i'm thinking about buying 34706(better hf lathe)

[cody michael]

i have no lathe at the moment. i am looking at this lathe thinking it will be a decent lathe at the price. 229 in store with 20% off coupon. I know it not a 1000$ lathe but i can't afford that. I can barely afford this one and it would be a long time before i had money to buy an expensive one. so can anyone give a reason not to buy iT? I expect i'll upgrade in the future if i stay with it but even then having 2 lathes would be nice.i read alot of stuff about it and most all beginning turners had good stuff to say.


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34706

i know it goes on sale for cheaper. if anyone know where an ad or coupon saying lower price is please let me know

[John Keeton]

Cody, a month ago I made the same choice, and I have been pleased. I will say that you need to immediately assemble the lathe, and check everything out. After assembly, when I pulled the tailstock in to check whether it aligned with the headstock, it was off by 1/4" or more. Turned out that the cast base of the headstock was cracked and displaced. HF switched out headstocks with me after some resistance. They would have gladly exchanged the whole lathe for me, but I had already assembled the base, etc., and I saw no need to go through that again. Getting the bed on the base can be a bit tricky for one person.

I am happy with mine, realizing as you say, that it is not an expensive lathe. But, I will be doing spindle work only. Go ahead and get the Windsor set of chisels from HF, along with a face shield.

I ordered from Penn State, their dead center, and a couple of Benjamin Best spindle gouges to compliment the Windsor set, and was pleased with the quality. The BB gouges look dead on the HF Windsor set! My guess is the same factory.

It would seem to me that this lathe would be very limited for bowl work because of the light weight, so if that is your purpose you might want to plan on rigging up some ballast.

[David Walser]

Cody,

My first lathe was the HF 34706. I've since upgraded to a Woodfast (a top quality lathe that was made in Australia), but I don't regret my purchase. One of my first projects was a cane form my father-in-law. I couldn't have turned that on one of the mini lathes (without bed extensions, which would have added to the cost of the mini lathe). At the time, I could have afforded a nicer lathe, but I wanted to minimize my downside in case I didn't enjoy the new hobby as much as I thought I would. (Had no idea the strength of the vortex.) IIRC, I got mine for about $120 -- on sale with a 20% off coupon.

About 8 years later, I still use the HF 34706 for longer spindles and when my Woodfast is otherwise occupied. When it's not being used as a lathe, it serves as my buffing station.

Good luck!

[robert hainstock]

I have used mine for over ten years, and still use if for pen work, buffing, and other small turning jobs. It has served me well. I am also usinmg a jet 1220VSnow. both machines compliment each other.
Bob

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I had mine for 2 years. I upgraded from it to a Powermatic 3520b. The difference in price was $169 to $3000. A massive jump. The powermatic is a dream to turn on. But I turned everything I ever wanted to for 2 years on the HF green machine.

I would recommend it IF as you say price is the major issue. I turned bowl up to 11" in diameter on it and some long spindles for table legs. It worked well for both. So well that some of my family and one of my best friends bought one after using mine.

While your mileage may very here are my thoughts, repeating some of the above, on how to get the most from what you will be buying:

1- As stated, set it up immediately. I bought mine and it went together perfectly and without issue. However 2 weeks later my cousin bought one just like it after using mine. On his the screw holes in the base were mis-drilled and putting his together was darn near impossible. After some redrilling to widen a hole and much cursing on his part and grumbling on mine it worked. other than that his worked well. For my best friend his tool rest has a bow in it that was about an inch from end to end. Made it basically unusable. He didn't notice in time and couldn't get it replaced in store as a result.

2- Buy the slightly more expensive set of tools from HF. It is a good base set and the price is right. Over 2 years after I got started they are still staples in my tool set. I got mine for $36.99 with a 15% off coupon. To be clear HF sells a "9 tools for $9.99" set and those are straight up junk. I know I started there. I went to the HSS Windsor Design tools (the ones I am recommending) and they really are good tools. The 3rd type at HF have red handles, versus the Ash looking ones in the middle. These red tools are almost identical in look and feel with only the handles seeming to be different and they are 2x the price of the mid-range. In checking HF (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47066) they are up to $44.99 at the moment. But I think still worth it especially with a 20% off coupon that seem to get mailed out every weekend. I saw them on sale just a week or to ago back down to the $36.99 price.

3- Every few days of actual use on the lathe for spindle work check the headstock and tailstock alignment. For me with bowls it never mattered but I was buying things pre-cut on a bandsaw to round so I never used the head stock. But on spindle work on mine it would occasionally after a good strong catch shift the headstock a bit. A quick second of work with my pen mandrel (which is incredibly straight!) got me back into perfect alignment. Doing that made spindle work turning so much more fun!

4- Get a chuck to go with your new lathe. I don't know if you plan to turn bowls or all spindles or ... But I find that even when doing what I could consider spindle work the firmer grip of the chuck makes a big difference for me. I have a PSI Barracuda 2 chuck and after 2 years I still like and use it regularly. They start at about $175 on amazon. I have the Craft Supplies USA version the Apprentice Chuck and it works extremely well for me as well. Recently I have started using the Grizzly chuck and at $99 they come with fewer jaw choices but are quite a bit cheaper. I would recommend any of the above. If you had more money I would say for a higher end chuck but in the end I spent more for my first chuck than I did for my lathe and that just.... pained me!

