Chinese lathe quality or lack thereof.

[emtor]

10X18 lathe. Lots of potential in this lathe, but for the price you're paying don't excpect gibs or dovetails to be ground, lapped or scraped flat.
Luckily I'm prepared to do just that: -Hand scraping everything that needs to be scraped, and my lathe really needs some work.
The gib for the compound rest looked like it had been machined with a lawnmover and only makes contact on the ends of the gib. No wonder the lathe is prone to chattering unless the compound is tightened down hard.



The top of the compound is even worse. Not exactly flat.
You buy one of these and six months later you buy another brand costing a bit more in the hope of fixing your problems.
And so it goes until you end up with a 100 grand pro lathe . . . unless you fix your first lathe by doing some scraping,-which is what I intend to do.

 

[markba633csi]

These machines are made to such a low price point they nearly always require some finishing. Some elbow grease can work wonders
Mark

 

[emtor]

These machines are made to such a low price point they nearly always require some finishing. Some elbow grease can work wonders
Mark

The lathe is a quite heavy and robust machine, a different beast compared to the small mini lathes you can get from places like HF.
By locking the compound down hard, locking the cross slide while turning along an axis and the saddle while facing I can really dig in to the workpiece with no problems. This tells me that the problem is adjustment and or scraping of the gibs that are needed. Fine tuning the gibs by using the screws won't help much without making sure that the gibs make good contact. -Already done that, so elbow grease it is.

 

[C-Bag]

I think it's interesting that guys don't think anything about paying a premium for old iron and then completely rebuilding them, yet bag on a Chinese "kit". You certainly know more about the function and maintenance after putting the finishing touches on a kit or rebuild old iron. I've gone for refinishing/modding and upgrading my cheap 9x20 rather than buying a different lathe until I'm ready to buy a "real" lathe. The other benefit to this DIY approach is I know better what to look for when I do decide to upgrade as I'm not going to buy new as I just don't have that kind of cash.

 

[Diecutter]

My first lathe was from a Gingery diy plan, so any machine that does not require casting and machining all the parts is like heaven for me. Added bonus; you really learn how to file and drill when completing such a project.

 

[Dabbler]

Stefan Gotteswinter buys an offshore item and uses it like a set of castings and reworks them into very fine machine tools. Have a look at his Vertex (normally a good brand) rotary table. He takes a good table and turns it into a masterpiece.

So hang in there and you will have a great lathe in the end!

 

[C-Bag]

My first lathe was from a Gingery diy plan, so any machine that does not require casting and machining all the parts is like heaven for me. Added bonus; you really learn how to file and drill when completing such a project.

+1, for most of my life I had projects that it would have been nice to have a lathe or mill for but all I had was hand tools. With the demise of apprenticeship programs and highschool shop programs which taught basic skills like how use a file to do precision work or hacksaw and precision layout and drilling those manual skills withered. Much less scraping. Why teach that stuff when you can program machines to do it?

It seems basic human nature to just want to bypass the boring stuff and just be a pro. So you get computer "artists" who wouldnt know what to do with pencil and paper and never spent the huge amount of time it takes to learn anatomy or perspective. And musicians who can't tune to another instrument by ear and have to totally rely on a digital tuner. Also have decided that they don't need know scales and basic music theory. All the lack of basics does is limit in the long run.

 

[Toolmaker51]

Demise of introductory vocational courses not done a single person a whit of good, young or old.
So, that killed off advanced courses, obviously.
Which made selling the off-shore concept that much easier; two or three generations no hint of what was going away.

However; every day at my building a passerby stops to inquire, what is this, what can it do, why haven't I heard of such things? Answering accordingly [much like my comment above] I find 90% have interest with capability. Their contact info gets collected.

I tend to oppose the concept this is a mere hobby, and soapbox frequently as such.
Income is the only tangible facet separating a little garage shop different a full on corporation. I declare scale not a factor; Europe, Asia and South America awash in cottage industry, including contract work for successively larger plants.
The only required commodities, Initiative. Confidence. All of us have some degree of resources and facilities.

 

[Tim9]

+1, for most of my life I had projects that it would have been nice to have a lathe or mill for but all I had was hand tools. With the demise of apprenticeship programs and highschool shop programs which taught basic skills like how use a file to do precision work or hacksaw and precision layout and drilling those manual skills withered. Much less scraping. Why teach that stuff when you can program machines to do it?

It seems basic human nature to just want to bypass the boring stuff and just be a pro. So you get computer "artists" who wouldnt know what to do with pencil and paper and never spent the huge amount of time it takes to learn anatomy or perspective. And musicians who can't tune to another instrument by ear and have to totally rely on a digital tuner. Also have decided that they don't need know scales and basic music theory. All the lack of basics does is limit in the long run.

I’ll go one step further. I was totally dumbfounded while watching CNN this past year. Saw an interview with R-Kelly’s lawyer. Anyway.... the attorney makes the comment that poor R-Kelly is really hurting because he’s so bored.... going crazy in jail waiting for his day in court... GOING CRAZY BECAUSE HE’s ILLITERATE. !
Bastard is a rap star and 100% illiterate. Never learned to read or write. I’m sorry but I have no sympathy for him. And I know there are many illiterate people behind bars. But in today’s day and age. Even the worst school district in America can teach students to read and write. There’s no excuse for any kid to finish the 8th grade and he can’t read or write. Damned shame.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

learning takes effort.
if you aren't learning- you are lazy

Google has made a class of expert know-nothings , to become masters of everything in seconds, and still can't do anything afterwards.

pretty soon everyone will have a PHD in Google and replace intelligence with convenience