After a few years wondering if I should buy a mini lathe, I found one on the web for a really good price so I decided to buy it
I too have joined the mini lathe party recently. I wanted to turn some bench dogs for woodworking, and noticed the HF 7x10 was jumping in price $100 in the October monthly ad. Whether a temporary jump, a response to the new China tariffs, inflation, or whatever...I felt it was time to grab my 20% coupon and buy. I realize some of these questions are already answered, or irrelevant, but I'm going to throw in my opinion/experience for others to see.
1- The lathe has never been used and has the thick grease that was packed with. What should I use to clean it?
I followed advice I've seen elsewhere, and used mineral spirits and paper towels. Cut the cosmoline pretty well, and evaporated slowly enough I never needed to re-wet a piece of paper towel I was using.
What should I use to lubricate: white lithium grease or motor oil? When I am doing the cleaning, is there anything I should look for?
I've been using what I had within reach for everything (ways, gibs, and screws), which was 5W-20 synthetic motor oil. So far, things have been sliding OK, and not rusting where I had oil. One day it must've been extra humid, and I came home to some surface rust in several places. I scrubbed that off with a Scotch Brite for metal, then wiped those (non-contact) areas down with Balistol. Either it's been working great, or it just hasn't humid like that since. I did just grab a squeeze tube of lithium grease to use on the ways and screws, next time I remove a slide or drop the apron.
2- quick change: I found on Amazon a quick change for 31 dollars. The tool post is aluminum and the holders are steel (I believe). Do you think it is worth it? I am on a tight budget so something like littlemachineshop has for 130 is out of the question.
Probably the same one I got...the Jinwen? Everything is aluminum except the set screws, main center screw, the wrenches it came with, and the height knobs & the nuts on top of them. It was inexpensive, and it works. I've been very happy to have it, over not having a QCTP. Unfortunately, the dovetail is a different width than a 0xA sized QCTP, so to get more tool holders, it seems you just need to buy a 2nd toolpost. Thankfully the additional holders I bought won't go stale before I upgrade to the LMS steel wedge holder. For now, I'm just keeping my allen key handy for swapping tools, or flipping them around. Knowing that you might eventually want to replace it (and then not use it anymore), you'll need to decide if it's worth the money versus waiting to buy just once.
3- I bought the 6 piece cutting tools from harbor freight. My experience with HB is that consumables are not good so I was wondering if I should buy HSS blanks and make my own tools. If so, what blanks do you recommend?
I grabbed the HF 1/4" insert set, and two sets of the $5 HSS set (cheap, convenient, and multiple pieces). This Old Tony's HSS grinding video was excellent for helping me get a usable grind on the tools. So far, been happy with how they work. A 1/4" HSS bit, ground like the thumbnail on that TOT video is my primary tool.
5- drill chuck: should I buy the harbor freight one or the one from little machine shop (or any other supplier)?
If you don't want to wait for the LMS short-arbor one to come in the mail, grab the HF one. It's also slightly cheaper. Eventually I'll use a cut-off wheel to take 1/2" off the end of the taper, so I can use the full range of the tailstock. As is, it will eject it at 1/2" on the scale.
6- videos or books: is there any book or youtube video out there that you would recommend that starts from zero? for example, I have watched several videos but none explaining the types of cutting tools and the position they should have (all say that they should be aligned with the center of the piece though)
Anyways, pretty excited about my new toy/machine and looking forward to starting my first project.
Willy
Frank Hoose (of mini-lathe.com) has a YouTube channel, and does have some introductory videos. I've watched some of his videos, though haven't watched the intro ones myself, but I'd watched a couple hundred hours already of Keith Fenner, TOT, AvE, and other random folks. As mentioned above, you can use a machinist ruler to set centerline on your tool, or really any stiff, thin, piece of metal. I have a $0.99 HF snap-off blade utility knife, that I'd pull the blade from and use in the same manner. If your tool is too high, your tool under the cutting edge can rub on the workpiece, limiting your DOC and affecting your finish. If it's too low, your cutting angle is more a scraping action, than a cutting one. Plus both leave nibs when facing off..cones when too high, cylinders when too low.