HF Lathe thoughts.

[Ned Bulken]

I was over in HF over the weekend and 'kicked the tires' on their lathe a bit. It was tucked into their typical mess of 'big tools'. Jumbled together with a bandsaw and a drill press. I couldn't get access to much of it. Fit and finish seemed 'ok', but it basically reinforced my pick of a Jet mini someday. The stand seemed more than a little wobbly (might just be the assembler at the store).

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Which one are you talking about?

Like the Grizzly lathes I think they do not have a slow enough speed to do bowl roughing out safely.

What about the Rikon Midi?

Cheers!

[Jim Becker]

I started out on the HFt 34706 and it was a functional lathe...but it really couldn't do much more than a good mini can do. Therefore, I feel that the mini/midi is a better investment, including being great as a second machine later on or holding better resale if not when an upgrade comes along. I'm not saying that the HFT machine isn't good; just that it doesn't offer much more than the mini.

[Mark Pruitt]

Ned, I have the 34706. I'm not great at turning, so I can't show you any remarkable achievements I've made with it. But as to the display model seeming wobbly, that must have been due to sloppy assembly. Mine is solid...probably as solid as any lathe on this kind of stand. I placed a piece of plywood and 240 lbs of bagged sand on the ledge of the cross pieces of the frame, making it rock-solid. HF puts this lathe on sale from time to time, and when its on sale it's a good deal. My OneWay Talon chuck cost more than the sale price on the lathe.

[Ned Bulken]

Mark,
I'm glad that it was the store drones. Corporate might have issues if they actually cared how things were set out at that store. I've been in there a handful of times, and it Always looks that disorganized. The poor cashiers are so busy placating the bargain snipers that they dont' have time to make sure the floor displays are decent.

The LOML was one of the snipers, though we only came out of there with one item, a blue tarp for Under our inflato-pool.

[byron constantine]

Check out the rikon. I just bought one a couple of weeks ago and so far
it seems like a decent lathe for $250. Haven't done much turning except
for one bowl and some tool handles. The lathe has some nice features
and a 12" swing.
Byron

[Steve Hayes]

I have both. The Jet mini and the HF. Not one problem with the HF and I have learned so much using it. The Jet mini on the other hand has now been returned and swapped for another. I have a thread on the return saga. I have not had any regrets spending the $179.00 on the HF. It has done very well. I have only turned a couple of items on the Jet and after the getting one that works correctly, it turns great. A very solid feeling lathe.

[Tim Solley]

I have the HF lathe and find it to be quite solid. I don't even have any extra weight put on it. I even managed to knock it over while moving it once and it survived. Now who would ever expect a piece of large HF machinery to survive an ordeal like that?!

I've turned a handful of bowls on it and while not as powerful as some of the higher priced lathes, as long as you take light cuts near the outside and keep your tools sharp, things run smoothly. I'm still a total beginner, and this has been a great cheap investment to get started in the hobby.

Tim

[Tom Sherman]

and this has been a great cheap investment to get started in the hobby.

Tim

OHH Tim this is not a hobby...the Abyss is a consuming life style.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Mark Pruitt]

and this has been a great cheap investment to get started in the hobby.

Tim

OHH Tim this is not a hobby...the Abyss is a consuming life style.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Indeed it is. You only START with the lathe. To date, I have over $600 in accessories and there are guys who will laugh at my having spent so small an amount of money thus far. And I'm only at the periphery of the Abyss!:eek:

[Mark Pruitt]

I have the HF lathe and find it to be quite solid. I don't even have any extra weight put on it.
Tim
Tim,
The extra weight provided by bagged sand or concrete is mostly helpful to decrease vibration or for when you swivel the head and turn a larger, heavier piece. At that point you might find issues that call for increased stability. But for me, I figure Murphy's Law--if it can go wrong it will, so I weighted the lil' feller down.;)

[Stephen Hibbs]

I have the 12" HF lathe, and I like it. It's no Stubby, but it stacks up to a 12 or 14" delta that I've used a lot at school. I don't have any extra weight or supports on it, though oneday I'll hopefully get around to raising it and nailing it down (it's a little short for me). I recommend it on sale, and it's no big issue to rough out a 11" blank, though it's hard to get it to not hit the bed or motor casing (my one main gripe is where they put the stupid motor housing, it leaves little wobble room for large blanks).

[George Summers]

I bought mine used when I thought about getting into turning. I have had nothing but good results so far, but then again, I am just starting. If I ever do upgrade, I will probably keep the HF as my backup.

George

[Tim Solley]

Indeed it is. You only START with the lathe. To date, I have over $600 in accessories and there are guys who will laugh at my having spent so small an amount of money thus far. And I'm only at the periphery of the Abyss!:eek:

Tell me about it. I got my HF lathe used for $100, then bring on the accessories. It starts to sound like a Mastercard commercial.

Supernova 2 chuck: $180
Sorby bowl gouge: $75
Getting lost in the abyss, unable to hear your wife nagging and children screaming: priceless

Tim

[Bernie Weishapl]

One thing I have never understood is why is everyone so worried about the 500 rpm not being slow enough on HF, Grizzly's and most of the cheap lathes but will give rave reviews and will recommend a Jet or Delta as the greatest thing since apple butter with the same slow speed of 500 rpm? The Jet 1236, 1442 and the Delta 14" are all 450 to 550 rpm. I guess I must be missing something here.

