harbor frieght I purchased the mill/drill
Hans’ question was about shipping agents, which I know nothing
whatever about. Since Jane took the topic into another realm, I’ll
expand on that, just for everybody’s info. More of a review…
I’ve had three metal lathes in my life - first was a Unimat - do
they even still make those? Fun, but a real toy for not cheap.
Second was the lathe Hans is looking at:
http://tinyurl.com/yglwvnd
Which is the Chinese 7x12.
Now I have that one’s bigger brother:
http://tinyurl.com/yh78enj
Which is the 9x19 (In my case it’s called 9x20)
I’ll get into a couple of things in a second, but It’s really clear
that the 9x20 is 3 times the lathe for 1/3 more cost. I don’t even
remember everything, but the 7x12 takes tooling that is difficult to
find, at times, there is no gear box (only plastic change gears),
other things. Can’t have a QCTP unless you build your own…
The two biggest problems are, or were, the drive. The elecronic
motor drive panel on the 7x12 is (or was) notorious for blowing out.
I finally just gave mine away for that reason. The motor mount, and
getting the belt drive to track properly, was designed by a space
alien. It can take an hour of fiddling to get those three screws just
so, and tight, after changing or moving a belt. The 9x20 is more
like a conventional machine… I use 1/2" indexable tooling with a
quick change tool post and a c5 collet chuck - you just can’t have
those things on the 7x12…
The most important thing to know is they are made by the Seig
Machine Tool Factory in Shanghai: http://www.siegind.com
Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Jet and others are all selling the SAME
lathe with different paint jobs (this is well known, if you poke
around…) Which means it just boils down to price and shipping.
Bigger lathes, like the Jets, come from elsewhere, but those under
10" benchtop lathes are almost all coming from Shanghai - one green,
one white, one red. Mine is Harbor Freight and it’s beige.
Some handy links for small-size machining:
http://www.mini-lathe.com
http://www.littlemachineshop.com (indispensable....)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/9x20Lathe
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/7x12minilathe
You need to “join” the Yahoo groups, but there is much
there…
Happy turning…!