Minimum HP on mini-lathe for stainless steel cutting?

HP ratings are misstated on equipment from from all parts of the world. My Campbell Hausfeld 30 gallon compressor was part of a class action suit a few years back. Turns out Campbell Hausfeld rated/marketed their compressors at "Max" HP vs "Continuous HP" My compressor was supposedly a 5HP 110v machine. To achieve 5HP at 110v is 34+ Amps, which is not 110v circuit one would normally have access too. In reality it was a 3 HP compressor. They ended up giving all effected owners $50 in Campbell Hausfeld products.
 
My 110v shop vac is rated at 5.5 hp. As if. I suppose the motor might put that out for a few milliseconds under some scenario as it was undergoing self destruction and the white smoke was pouring out... Until we turn the boats around and send the misrepresented goods back, it will continue. And China is not at all the only bad guy. I see product misrepresentation everywhere. It is difficult to compare horses to ponies... Demand truth in advertising (and in politics...) In the meantime, we are watchdog and quality control as well as buyer.
 
Machine friction and the weight of the rotating components aside the determining factor for power required is the Metal Removal Rate, this is often expressed in cubic inches per minute.

In other words a 5 horsepower machine will in theory run a part 4 times faster then a 1 HP machine by way of higher speeds, feed rates and depth of cut, only you can determine what you time is worth.
 
So it sounds like that mini lathe with "1/2HP" motor and mediocre rigidity will most likely not be able to cut stainless steel as the op (the-apprentice) was hoping for.
 
Ken from ontario said:
So it sounds like that mini lathe with "1/2HP" motor and mediocre rigidity will most likely not be able to cut stainless steel as the op (the-apprentice) was hoping for.
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I dunno' about that lathe but I've turned a fair amount of stainless on my little Sherline lathe with a good tool, and it has about 1/2HP with limited rigidity to boot. I will admit that it won't hog off huge chunks of 304 but it will cut it in small bites without too much trouble and will do so accurately. A lot depends on the tool and the user.

Looking at just HP is like looking at only one facet of a diamond. What about available speeds, spindle bore capacity, threading range, chuck mount configuration, longitudinal power feed and so on? All the features that separate one lathe from another can be very important and the power of the motor is only one consideration.
 
The_Apprentice said:
I had been thinking on that. But when I did some research, I read that efficiency is only thrown in when going the reverse, calculating backwards starting from HP.
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Unfortunately math can not be made to work that way.
 
I heard someone on here refer to the descriptions as "Chinese Horsepower"​

LOL. It does seem we should make that catch-phrase stick, otherwise more hobbyists will run into these nasty surprises.

I also noticed a lot of sellers either purposely, or accidentally keep inflating the values of HP of these chinese lathes. 1/3 gets extrapolated to 1/2. And 1/2 to 2/3, and even now there is a seller on Amazon selling a listed 2/3 Grizzly as a 1 HP unit. Despite I saw at least one person leaving negative feedback stating a warning to inform others.
 
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