[Jim Becker]

Bernie, you bring up a very good point...and any of us who fail to feel the same concern on the machines you mention and other lathes is being remiss. So let me state that 500 RPM is too fast for safely starting/turning certain projects, no matter what the lathe make and model. Unfortunately, it's a carryover from when most of these lathes were meant for spindle work, not bowls and vessels.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Folks.........I'm not a mechanical engineer. I do, however, work on CT scanners where we rotate a 1400-2000 lb frame 360 degrees in 0.37 seconds. I've been balancing these type of mechanically rotating frames for 20 years this coming November. The Jet Mini that people at this forum so generously gave me rotates at 500 rpm. It is too fast for some things that I've put on it. It really depends on the mass involved and the amount it is out of round and balance. I'm not complaining. My Jet Mini VS is a great little lathe and I hope everyone realizes how grateful I am to each of you who helped in giving it to me. That being said.....my next and bigger lathe WILL BE a Variable Speed and it will go a lot slower than 500 rpm! JMHO.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

One thing I have never understood is why is everyone so worried about the 500 rpm not being slow enough on HF, Grizzly's and most of the cheap lathes but will give rave reviews and will recommend a Jet or Delta as the greatest thing since apple butter with the same slow speed of 500 rpm? The Jet 1236, 1442 and the Delta 14" are all 450 to 550 rpm. I guess I must be missing something here.

I was turning a big bowl blank last night, it was about 15", biggest one yet, and at 500 rpm, it was SCARY, I turned it down to about 300 rpm, and it was much nicer.

I've never recommended one of those cheap Jet or Delta lathes :D

Cheers!

[Chris Barton]

I have been trying to coach myself not to get into these debates too much but, you can see how well my coaching has worked. Lathes are one of the machines in woodworking that more $ = better machine. Once you have turned on a true variable speed machine you won't want to go back to anything else. And, once you have tasted power (>2 hp), you will never want to go back. I am down to 2 lathes at present, a Jet VS mini and a PM3520a. I use the PM for almost everything including turning pens, bottle toppers, yoyos, and other small items. Why? Power, precission, and pleasure. The PM is a true pleasure to turn on. So, a HF lathe can get you to "the dance" but, you will never have to worry about someone trying to "cut in" on you.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Yeah Chris, I hear you, with the VS on the Nova DVR 3000, I find I adjust it up or down as little as 50 rpm all the time.

With my solid stand, bolted to the floor, with the particular bowl blank I'm turning right now, there are certain speeds at which the whole deal just vibrates a bit, kind of hums, an adjustment of as little as 50 rpm up or down, (sometimes less than that) and the vibration is gone.

This is really a nice feature to have.

I started on a sub $100 C-man lathe (price of shipping) and with the motor, chuck, faceplates, new live center, and new spur drive, the total is still under $200, and I have to say, it sure did a lot of things for me, and made me jump in to this with both feet, but still, I would dread going back to that C-man lathe now for all but pens, and even that would not be so much fun. The power of the DVR 3000 is another thing, it just will not bog down, and let me tell you, I've tried :D

Well, that is my opinion anyways.

Cheers!

[Mark Pruitt]

So, a HF lathe can get you to "the dance" but, you will never have to worry about someone trying to "cut in" on you.
Chris,
I agree. That is truly what attracted me to the 34706 in the first place. It was adequate to get me far enough "in" to figure out whether I wanted to "stay." And the HF chisels were on sale at the time for $25. It wasn't until I figured out that I like turning that I spent the extra $$$. But if I had decided that it wasn't for me, I would have only been out a little more than a couple hundred, most of which I would have recovered by selling it.

[Andy Hoyt]

I'll try to add a bit more to this.

When I first got Janine home last fall I figured I had enough power to not have to bother with doing a rough rounding on the bandsaw. I was right, but the tradeoff was that I suffered a fair amount of physical abuse (think jackhammer) and did indeed take full advantage of my ability to dial the speed down - way down.

Then I bandsawed a few chunks first and (even if I eyeballed the centerpoint) I found that I could easily start out in the 400 to 600 rpm range. And the time savings was a bonus, too. My arms are happier for it.

Mind you - Even though Janine is seriously heavy she'll still want to shimmy and shuffle around the barn on a large out of balance chunk. I have a very solid heavy timbered floor system with 3" solid planks covered with 3/4"plywood and it will still flex when I mount something seriously wonky.

The moral of the story is that those folks who are turning on a smaller lighter machine will do well to bandsaw first and bolt it down to something heavy taking advantage of that extra mass and weight. And doing so will make the production of curls significantly more enjoyable, and provide more bang for the buck on the machine they do have.

[Ned Bulken]

all of this from one little thirty second window shop at HF?!?! Thanks guys, I'm learning a lot!

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

With my solid stand, bolted to the floor, with the particular bowl blank I'm turning right now, there are certain speeds at which the whole deal just vibrates a bit, kind of hums, an adjustment of as little as 50 rpm up or down, (sometimes less than that) and the vibration is gone.

Stu, it sounds like you have a resonance thing going on there. Is it just with that blank, or is it with others as well?

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

With anything I get the "Resonace" thing, I think I need to make a stiffer stand.... :eek:

[Ed Breen]

I have my beginners delta 14" but I've also added three sections of rr track and two sand bags from my sighting table to the cross bars. Its rock solid.
Ed

[lou sansone]

Having turned a 36" diameter "tip and turn" table top on the outboard of a lathe ( started with 6/4 cherry ) , I can tell you from experience that 500 rpm would be crazy. That is why my patternmakers lathe is set up with a VFD and a 4 speed gear box. This allows a speed range from ~ 2400 rpm to 15 rpm. There are times when super slow speed is what you want for unusual large pieces.

lou