Haha, I’m glad you like reading!
As far as a manual goes, personally I like to have the proper instructions/manual whatever you want to call it for any machine that I have. To me it just makes sense and can take a lot of the guesswork out of deciding ‘gee, is this the way this works or the other way…?’. So I totally get that you want to find one. Heck, I just ordered a sewing machine manual from Finland!
Having said that, from what I hear of the various manuals and instructions for some of the Mini-Lathes out there the manuals can be less than stellar. More questions seem to be answered by a good and thorough understanding of basic operations than are solved by the sketchy symbols and illustrations. So, while a manual is a good thing to look out for, don’t pin your hopes on it being the ultimate in learning medium for you. Especially once you get past the basic stuff.
I’m trying to think if there’s a better way to reach out to other forum members who have similar lathes. I don’t, my machines are the ‘old iron’ variety so documentation is a little more searchable. The mini lathes, from my understanding anyway, are often one machine made under various labels so trying to track a root source of information can be difficult. But, there’s also a lot of cross-over too because of that.
Give this post some time to percolate — sometimes it takes a few days for folks to read and catch up on new activity. I’ll try to think of where one might scare one up as well and will let you know if I find something. I think Central Machinery is or was a Harbor Freight house brand, so that may be someplace to check.
-frank
