About the Reviewer:

I am not a professional machinist, I am a retired engineer. My education was in Electrical Engineering, my profession was in Mechanical Engineering (primarily Stress Analysis), and I am a self-taught machinist. Well, not totally self-taught, I had the privelege of running a model and R&D machine shop for some 25 years as part of my job (in that biz you wear many hats) and I have been force-fed some machining skills by a few of the best professional machinists I have ever known (Thanks, Paul and Ron!). In 25 years something had to rub off.

It was often necessary to have a few extra hands working the machines on the weekends and nights to meet deadlines, so yours truly was pressed into service in a non-union shop. I have operated lathes, mills, EDM's, shears and brakes, drills and saws, and every sort of measurement device from DTIs to plug gages in a QC/QA atmosphere. I can do setups, fixturing, jigging, to sandblasting and painting, and everything in between and sweeping up too. Nothing like learning a trade under a deadline, with no scrap allowed, to sharpen your ulcer. I also went to welding school and can TIG weld fine parts.

I spent the early part of my engineering career working for the Baldwin and Lima steam locomotive empire (BLH) and that furthered my love of "really big iron" and the engineering of them. Trivia time: Did you know that the strain gage was originally invented to assist in the development of larger and larger steam locomotives? Then WWII saw it used to great advantage in aircraft design, and from there it took off so it is now used universally in the R&D of everything from microprocessors to kitchen appliances to medical equipment to autos to spacecraft. (No, there is no "u" in the proper spelling of "strain gage").

I have the benefit of understanding the machining processes (at least on a onesy-twosy level, not volume production) from the viewpoint of the machinist and of the engineer. The two are not always synonymous, but they can work together with good effect. I am still not an equal to those with true professional training and experience in any of the machining fields, but I can get by, especially in my home shop where the customer is me.

My shop is described elsewhere in these pages, but briefly, I supplement my retirement by working for my daughter-in-law's company. So I get to use a 12" Atlas lathe and a longbed Sherline. I have also owned two Unimats and operated a number of larger lathes in my professional duties. I gave my 6" Atlas/Craftsman lathe to my eldest this year and my 9" South Bend lathe is on loan to my younger son's company to backup their 14". I expect to get the 9" SB back "soon". In the meantime I wanted a smaller lathe of my own that I can use on personal projects without having to use the 12" Atlas.

I am not connected in any way with Harbor Freight, Lathemaster, or any other vendor or supplier of machines or accessories. This project is purely non-commercial in nature. I am a private citizen and machining hobbyist.

About This Review:

At this point I started researching my choices and decided that maybe I should try one of the Asian lathes and buy new since they were pretty cheap and therefore practically expendable, or at least I could sell it on eBay. The choices seemed to be the 7x or the 9x Chinese lathes offered by every machine supplier in America in a rainbow of paint colors, (or so it seems). The playoffs seemed to be between the very bottom end cheapest 7x, since they have to be rebuilt before you can use them seriously anyway, and therefore the Homier 7x10, (possibly the Cummins 7x12 if the shipping wasn't a killer,) or go all the way to a 9x for the quick change gear box, probably the Grizzly, based on my impressions of Grizz' support.

But then things got complicated. I stumbled across the 8x lathe in the course of researching the other sizes and my curiosity cut in. Why was this silly lathe sandwiched in between these two much more popular lathe types and why bother? The Yahoo and other forums are filled with comments about the 8x that it is just a cut down 9x, or a stretched out 7x without the pluses, or "I heard (something negative)". Why was the Lathemaster 8x14 lathe so gorgeous and well equipped with happy owners reporting into the forums?

I always have been a sucker for "the way less traveled" (pun intended) so at that point I was hooked and going to get one out of pure obstinacy and the thrill of the wager. What better reason to buy a Chinese lathe?

Seriously, there are a number of misconceptions in the marketplace about this lathe (and its debutante sibling, the Lathemaster 8x14). It is my intent with this review to look at the HF 8x12 lathe with more than just subjective opinion as has been expressed elsewhere, typically in group BBS comments. To that end I will start by performing some measurements of accuracy in the as-received condition and, if they are lacking, I will try to tweak the lathe up to a better performance level and then repeat the tests.

I will also offer my own impressions of the lathe's condition and appeal. I will touch on the elusive category of "fit and finish", this having been something of an an oxymoron in the past when discussing Chinese machine tools. I will detail some history of this lathe's public personna; the result of my 3 month's research prior to selecting it for my shop.

For more hard facts about choosing this lathe over one of the 7x or 9x's see the Lathe Comparison page (click here). The advantages of the 8x should be apparent when you look at the specifications listed there. Not that there is any clear-cut "winner" but the most important bits and compromises lean towards picking the 8x. See for yourself.

While not really part of this review I intend to add some modifications that will bring the 8x up to higher standards of workability, similar to those accomplished folks who have upgraded their 7x and 9x Chinese lathes. Whether I will append this information to this review or to another page I'm not yet sure.

