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Your cart is empty.Jessie
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2025
Fast shipment from the vendor & very professional! I would recommend this machine to any of my friends. It's a great bargain for its size class.The machine arrived undamaged. Everything appears to be working as it should. Tolerances and runouts are as advertised and will not require much, if any adjustment. It's just a nice little lathe! Machines packed for overseas transport are usually covered with clear cosmoline or something similar. This unit was no exception. Expect to get several shop towels saturated wiping off the bulk of it, then use WD-40 to dissolve and wipe off any of it that remains. It's also a good idea to check the gears for detritis like wood chips and styrofoam that popped off the inside of the crate due to stapling of the crate at the factory to prepare the machine for transport. The stiff, brown grease on the gears in the drive train is for lubrication. As long as it's clean, there's no need to remove it. I plan to keep it well lubricated and use Vactra way oil on the various gibs, dovetails, and Morse tapers. Regular oiling of the lead screws and bearings that have oil ports is best practice and the machine should last for many years if you take care of it. Swarf it down at the end of every work session and when you expect to leave it sitting idle for extended periods of time.One thing that's often overlooked by newcomers is shimming the lathe bed. If you want to maintain tighter tolerances and minimize errors, shim the legs of the lathe bed to remove any twists. The rubber feet supplied with the lathe are not helpful in this regard. Bolt the lathe feet to a heavy bench and add shims. YouTube has several good videos showing how to do this.As to the several comments about the motor not running, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!. There are several interlocks on this machine. The plastic cover over the lathe chuck has an interlock to ensure it is closed. The motor will not run if the cover is open. The Forward and Reverse switch on the front of the unit has to be set to the desired direction or the switch will trip out. And ALWAYS be sure to stop the machine when changing gears or directions. This thing isn't like a vehicle. Any time the gears or direction are changed, ensure the chuck is not turning!One other thing worth mentioning is that tachometer sensor under the end cover has to be close (but not touching) the left end of the lathe shaft. The small metal studs must clear the tachometer sensor. But if the sensor is too far away, the tachometer might register the rotational speed as something other than what it actually is. When I first turned on my machine, mine was reading about half the correct value. This is easy to fix by pushing the sensor a little closer to the shaft encoders, the small studs surrounding the end of the shaft.I have also seen a few people complaining about the lathe tools. These are brazed carbide cutters and need to be correctly sharpened before using. As with most brazed carbide cutters, it's up to the user to profile and sharpen them as needed before using them. You will likely also need to shim them in the tool holder to center them up to your workpiece. The lathe tool muti-tool holder will allow several cutter sizes. The ones in the included kit are 10mm x 10mm. If the cutter isn't lined up with with the vertical center of the workpiece, then watch some Youtube videos that explain how to do it. There is plenty of support for these machines on the Internet. If you have trouble finding videos, remember these all use similar parts that are made in the same factories in China.I agree that the multi-tool holder is a bit lacking and perhaps even more than a little clumsy. And depending on the metal you are working with, brazed carbide cutters might not be the best choice. They are typically used for cutting mild steel. Materials like high speed steel (HSS), titanium nitride, or cobalt steel cutter tools might be a better choice for other metals. It's just a budget tool holder with some general purpose tools for those who might not need anything better. There are lots of tool manufacturers with thousands of specialized tools available. Several recommendations are Shars Tool, Harvey Tools, and Tormach.There are several after-market quick change tool holders that will fit this machine with little or no modification. Remember, you are at liberty to add after-market parts and modify this machine as you desire. For small shop and hobbyist work, it's impossible to guess what every end user might need or expect. So watch videos, read books from the old timers, and ask questions. Someone will likely have a solution for whatever you may encounter. Also, remember that the larger the machine, the greater the cost for the tooling and work holding attachments. The cost of tooling and add-ons goes up exponentially with size of the machine. Many production shops that are trying to reduce turnaround time will expect more than the mini lathes and mini mills are capable of. If you expect the small machines to plow through the toughest metals with just a few passes, they just aren't capable of doing so. But most are capable of doing a decent job if you aren't in a hurry, take shallower cuts, use the right cutting tools, and don't have a long line of customers waiting.If you don't believe me, then look at what some of the so-called "model engineers" do with these things and even smaller machines of various brands. A good place to start is with the Home Shop Machinist books by Village Press, Inc if you are here in the US, and with lathe and mill books from Fox Chapel Books if you are in the UK or other countries. Amazon has both available.
Darin R.
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2025
I purchase several things on Amazon and was giving pretty in-depth reviews. From this point on, here's the new agenda…. if it works as advertised, is well made, meets or exceeds the description, is a value, and arrives in a fair amount of time, it will get a "star rating" equal to what my expectations were/are. If it doesn't meet these criteria, then I will most definitely and descriptively tell the short comings of the products and you as a consumer will not have to go through the trouble of buying the product without some background knowledge. If the sell pulls that item and relists under another description, I will put the exact same review on the seller's feedback page. Sellers have done this a couple of times in the past, and I was true to my word then as well as now. DR
John A. Schroeder
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
This is a good value for the money. Be prepared to spend several days adjusting, re-adjusting, and re-adjusting every aspect of the lathe. The lathe arrived on time and was secured in an adequate shipping crate. The supplied instruction manual is a joke. YouTube has many videos about this lathe, its adjustment, and its operation. This lathe is not powerful. This is a good thing. Less power means it takes longer to get yourself into trouble. The two shortfalls of the lathe I received are the motor speed controller and the cross-slide. The motor speed controller is another thing I will have to adjust. The lathe motor will not run below 150 RPM. This is easily fixable. The main issue I have is the adjustment gib on the cross-slide. I disassembled and reassembled it multiple times to get it to track smoothly. It would always become tight at one end of its travel and is much harder to crank in one direction than the other. I finally noticed that the gib is quite bent. I am afraid that it will break if I try to straighten it. I am contacting Vevor for a replacement gib. Update: I contacted customer support and sent photos of the bent gib. They responded quickly and sent me a replacement compound. The replacement part arrived very quickly. After cleaning, adjusting, and lubricating it is installed and the lathe is running very well.Excellent customer service from Vevor. 4.5 stars.
Magy
Reviewed in Mexico on April 5, 2024
No se encuentra centrado así que el material se suelta de la mordasa, en relación con el contrapunto ahí es más evidente que tiene una desviación, así que el material que se maquina toma la forma de un cono por la desviación de 4mm que tiene.
Gene W
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2023
Where to begin. The tail stock, head stock, cross slide. I think the bed is ok.The tail stock is milled poorly and doesn't hit center on the work. There is no way to adjust it up and down, and adjusting side to side is difficult and hit or miss.The head stock through put is not indicated and will only fit a 3/4" piece of work, severely limiting functionality.The cross slide comes loose while working and is dangerous. It walks while doing the facing and vibrates so everything comes loose. It sits too high and then tool mount doesn't adjust height so again, you can't hit center. I had to buy a tool holder that adjusts.After a GREAT deal of extra work on the lathe I finally got bit marginally acceptable.DO NOT buy this unless you know how to fix it. It will NOT work straight out of the boxI'm already eyeing the grizzly lathe. This one might be able to make screws. We'll see.
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