As I mention elsewhere I was impressed with the amount of hand-scraping that has been done to this lathe to bring it into a very accurate condition. Or at least capable of performing accurate work in the hands of a good machinist. There is no published specification that I have access to for the setup. The lathe includes a little "Quality Certificate" tag with inspection rubber stamps but there is no detail of the exact specification that the quality is certified to. It appears to be reasonably good though, whatever it is.

Except for paint issues discussed below I was pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish of my example of the HF8x. In the as-received condition everything was nicely finished, ground surfaces were excellent, no gunk or metal chips anywhere. It was even a little disappointing that I couldn't play with any tweaking, the blasted thing was ready to make accurate chips immediately following degreasing and lubricating. Even the degreasing was a letdown; too easy.

I thought the tool kit was rather complete as these imports go, and there is a set/3 of the most needed open end wrenches, 4 Allen hex wrenches, a set of 11 extra change gears plus 5 installed, the reversing idler gear for running the leadscrew for LH threads, a set of outside jaws for the 3-jaw chuck that comes with the inside jaws in place, two dead centers: MT3/MT2, a spanner wrench for the spindle nuts, the chuck key, a rather large socket wrench with a breaker bar type handle whose use escaped me until another new owner pointed out that it is for adjusting the gear stud shafts on the banjo, a marginally useful printed manual (at least it has a good set of exploded parts diagrams and ID's (if you can understand Chinglish translations for parts names), and a plastic toolbox. All the above except the manual were well lubricated with the clear grease and rust free. The manual and the two belts, vee and timing, are shipped separately in a plastic bag.

The carriage of the 8x is studded with oil ports to keep the important stuff lubricated. The lack of these is a common complaint among 7x and 9x owners.

The lathe is very smooth in operation. One nice touch not available in the 7x and 9x lathes is the thrust bearing on the cross-slide.

The hardened ways are a great addition to this lathe. I have lived with "soft" ways on my other machines for years and they look it.

I haven't reviewed it elsewhere but the lathe comes with a decent 4-way tool post. It can handle 1/2" tool bits easily and securely and indexes nicely with a positive spring-loaded detent at each of the four 90 degree settings.

My unit is vibration-free at all speeds and the vee-belt/timing belt system works well. I have not had a chance to do any "real" machining yet, just test pieces, so I will add comments later on that subject. Cuts exceeding 0.075" do not bother this machine at all. The weight and rigidity of the extra wide beds and large bearing surfaces certainly contribute to its ability to hog stock without complaint.

There is a carriage lock that is not documented anywhere by the manufacturer. The over-sized allen head screw to the left end (nearest the cross-slide) of the three on the right side of the apron top can be tightened to lock the carriage in position. There is an argument that this cannot possibly work unless the other two screws are loose, but I did not find this to be so.

I did not measure the ways for uniformity as the carriage and slides operate with no binding or tight spots evident. All machined surfaces are cleanly ground and I could find no burrs even in areas not normally exposed to view. Gibs were straight and accurately machined.

Legends on dials and slides were very nicely done, clean and clear with one exception.

An exception to my statement above about the nice fit and finish of my particular example of the 8x is that the manufacturer doesn't seem to spend much time cleaning up the raw castings in non-critical areas. There are some edges in non-essential areas that are somewhat ragged (see the image of the tailstock end of my bed in the 8x Mods page for an example). There also appear to be some variances in the mold cores for the cast iron parts. One LatheMaster image I have seen has so much edge flash in the bed to foot box section below the headstock that it almost appears oval and it is just painted over. I have never seen this in American built machine tools, even the inexpensive ones. Of course, this tool is built to a price point and the important areas are well finished. I guess I would not pay extra to have these parts better finished in those areas.

The final assembler (that little old Chinese gentleman with the big hammer?) gets no points for cleanliness. My electrical switch knobs were covered with greasy black fingerprints, although a little WD40 cleaned them right up. He does do a nice job of pre-tweaking though.

The dial markings on the threading dial are very weak and there is almost no black color in them because they are so shallow. I will have to try remarking them at some time although they are legible now but just barely so.

My lathe's cross-slide and compound resettable dials were very tight and the knurled edge that you would grip with your fingers is up tight against the back of the handwheels making it very difficult for my arthritic fingers to rotate them. They use the standard Chinese bent-spring-clip-in-a-groove method of keeping them from spinning freely.

