Despite all the problems, I'm not necessarily saying that I don't think lathes like this are worth buying. Most of the problems are due to sloppy assembly, and preparation for shipping. At it's core the lathe bed is a decent casting, and the bed itself seems to have been well ground. Just as Stefan Gotteswinter likes to say, this is really a kit for building a lathe rather than a finished lathe. I'm certain that once I've done a bunch of work on it, the lathe will be great, and for people who have more time than money, it could still be the right purchasing choice.

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe I appreciate that...Thank you! However, this will be my 1st metal lathe. I think, before purchasing one, I'll follow your experience with this to see if the issues you've found are things that I think I can work through...I am an engineer, and am mechanically minded, but am nervous about tinkering with something that's going to spin metal at multiple thousands of revolutions per minute. :)

@@ChrisShenar, I too faced a similar delemar when considering "what" to buy as my first lathe... My analogy came down to this, "Did I want a lathe to make projects or a lathe that IS itself a project..?" I'm not a Machinist nor do I have past experience with rebuilding this type of equipment so I went with something that'd work correctly straight out of its box & so I could learn a degree of precision while actually making usable stuff. Eventually I settled on a Proxxon PD 250/E (same as Alistair's) because it fitted my requirements, had a good range of accessories available & it suited the scale of work I intended to make. HTH, Colin

Colin Creed Tattoo Machines Excellent. Thank you...That does help. :)

@@ChrisShenar ... Turbo-Charged Mini Metal Lathe !!!!......then......LOL !!!

I'm pretty sure this is the exact same model lathe This Old Tony got. They need to meet up and commiserate.

This lathe has really made my appreciate how easy it was to get started with the Proxxon. Nothing to do but a quick clean, and install the tool post. I hope you grow to love your Proxxon as much as I love mine.

I did go for the cheapest possible option on eBay, and I reckon I got a factory reject being sold off in bulk through a distributor in Eastern Europe. I'm really looking forward to fixing it up though.

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe Same thing the guy from Aussie Shed did. After he tore his down he literally could not find one single part on the entire assembly that wasn't defective in one way or another. He also spent MONTHS getting it all fixed up correctly and as a matter of fact might not be completely done with it. I second the suggestion to go watch every video he made for that project.

Man, I think I'd expect some of those issues, but not all of them. I'd send it back, I think you got a lemon. Good luck and thank you for the videos.

" I've never seen a machine so bad right out of the box". Well, if you saw mine... LOL 😂 😂 Among many other fundamental repairs. Out of the box was yesterday, so quite fresh still. Anyway among first repairs. Repair/reface back plate and chuck. Yes on the spindle! Chuck run out was in excess of 1mm!!!! Not microns, not tenths of mm, but more than 1mm!! What about that?! Absolutely insane. The backplate had been repeatedly hit with a hammer. So was deformed and twisted! BTW fundamental repairs, refer to absolutely needed repairs to make it work. And that was not even the beginning! Yep, I guess I bought a "project". ;-) The only good news. Is that in one afternoon I was able to repair/fix several things.

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Reputable brands wouldn't allow a machine in this condition to carry their name. I did get a few photos sent to me of other lathes though, and the problem with the fit between the bed and the tailstock and headstock does seem to be quite common though.

Adventures with a Very Small Lathe wow I can tell u the grinding dust and oil is common on all this kit bandsaws and mills. Never had an imported lathe so this is new and interesting to me

Well, I got myself a CJ18A from another London trader 2 years ago, and I've had my hands and head filled with small surprises since, after my initial complete 3 weeks of teardown/ overhaul/ config. Not complaining - I knew it was an "assembled kit lathe" when ordering, but still worth the money and it's constantly getting better as I learn and improve my own skills. Keep up the good work, and Cheers! DIYSwede

As Machining Basics said in their comment, I don't think all Chinese lathes are nearly this bad. I got a really cheap one on eBay, and it looks like someone was selling off a bunch of QA rejects. I don't regret it though. The whole idea is to create an opportunity for a bunch of improvement projects.

I received mine yesterday, Can't be newer than that. Same model, same color, slightly more "modern" design. meaning no safety acrylic cover/switch. Digital rpm on the top back. Mine has the metal gears option. With that said. I can assure that this one on the video looks like a "luxury" model!!! ;-) If I could show photos of the thing and claim its brand new out of the box. People would either roll crying or laughing, for sure.

I did as well and it wouldnt pull the skin off rice pudding. So bad two new US circuit boards still no torque couldnt even spin polish 5" dia aluminium.

I suspect the Chinese are perfectly capable of making good equipment but when people are buying on price, you will never get the "good" stuff. 3 years ago I bought a Chinese lathe from a respected seller. It had a few minor issues but came W/O the often complained about grinding grit. I considered a smaller lathe but am now happy I went for a much larger one. I think this one has paid for itself by the repairs it has made to the production equipment in the plant. I bought it as a hobby tool. In spite of coming with a good set of accessories, I've needed to spend quite a lot on additional items to make it more useful. I quickly found that I needed a mill to go along with the lathe and more accessories for that. Some of the Chinese accessories have been very good, some not so much. But I wouldn't be machining if I had to pay the price for European made. KZfaq "University" has been a great help.