This is a work in process. Rather than wait until everything is complete to write this up I intend to add material in bits and pieces as they are completed, So, if you are interested, check back occasionally to see what's new.

Price and Delivery:

I purchased my Harbor Freight 8x12 lathe in August 2005 for $439.95 on sale as #44859 and had it shipped. This lathe has a shipping weight of 272 lbs. so it has to be truck shipped. At that time HF was charging a $39.00 surcharge for truck freight shipments regardless of weight so the total cost was $479. delivered.

HF uses Yellow Freight primarily, but when YF gets to its distribution point near your locality with an LTL (less than truckload) shipment they generally hand off to a local truck line for final delivery. The local truck line called in advance to arrange a suitable day and also to see if I needed a lift tailgate delivery. The latter because the truck is only responsible for the shipment getting to the edge of its truck body (about 4 ft. off the ground), where you are responsible for lifting it out. The lift tailgate is on a specially equipped truck that can power lift the crate down to ground level. You are still responsible for moving it from that point into your garage, shop, or driveway if the truck was unable to get any closer. The liftgate is an extra cost delivery item that is arranged with the truck line doing the final delivery.

You also have the option of picking up the crate at the trucker's distribution warehouse where they will load it into your truck for you. At the time of this writing Harbor Freight does not stock the 8x12 at its stores so you're pretty much stuck with having it shipped to you. Hard to defend this as an impulse purchase! (I'm sorry dear, I had a senior moment and when I regained my senses the crate was in the back of the wagon.)

Delivery took 12 days from date of order, which is not unreasonable for a coast-to-coast shipment via truck. You might do better or worse depending on your location relative to a HF warehouse shipping point.

I am unlucky enough to live on a backwoods quarry road where the largest truck delivery I can get without a lawsuit is by UPS. I am lucky enough on the other hand to be able to borrow my son's John Deere tractor with a forklift attachment in place of the front bucket. So I met the truck at the end of my road and forked it out there; then it was a simple matter to bring it back up the road a few miles to the shop.

Now comes the bad news; the top part of the wooden crate had come loose somewhere in the shipping cycle and some parts of the lathe were rolling around loose on top of the crate pallet. The trucker was very helpful in letting me take the time to see just what was loose and/or missing. When I was satisfied that apparently everything was there, although not in the right place, I notated the Waybill with a description of the damage and accepted the shipment. I didn't see the value in rejecting the shipment at that point since HF is generally excellent about making good on shipping damages or missing items; the downside being time if they don't have the item in stock.

The Chinese don't seem to believe in lockwashers or vibration proof fastenings, so the extent of the damage was this: all 4 bolts/nuts in the hinges of the gearcase cover had vibrated loose and the sheetmetal cover had fallen off and was half over the headstock. How many days of over-the-road bouncing and jiggling it took to accomplish this is unclear but it was long enough that the paint on the cover was gouged to bare metal, the jackshaft pulley was dinged, the edge of the headstock casting was gouged by the cover, and the toolbox was dumped over. All of the bolts and nuts for the hinges were loose in the bottom of the crate (a wood pallet with a heavy Tyvek-like plastic film cover, luckily) but after opening the bagged manual and packing list I found that the toolbox was missing one handle knob, the intermediate gear assembly, and the "round nut wrench" (spanner wrench to some of us Yanks).

An inspection of the pallet bottom of the crate and of the crate sides did not reveal any evidence that the crate had been dropped or otherwise subjected to brute force. A further inspection of the headstock, tailstock and carriage did not show any forced movement, or damaged threads or split-nut. The lathe is shipped with the tailstock locked in place far enough inboard to have the ram handle clear of the crate side, and the carriage is positioned up tight to the tailstock, locked in place by closing of the half-nut. Positioning the carriage there benefits from having it "lean on" the tailstock and also distributes the weight better for shipping purposes.

I contacted HF immediately after making a list and they offered to have the lathe shipped back and replaced, or to just replace any damaged/missing parts. I took the latter option since I can use the lathe as-is in the meantime and didn't want to wait another 2-3 weeks for another delivery. They didn't have the parts in stock, so the expected delivery time for them is 6-8 weeks at this writing. In the meantime I will have to make do without the knob and not do any left-hand threading. I can live with that.

A note about the crate: it was certainly a decent job and I am surprised it suffered damage. The crate is made out of strip-reinforced plywood and fully encloses the lathe. Additionally the lathe is covered with a plastic film that, along with the bottom liner, totally encloses the lathe with a large packet of silica gel inside. The lathe is covered with a semi-clear (not red) grease, especially heavy on the bare metal surfaces. I found no trace of rust anywhere, even in the hidden areas inside. The crate had metal louvered vents in the ends with insect screen inside, a nice touch. The crate, even damaged, made a good first impression on me.

Go on to Review Pg. 2 for the "Hard Numbers"