I am sure you will enjoy your HF 7 X 10 mini lathe. I have had mine for nearly a year now and I love to just play with it, with scrap material just to learn more about what it can do. You Tube is a great. Source of instruction, for the beginner or the intermediate operator. I am sure that some of those posts are worth a fortune, if you had to pay for the education you can get for free just by watching some of those old timers perform miracles with a piece of brass or aluminum.
I had wanted a small or mini lathe for ever but my carrer, kept me from having time or opertunity to peruse any hobby. I was introduced to the world of the machinist in high school many years ago, and the training, learning precision measuring, and reading calipers and a micromater, I received from a shop teacher named Paul Piazonni, (we called him PZ) lasted my whole working life and made it possible to advance in my trade and become a maintenance supervisor, and eventually a shift superintendent, for the whole plant. All the years I worked there I had access to an old mill and lathe, and pretty much owned them because I was the only one in the department that had any idea of how to use them. After I retired I missed the machines so much that I decided to buy some for a home shop. With a couple of 20, and 25% off coupons I have a nice hobby shop now and I am thoroughly enjoying hobby machining miniature steam engines. The 7 X 10 is perfect for my needs and so I don't see myself buying a bigger machine any time soon. The HF mini is 90 pounds of dynamite, and loads of fun without breaking the bank.
