Harbor Freight Lathe question.

[Ken Miller]

Can anyone tell me anything about this lathe. A co-worker is offering to give it to me for nothing (should this be telling me something?) He's moving and doesn't want to take it with him. I'm not sure of the exact model but he said he paid around $150 a couple of years ago. I don't have a need for a lathe right now but thought in the future I would get a mini just to make pens, small bowls and other small turnings. I know HF is very cheap and I am of the belief that you get what you pay for. My thought is, would it be good enough to make what I would have wanted to make out of a mini lathe such as the Jet?

[Tony De Masi]

Ken,

I can't answer you question as I have never seen the lathe itself. But you would be served best if you posted this on the turners forum.

Tony

[Paul Douglass]

HERE IS MY OPINION for what it is worth, if it is this lathe:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=34706

It is worth the money he is asking. None of there other wood lathes are worth having. The one above is a good lathe (for the money) when Harbor Freight puts it on sale and you have a 20% off coupon to add to the sale price (that is how I got mine). I have had no problems with mine and it has done everything I have asked of it, but I am a beginner. I can see that as a person get better, he will want a nicer lathe

AGAIN THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION

[David Walser]

I agree with Paul, if it's the 34706 lathe from Harbor Freight, it's a good lathe. It's a clone of the similar Jet and has all of the Jet's strengths and short comings. The fit and finish is better on the Jet, but the HF is solid and smooth. I have a larger Woodfast lathe, but I still like using the Harbor Freight lathe for spindles, pens, small boxes, etc. You can get the HF lathe on sale for less than $200, but free is a lot better price!

[John Shuk]

I have a friend with the 34706 and he likes it for what he does. It is worth what he is asking and I would jump on it. If you find you love to turn then you'll probably upgrade at some point but it is a fine start.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with the others. If it is the 34706 for free I would jump on it. If you find you don't like turning you are out nothing and could sell it.

[Jason Hallowell]

I agree with the others that the 34706 is a great starter lathe, especially for free. I have a suspicion that it's the 45276 though-http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45276
It sold for about $150 up until recently, and IMHO would be overpriced at free.

[Jim Heffner]

Can anyone tell me anything about this lathe. A co-worker is offering to give it to me for nothing (should this be telling me something?) He's moving and doesn't want to take it with him. I'm not sure of the exact model but he said he paid around $150 a couple of years ago. I don't have a need for a lathe right now but thought in the future I would get a mini just to make pens, small bowls and other small turnings. I know HF is very cheap and I am of the belief that you get what you pay for. My thought is, would it be good enough to make what I would have wanted to make out of a mini lathe such as the Jet?

You are probably going to get a bunch of opinions on that lathe for sure,
most are not going to be very favorable. A friend of mine...his dad, had one of the HF lathes and he told my friend that it would not stay in tolerance if he was doing repeated set ups type of work ( like making
several spindles) for a project that had to be exactly the same. That type of negative review from this man helped to steer me away from HF lathes
and into buying a Jet mini lathe, which I really like and is a real joy to use.
I have only had mine for a couple of weeks, but already made a couple of
projects with it and it is super in my opinion.

[Bryan Giles]

Thanks for this thread. I was looking for an inexpensive decent sized lathe for my wife to cut her teeth on. From what I read, it's a good little beginner pc. Perhaps not as precise as a high end unit, but I'd hate to spend a grand on a lathe and have it collect dust...Instead of making dust. LOL.

[Dave Stoler]

My skewed (:eek:) opinion is this.Free is subjective..Once your sucked into the vortex free will cease to be..

[Ken Miller]

Thanks for the opinions. I guess it's no harm to see what it model it is. At worst, it takes up some space until I unload it.

[robert hainstock]

I use the HF 34706, but would NOT handicap myself with thier other offerings. It is not only the tolerance thing, but obtainig support hardware which will only be available from HF. Someone posted a thread a couple of weeks ago about a weird Chinese made lathe that had a realy strange heeadstock configuration. Yake a look at the HF website/woodlathes. If it is a 34706 jump on it. any of the other are good scrap metal. :eek:
Bob

[Gary Muto]

If it's the 34706, it is the only HF lathe worth the space it takes up. The tool rest and tailstock lock downs leave a lot to be desired. It's OK for lighter work.

[Neal Addy]

I'm not a HF lathe fan but I'd agree with the consensus that it's OK for getting started (especially for free) as long as you understand what you are dealing with. This lathe has two major design issues, both of which are workable as long as you work within the limitations of the tool.

The first is the low-end speed of 600 RPM. That's a tad too high to mount a large out-of-balance blank. Once your piece is in-round it should be fine.

The second issue is beef. 184 lbs is too light to trust with large, heavy pieces. Definitely add some ballast to it.

Safe turning!

Neal

[Gordon Seto]

One thing I want to add is:
Take that tool rest extension out of your shop. It should never be used as designed for. It is a safety issue.

[David Wilhelm]

I'm gonna get in on this. If it's free then you are out only your time. and the price of all the things you buy to find out if you enjoy turning. As far as the HF copy of the jet lath goes. I had one and pretty much it gave issues from day one with eating belts. The thread quality of the set screws in everything on this lathe and the one my buddy got is poor. I do not at all believe the true HP of the unit is 1/2, anything at all near out of round will walk this lathe out of your shop and down the road if you do not bolt it to the floor. Sand bagging doesn work because it will fold the cheap stand double. So tilting the head stock out is a waste of time to gain the 2 inches for outboard turning. If you stay with smaller turnings this lathe will pretty much do a good job. But you will out grow it very fast and like this guy have to give it away so someone who isnt' sure if he wants to take it for free. My main point is it's made cheap you cant' do much with it, and for about the same money you can get a good mini giving up 2 inches or add 100 and keep the inches. If you feel the need to upgrade to a larger lathe later on the mini will have good resale or be good to keep. Again if' it's free..........

[Neal Addy]

David, good post.