John Breitbach wrote:
Does anyone have any experience as to how a homier compares to an old Atlas made Craftsman 109.xxxxx lathe?? I see a lot fo them go through ebay with some decent tooling in many case, and for a price that would compete with a new 7x12 homier.....then there is also the 8x14 lathemaster....I am having an indecisive moment here, and need a little help....
The 109 series of sears lathes have only a 1/2" spindle and in general are the worst lathes I have ever seen. Some versions came with no back gears and some had a strange planitary gear setup for back gearing, how reliable this is I do not know.
There is an e-group that includes these lathes at:
I belong to this group because I own an atlas lathe but I have the mail option turned off because the 109 traffic is so anoying.
It is my opinion that the 7x10/7x12 series of lathes are far better tools than the 109's even though they may require some "tuning" out of the box.
Find Mert over in the 7x10 group and ask him what he thinks, I think he still owns a 109 (of course he may well try and sell it to you.)
No comment on the 8x14's (if someone wants to send me one I will try it out and then have a comment.
Bob