5- Get some pine from the local home improvement store to start turning with. Some super cheap 2x2 and cut it to about 12" long sections. Then start practicing with your tools. Great for spindle work. You can get several days of practice and fun for $2. When you feel ready you can upgrade to some 4x4 seconds (not the pressure treated wood-of-death mind you) and have even more fun. For bowl, plate, platter, tray practice get some 2x10 or 2x12 pine and cut the into 2x12x12 squares and practice those types of cuts. The reason for the pine is price. You screw up a 25 cent "bowl blank" and you laugh and try again. You screw up a $40 ebay bought blank and it is no where near as funny or interesting....

6- Last bit of advice? Get it and have lots and lots of fun. Turning has been the best hobby/stress-reliever I have ever had. Welcome to the party!

Good Luck,
Joshua

[cody michael]

i had a hf tube lathe. but i killed it, (bent the spindle) so i have the basics down also a couple years on a lathe in school.

i turn mostly green bowls. i already have the better red hf tool set(i bought the cheap 9$ first and yeah it was terrible i bent most of the to pieces)

has anyone used this chuck
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31223

its really cheap does it work?

does anyone know where i can get a copy of ad advertising the lathe for cheap? i want to get it this weekend but its like 229$ anyone have a current 20% off coupon? my latest one just expired.

[John Keeton]

Cody, when I bought mine it was $249, on sale for $229. I asked one of the clerks how one obtained the 20% off coupon, and he told me it was for preferred buyers. I told him that I was in there often and wanted to make a purchase, but wanted the 20% off. I noticed he had a couple of the coupons lying on the counter, and I asked if I could use one for my purchase. He said sure! Got the extra 20% off the $229.

Try it - it may work!

[Joshua Dinerstein]

has anyone used this chuck
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31223

its really cheap does it work?

That chuck won't work. That is the metal working style of chuck. The points of contact as so small that you tend to crush the fibers of the wood and it gets loose. When I first got started I found I eyeballed those pretty closely, mainly because of price. I didn't want to spent more for the chuck than I did for the lathe. Everyone I asked responded with the same comment. It just doesn't work well enough.

Wow until recently HF had some chucks that were quite similar in appearance to some of the PSI chucks. I just ran a search as they are gone as are so many of the tool rests and other add-ons. So no joy there. I wonder if HF is having trouble getting the products or if they just weren't selling well so they gave up. Bummer.

This is the chuck I bought first:
http://www.amazon.com/PSI-Woodworkin...5017045&sr=8-2

The PSI barracuda 2. I liked it and used it until I got a lathe with a 1 1/4" spindle. This chuck only has a 1"x8tpi thread. After that I bought some new chucks for the bigger lathe. Another great choice is the Grizzly chuck. Has it has a threaded insert it can move from lathe to lathe with you far better than the old ones that I have.

Joshua

[Scott Conners]

I don't believe that chuck is a scroll chuck, you have to adjust each jaw in and out independently, which would be a pain for woodworking. It also has metal jaws not woodworking jaws, as Joshua pointed out.
A chuck is just a luxury, you can easily do bowls with only a faceplate - use a glue block if you don't want screw holes in your blank.

[cody michael]

thats what i've been doing faceplate and glue block. i bought the lathe not set up yet will have to wait till today after work

[Josh Reet]

does anyone know where i can get a copy of ad advertising the lathe for cheap? i want to get it this weekend but its like 229$ anyone have a current 20% off coupon? my latest one just expired.

Go buy the current issue of Wood magazine. There's a 20% off coupon in there that is good until the end of the year. Plus coupons for the HF dust collector and multi-function tool that are good deals as well.

[Angie Orfanedes]

I have one, too. It works well at the basics. The main issue I have with it is the low-end speed is not slow enough to safely round unbalanced bowl blanks. Even with about 200 pounds of ballast, it still does a hula dance...make that a scarey hula dance...when I have tried to chain saw a hunk of wood and chuck it up for truing. 600 rpm as a low speed is not near slow enough.

But for the money and my current skill level, it is okay.

[Rick Huelsbeck]

I wonder if the following mod would work on the HF lathe, I just did it with my jet and what a difference, I don't know the exact speed but it sure is a lot slower than what slow was.


http://www.chrisbillman.com/Projects/LatheSpeed.htm

[David Hostetler]

Not to dredge up an old thread, but I had to chime in. If you haven't snatched the lathe yet, do it. It is a good machine on the cheap.

The HF chuck however is not what I would say a candidate for the HF Gems list... A good low $$ chuck would be the Wood River 4 jaw chuck from Woodcraft.

I use mine for bowl turning, nothing I am proud enough of yet to post here, but have had some fun experiments. Not the tools fault, but rather the turner screwing up...

I wholeheartedly agree on the comments about adding ballast if you are going to do bowls. I simply added a shelf, and tossed some sand bags on it. A proper tool / ballast cabinet is in the design phase right now. (In sketchup, I just need to get the plywood and start building it). 4 felt lined drawers for tools, chucks etc, and a compartment on the bottom for ballast.

[cody michael]

yes i bought it. very happy. i think this is by far the best route for a beginner. i think i paid 189$ for lathe