Harber fright lathes.
- Thread starter rvan
- Start date
rvan said:I was just wondering if thay would be a good starter lathes.
I dint think the tolerance is in those lathes.
Thanks Rvan
Rvan, any Lathe can be a good starter Lathe. However, it is best to start with lathe that is set up to repair and build cues. Before you go any further, go back into the AZ archive and read the posts about this subject. Your question is asked at least once a week. At that point if you are serious, contact cueman, AKA, Chris Hightower and buy his book on cue making, it will save you some money in the long and short run.
JayBates said:
Harbour Freight sells lathes as big as 14x40 with a 1.5" bore, sufficient for any cue operation, not that I would consider it to be a "starter lathe" ... but ya, the question is likely about the mini and the search option is a good one for the original poster.
As far as tolerences go, almost any lathe can do reasonable work on "one-of" pieces given good methods and an understanding of the specific machines capabilities and limitations ... having said that I still want an HLV.
Dave, who's hand built Gingery lathe can do some reasonable work if he's paying attention
Last edited:
I have 2 of the central machinery 12/36 lathes and have been happy with them both. I did spend more on the stuff to set them up than the machines cost however, I would of spent that on any lathe I bought. I prefer 6jaw chucks myself ant they can be pricey. I have found the tolerance of the headstock bearings to be suprisingly quite good. I removed the 3 jaw chuck soon after getting mine and installed the 6 jaw. I check it around every month or so and it has never exceded .001 out of center.
I bought my first one with the intention of trading up in a while and getting a better one. I never really had the need to trade up. I haven't encountered any problems as of yet. I got an identical lathe around 2 years ago when a friend on mine passed away and it too has worked great. It is really nice that all the tooling interchanges. I should say these lathes are both over 10 years old and the newer ones look a little cheaper made. I don't know if they are or not but the slide screws felt rougher and there appeared to be some backlash in them. Also the graduation numbers were not stamped as clearly. This was a floor model I was looking at and I am sure it has been abused.
If you can afford an american made lathe I am sure it would do you better in the long run. If you cant afford one try the import, You may have to do some fine tuning but the cost savings may be worth it. Besides that whatever you get, MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE! Take care if it and it will take care of you as my dad would say. Good luck Chris Byrne.
I bought my first one with the intention of trading up in a while and getting a better one. I never really had the need to trade up. I haven't encountered any problems as of yet. I got an identical lathe around 2 years ago when a friend on mine passed away and it too has worked great. It is really nice that all the tooling interchanges. I should say these lathes are both over 10 years old and the newer ones look a little cheaper made. I don't know if they are or not but the slide screws felt rougher and there appeared to be some backlash in them. Also the graduation numbers were not stamped as clearly. This was a floor model I was looking at and I am sure it has been abused.
If you can afford an american made lathe I am sure it would do you better in the long run. If you cant afford one try the import, You may have to do some fine tuning but the cost savings may be worth it. Besides that whatever you get, MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE! Take care if it and it will take care of you as my dad would say. Good luck Chris Byrne.