Lathe

[bandkbrooks]

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-x-1 ... 95607.html




Yes or no? Not having owned a lathe, what would I need (or would it even work) to mount the drill and spade bits from the tail side of the lathe.

[SimeonTurner]

I should really wait for Jack (JHowell) to answer as the uber expert, but in a short answer, NO.

here's the thing: a quality lathe is actually a pretty cheap investment compared to the accessories you will need to make that lathe functional. Saving a bit of cash on a super cheapo HF lathe will really mean nothing to you once you have realized that you need to spend exponentially more than that on the turning tools, chucks, etc etc.

You are way better off buying a mid-level lathe and being willing to approach it as the investment that it will be. In fact, for pipe making, you may be even better off simply buying a nice metal lathe which will allow you to do everything you could need to do all on one machine. *shrug*

My two cents, anyway. Jack is the one to ask though.

[bandkbrooks]

Thank you. I will keep my $ for now.

[KurtHuhn]

Save your bucks. That lathe is a total piece of garbage and you'll find that it's completely unsuited to pipemaking. If you turned nothing more complicated than a pen, maybe - but even then....

[TRS]

The dubious nature of the brand aside, you'll probably want more than a 12" bed when you do invest in a lathe. There's no point in trying to work in such a limited space if you don't have to; particularly if you plan to use it to drill stem stock at any point. That being said, to answer your original question for future reference: that particular lathe has a #1 Morse taper. You'd need a Jacob's/drill chuck with a #1 Morse taper which slides right into the tailstock and accepts your bits. They can be found at relatively inexpensive prices. Where the cost comes in is that you'd need a proper workholding chuck for the headstock.

[TimGeorge]

My only tip is to pay the extra 100 or whatever to get a lathe with a speed-adjusting knob. I am getting a little tired of changing the belt all the time by hand. I, of course, saw that very same advice on here prior to my Jet purchase, and chose to ignore it.

[bandkbrooks]

Thanks for saving me some serious headaches guys.

[Tsunami]

ave you tried Craigslist in your area? I did a quick search for lathes on Craigslist and came up with a ton of quality wood lathes as well as some decent metal lathes. For instance a servicable meta lathe http://louisville.craigslist.org/tls/1781003489.html. I found an old southbend I redid up here in the North East. Keep looking

[bandkbrooks]

Thank you!

[Skip]

Brandon,
I am like every one else. I like to get out as cheap as possible. When it comes to tools I can count on one hand the cheap ones that worked out. Talk about power tools and they can be counted on one finger. I have three drill presses. One nice floor model Delta that my wife bought me years ago. One antique that I use to drill the mortise in stummels and finaly a cheap table model that came from Lowes. That last one I inherited from my father.
My dad got into wood working late in life. He bought cheap every thing and guess what, they all suck. A cheap band saw makes a good boat anchor but has no use in cutting nice hard and thick briar. The cheap drill press works the best of his cheap tools but has too little travel. He never bought a lathe but if you ever have a chance to just work on a piece of crap like the Harbor Freight model I bet you would be disgusted in the first five minutes and that is assuming that you never touched one before. No one that had ever used a lathe in the past would invest in such a thing.

Cheap tools cost more. You buy one, it does not do the job and next thing you know you give it away because you just bough a decent one.

I bought a set of drill bits once from Harbor Freight that was a great buy. You can get things like screwdrivers and simple measuring devices but if any thing has to slide or rotate on it look else where.

Just my 2 cents.

[mathias65]

A cheap band saw makes a good boat anchor but has no use in cutting nice hard and thick briar.

I agree with everything you said, except this one.

I have a cheap band saw and at first I would have agreed with you. That little 1/4" blade that comes with it is worthless, can't cut anything. But then I ordered a 1/2" blade for it. It ROCKS!! Cuts through briar without so much as a second thought! Straight as an arrow if that's what I'm after.