quick lathe question

[astronboy]

OK, I have one in front of me. These suckers re HUGE!! 16" long. The name on the handle is " Windsor Design". The blade says: "HSS made in china"....

They feel pretty hefty, and I guess I will need to use them and see how well they stay sharpened...

 

[sandman]

It looks like they (the Chinese) copied the Sorby's design.

They're good at that!

I have a Sorby's set with rosewood handles my wife bought me. I love mine!

sandman

 

[Lee Reep]

Originally posted by powderburner
Micro,
I appreciate the suggestions but am currently dabbling with trying to adapt an orphaned kitchen blender base to be an upside-down 'drill press' machine for turning balsa cones. I even have an extra chuck (from an old dead hand drill) that I could use to mount on top of the blender to hold my stock. If I can make it work, should be a powerful, fast way to spin balsa. Oh yeah, so far it's made from junk (free junk).

Blender should work well, after all, they make good smoothies ...

Sorry, that was extremely lame. But, you are on the right track. When I was a kid, I clamped a drill to a stool to turn nose cones.

One more suggestion: If anyone is interested in doing some metal turning, too, consider the Harbor Freight 7x10 metal lathe. I bought one for about $350 on sale. Works great for turning wood, also. The three jaw chuck is perfect to hold a dowel for turning cones.

 

[astronboy]

Well, I started to put the lathe together tonight. Unfortunately, the lathe stand that they advertised as fitting the late is too short by about 2". Rather than return it all, I decided to cut a wooden adapter that will fit both the bed and the lathe. basically, this will just be a piece of 8" x 55" wood, bolted to bothe the lathe and the stand. I will also add a shelf to the middle of the lathe stand to hold the various tools. These two additions will also stabilize this rather flimsy (IMHO) lathe stand.

My next challenge is how to chuck Balsa in this sucker.

Sandman, I know that you suggested the 1/2'' MT2 MINI-LATHE DRILL CHUCK ITEM 42340-1VGA, but I cannot figure how this would attach to the lathe. The lathe has an externally threaded mount for the standard wood chuck, or the standard wood center, but the above Mini Lathe Drill Chuck appears to be mounted via an internal tapered mandrel hole like in a drill press.

Does anyone have any suggestions here? Am I missing something?

 

[rocket trike]

All you do is take the chuck and shove it into the hole where the threads are. Give it a little tap to mkae sure it is in good and you should have no problems. This is the way I did mine. I can post a picture after I get back from work if you would like.

 

[astronboy]

Hmm... I just looked at the lathe, and this is a solid threaded bar. There is no hole to tap the chuck into......

 

[sandman]

Astronboy,

Hmmmmm, maybe you should return the lathe...you have to get one with a "Morse Taper" fitting at the headstock.

Or better yet, one with a Morse Taper headstock AND tailstock.

I know they have 'em, that's where I got mine!

Otherwise interchangeability is lost.

sandman

 

[astronboy]

Well, Harborfreight has responded to my complaint... they say that the lathe I received was an 'equivalent' to the one I ordered but that they ran out of.... almost the same, but no Morse Taper. They offered to take it back with a full refund..... I really want a lathe

The do have a lathe that has a "No. 1 Morse taper plus" for $149.00. It is item 42816-0VGA. I am a bit unsure of the 'tube' bed.... Any thoughts on this one?

 

[sandman]

Astronboy,

I have the "tube bed" unit...it works just fine.

Sears and Lowes were selling the same unit for $259!

aboslutely identical!

sandman

 

[astronboy]

I also bought the lathe stand... will the tube framed lathe fit a stand? I may 'demand' that they send me this lathe for the same prices as the first lathe they 'baited and switched' me with.

 

[Lee Reep]

Originally posted by sandman
Astronboy,

I have the "tube bed" unit...it works just fine.

Sears and Lowes were selling the same unit for $259!

aboslutely identical!

sandman

Lots of that going on. Harbor Freight has some decent stuff, and plenty of junk, like some of their really inexpensive cordless drills.

But, I was amazed at a set of carbide router bits I bought on sales for $24. Same bits at Home Depot for $60 (brand name changed to Hickory, and had a plastic box -- mine is wood.)

What caught my attention was the glossy paper labels with both sets, showing bit profiles. It was what tipped me off that these came from the same Chinese factory, just packaged differently.

 

[astronboy]

OK, so Harbor Freaight is taking the lathe back. I could not get a staright swap for the tube bed lathe with the morse taper like Sandman has, but they will give me $30.00 off, just like the deal on the lathe they did send me.