their 14"x40" inch on sale for 79.95. I have a 30.00 gift card given to me by my daughter at christmas(guess I have not trained her well!) Would it be worth the 50 bucks just to play with and give me an idea of what I might be able to do? I sure can not see me spending the big bucks now, but I do understand the slippery slope law.

Thanks, Scott

[Jim Becker]

Add a few bucks and go for the 34706...it's a much better product in so many ways. So many ways...the 14"x40" model is very, very light weight and pretty much limted to light weight spindle turning.

[Scott Donley]

Thanks! The slippery slope law has already started and I have not even bought it yet!!

[Richard Allen]

Hi Scott

If you want an idea of what you can do with that fine quality lathe get yourself a 16 ounce wood handled ripping hammer and throw it at a hunk of wood. The wood should be positioned close enough and you should throw the hammer hard enough so that there is a possibility that the hammer could bounce back and hit you. If you throw that hammer enough times to break the handle you will have had an woodturning experience equal to or surpassing the turning experience you would get from that lathe.

Good Luck

P. S. Get the HF HSS turning tools with your gift card. Then get a Jet mini lathe. That will provide you with a much more satisfying and long lasting turning experience.

[Ernie Hobbs]

I bought the same lathe last summer. I haven't decided if it was a mistake or not. I was in a similar situation- It had been many years since I had turned and wasn't sure if I was in the market for a "real" lathe or not. I bought the HF lathe for $79 thinking it would be OK for the project I was working on and maybe I'd upgrade later. However, I think I spend enough frustration to more than make up for the cheap price.

It did function OK, with a lot of vibration and out of alignment. I am able to use it but a new lathe is definitely on my "to buy" list for the future. I don't really have an interest in turning pens and mainly want to do big stuff. A mini lathe is probably not the best choice me. If I had to do it all over again, I would look for a good on a full-size Jet or Delta. Sometimes you find an old heavy lathe for a good price on ebay. I'll keep looking.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I don't know how large you want to turn sarting out, but I have a suggestion. If you can't afford a Jet Mini right now - cost about 150.00, look for a Wilton Mini. It shoud run about 89.00 and you can turn up to 9" diameter blanks X 14" length. It has Variable Speed, too. I have one that I use as a traveling lathe.

Around here Menards carries them.

Bruce

[Jeff Sudmeier]

This is one of those hard decisions, if you love to turn, you imediately will want a bigger lathe (I did and do). If you don't, then you "wasted" the money.

As someone else said, you may be best of using the gift card for the HF starter set of tools. Then look for either a higher quality used or a jet mini.

[Ken Salisbury]

The question, simply was "HF lathe, dumb ?"

The answer, simply is "Yes" :)

[Kurt Aebi]

I have the lathe that Jim B. mentioned and it works just fine. I also have a Penn State Industries Utility 4-jaw chuck that also works just fine.

If there is a HF retail store nearby, they often have a better price than the web site. You can still do small stuff like pens as well as larger bowls. Of course, if you want to do real heavy-weight projects, a Jet, Powermatic or other large heavy weight lathe would be your choice. But, for an expense of $250 or so, you can start doing real projects and later decide if a more expensive setup is in your cards.

Many of us on here have been using this type of lathe for a long time and it will last fine if you take care of it and do general lubrication and cleaning.

My $0.02 is to follow Jim B.'s advice and spend the little extra and get the 34706 lathe, as I did.