Mini lathes on EBay?

unioncreek

unioncreek

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I noticed there's some 7x14 mini lathes on eBay one is 550 watts and is sold by Id-Rack. Are these the same as Grizzly and Harbor Freight. Just checking all my options, it doesn't come with a steady rest and doesn't say it has a two speed gearbox.

Bob
 
Most of the 7x14 mini lathes are made by SIEG. There may be a few other factories that copy it as well but SIEG is the predominate mfg. by far. The thing to consider is how will they treat you after the sale. You are buying a machine that most likely hasn’t had the box opened or hasn’t been looked at since it left China and no telling what may be wrong it. You can’t go to SIEG for help so your only resource is the seller for any issues with the machine and a seller that makes very little margin has no room for honoring a warranty. You have to decide if it is chance you want to take for a better price.
Little Machine Shop is a very good source for accessories and info.
http://littlemachineshop.com/Info/MiniLatheUsersGuide.pdf

http://littlemachineshop.com
 
There are two companies that manufacture these mini-lathes: SEIG and Real Bull. Look at the saddle. The SIEG lathes have an H shaped saddle and the Real Bull have a rectangular. Also the Real Bull lathes have wipers on the saddle for the ways as well. Some, not all parts are interchangeable. There are also some of the Real Bull lathes that come with a 4 in chuck like those sold by Big Dog Toolworks. Grizzly, HF, LMS, MicroMark and others sell the SEIG.

I can't say anything really clearly recommends one over the other. If you are looking for one of the Real Bull lathes, I think the tooling included from Big Dog Toolworks comes out a better bargain over the Ebay pricing. Also, be certain the leadscrew matches what you are looking for. There are metric and SAE versions.
 
I've got a real bull mill (slightly larger & heavier than an x2) and I love it. Got my 7 x 10 used on E-bay. Took a while though.
 
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