Years ago, I kept getting the H.F. flyers with the ads for the 7X10 "Precision Lathe", for a price of $369.00, IIRC. I kept wondering just how good it could be for that sort of price. One day, I happened to get on their web site and saw the 7X10 for only $329.00; my credit card caught fire as I yanked it from my wallet!
Once I had the lathe in hand, I did a bit of research (backwards, I know!) and found that there was nearly a cult following of the little machines. Yahoo! discussion groups, web sites that showed all sorts of mods, detailed instructions on finishing the lathe and making it "right", etc. I performed most of those operations and used the lathe for years, and recently upgraded to a lightly-used MicroMark 7X14. Of course, I had to do all the mods/tuneups again, but that's no big deal. As many have said, the lathe would cost probably twice as much if the factory lavished that sort of care on it.
We all owe a debt to those users who documented their mods and tuneups so that we can do them to our lathes. Thanks, Guys!!
<<Jim>>
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----- Original Message -----
From: "MERTON B BAKER" <mertbaker@...>
To: <7x12minilathe@...>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 6:35 AM
Subject: RE: [7x12minilathe] Re: 7X14 mini-lathe
Dunno what others experience, except for the complaints I read about here,
but the experience I've had with the Chinese 7x lathes, one 7x10 from HF,
One 7x12 from Homier (RB), and one 7x12 from Grizzly, is that they all
worked much better that I expected from the amount of money I paid, and
continue to do so. I was especially pleased to find out that the 7x12s are