@@larryschweitzer4904 You just wrote my story too!

@@marcmckenzie5110 Same here! In the past year, I’ve come into possession of 3 (like I really need 3! But 2 were free!) Chinese lathes. The first is a 9 x 20 sold by Harbor Freight 20 years ago. Got it unused and still on the shipping pallet it was bolted to in China, in incredibly filthy condition. After complete disassembly, fixing issues and reassembling, I’ve still fought numerous nagging issues. The second is a Grizzly G0765 7 x 14 mini lathe that supposedly not a Sieg unit, also new and unused, and it shares many, but not all, of the issues that the video unit suffers from. The last is a HF 7 x 12 Sieg mini lathe. Same situation there and again a brand new unit! Motor mounting on all 3 is pathetic along with a total absence of tightened bolts! The 9 x 20 is finally producing good results, I’m still wrestling with the Grizzly (Big Boy tailstock that they tout as a selling point is a big letdown), and the HF 7 x 12 is actually the star performer of the two minis! Of course LMS is the go to for mini lathe parts, but take the time to look to Grizzly also. Many of the mini lathes & mills that look similar to Grizzly models are the same machine, and if you compare individual parts diagrams and part numbers you’ll find that drawings and pn’s are the same except Grizzly adds a few extra digits before the number on a HF diagram. On some things Grizzly is actually cheaper and shipping is less.

It seems to be difficult to predict the quality of this type of lathe. I've been watching The Aussie Shed, and his lathe seems to have all the same problems that mine has, but it sounds like you were a lot more lucky.

I'm actually lining up a pair of angular contact bearings. They are a little more tricky to install, but are lower maintenance, and can handle higher rpm.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe, I agree with Craig: kzfaq.info/love/DSIEMFsJNZ5ZEsPKVD6__w It'll be interesting to see just how similar the problems are & how you decide to undertake the repairs/rebuild. regards Colin

I saw your post in the Bench Top Metal Lathes group, and thought the crate looked familiar. If yours as as dirty, then I'd recommend a complete disassembly and cleaning before doing much more, so the grit doesn't do any more damage. Best of luck!

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe Thanks. I'm trying to rectify an issue with poorly machined area on the base where the stud that holds the change gear adjustment arm seats. It's not machined flat so when the stud is tightened down to the base it angles the stud which then pushes the change gear plat out at an angle. Not quite sure how I'm going to fix it yet.

@@TheWrate I know exactly the problem you mean, as I have the same issue. The threaded hole isn't even square, so if I machined the surface of the casting flat, the stud would still be crooked. I'm working on a fix for that, but no idea what I'll come up with yet. Perhaps I'll make a quick video describing the problem and see if the viewer community have any smart ideas?

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe If I don't tighten the stud down to the casting the plate is squared up. That leads me to think the tapped hole has sufficient play to allow the stud to square up to the change plate. One option might be to drill and tap a new hole that is correctly oriented and then use a new stud or even through bolt with a bolt/washer combo to get it the correct distance from the casting. I have a large enough drill press to do this so I might give it a go.

I did more investigation last night and found that I can shim the stud to the correct orientation. I need to do bit of adjustment on the gear mesh but I think I’ve sorted the problem.

It was an anonymous eBay special.

Surprisingly little. ;)

It does look almost identical to the lathe This Old Tony bought, though I agree with his comment. If you are thinking about buying one of these, go for it! They are so cheap that it's worth it, no matter how it works out. You can always chalk it up as a learning experience.

The next video in the series is on the way. I've already ordered some metal gears, but that will be a later video.

@@AdventureswithaVerySmallLathe :D

Ha Ha well said. Its shocking.

I'll do my best to relay my experiences, though I don't suggest relying on my videos as a substitute for advice from a real machinist. This Old Tony is a much more dependable source of information.

Sadly not. I live exactly the other side of the world, in England. Very grateful for the offer though, I hope you find good homes if you don't need them yourself.

The Proxxon is still my main lathe, and the one I use for most work. I bought the Chinese lathe so I could better understand the difference between the two types of lathe, and use it as a base for projects while I learn how to modify, improve, and bring a cheap lathe up to the best standard possible.

Na, it was obviously sold by a bargain basement box shifter, and the whiole reason for buying it was to experiment and improve!

There is a lot of grey business in China, where somebody will recover or steal discarded reject parts from an actual reputable factory and hammer something together that vaguely looks like the final product with random hands in a random basement. Probably the only thing that can be done is to have the manufacturer destroy key components of rejects before they send them off to recycling, but this is not very economical. There's a handful manufacturers, there is price pressure since they serve the white label market, and whoever implements this measure first is losing a lot of money or passing it onto the price of the product and losing customers.

But that would spoil all my fun!

You'd probably get your money back without a return as they don't want to handle it :D

Don't worry, I'll stick to the Proxxon for real work. ;)