I tried adjusting the spring by bending it a little looser but could not arrive at a setting of the spring that was not too tight or too loose.

I found the three screws holding the chuck on the spindle from the rear to be annoying and uncomfortable to loosen and tighten when I needed to remove the chuck. The space behind the spindle flange is adequate but tight for access. The manufacturer does supply a special short legged allen wrench for those screws. I would rather have a threaded spindle thank you.

It is evident to me that the lathe is built up from matched components with the bulk of the lathe being painted after it has been setup and tuned, but with the carriage and tailstock removed. This results in some chipping of paint during final assembly with the touchup paint not quite matching, or at least not mixed well. Touchup spots are evident with close inspection. This manufacturer, like all Asian machine tool manufacturers, applies an off-white Bondo-like gobo substance to all the cast iron surfaces that show. This leveling coat is then hand sanded (as evidenced by the grit scratches) before application of the color coat.

I much prefer the painted surfaces of my vintage American built Atlas, Clausing, Craftsman, and South Bend equipment that show the grain of the cast iron with no apologies. I don't need a mirror finish on a machine tool; save it for plastics.

I do not like Poppy Red colored lathes, (or green, yellow, blue, white, etc.). Lathes and other machine tools should be painted some shade of grey damnit. If God had intended there to be green and yellow lathes He would have made cast iron green or yellow! I might have to repaint this little tart at some point in the future. (OK, I know some older Craftsman lathes were painted blue and, in fact, I own a vintage restored Dunlap drill press that is in authentic blue livery but I still don't like the color.)

BTW, that red paint on this HF8x lathe is not like any red you have seen in other red machine tools, including HF's. It is a bright Poppy Red color with a bit of orange in it; the hue is one I would have called "Chinese Red" but that would be just too easy! Don't try to find an off-the-shelf matching paint; I suspect your friendly neighborhood auto shop with a color matching setup would have to mix it to order.

Late News! 12/31/07: I have just been given a heads-up by an interested reader of this review (Thanks, John Loosemore) who is in the market for this or the Lathemaster version. The Harbor Freight web site has changed the photo, online manual, parts list, and description of this lathe, without changing the model number. This newly documented HF lathe appears now to have only one prismatic way, at the front, with a flat way at the rear. Also the tailstock now shares the front prismatic way with the carriage. The parts diagram now shows the flat rear way. The description still says the ways are stress relieved, as before, but, as before, there is no way to tell if the ways are hardened until you get it (although I suspect they are, having been stress relieved). The big question in my mind is whether the bed is now shortened so that this is truly an 8x12 rather than an 8x14 sibling of the Lathemaster as when it was previously available. If someone knows for sure please email me (see contact page). Also questionable is what Lathemaster's version will be after the next inventory turnover.

No one can argue that this lathe is not a copy of the EMCO Compact 8 lathe manufactured in Austria but no longer in production. From what I know about the Compact 8, this lathe is a faithful copy and certainly not a "lighter" version of the Compact 8, the Chinese 9x lathes, or any other. It has some features not included with the Compact 8 or the 9x Chinese lathes and is actually a more robust machine in its construction than the larger 9x. To illustrate one example: here's an image of a 9x steady rest sitting on the 8x bedways; note that it almost doesn't straddle the wide 8x bed and that the prism of the 9x is much smaller than the 8x.

The current model HF 8x12 and the LatheMaster 8x14 are identical 8x14 lathes manufactured by the same shop in China. Their sibling status is obvious in the details that could not be duplicated by two separate builders using the same plans. The two models even share the same serial number system with HF and LatheMaster numbers consecutive and interwoven with one another. The biggest differences are the accessories included with the lathe and the paint color, a very similar scheme to the 7x and 9x lathe importers' attempts to set themselves apart. Customer service may be different as well. Bob at LatheMaster is famous for his personal service; Harbor Freight has less personal contact but still comes through in my experience. Both importers offer good value for their prices and you just have to decide what you want to pay for.

I don't know. There are reports that it is Rong Fu or Tong Yong but this is unsubstantiated at this writing. I think I can say that it is not SIEG Industries however. Whoever they are they build a nice machine.

Late News! 11/07: I have just learned from a very reliable source that this lathe, and the Lathemaster sibling, are sold by Sieg (non-catalog) but manufactured by someone outside their own manufacturing system. I guess that accounts for the differences noted elsewhere in this review between this lathe and the regular Sieg machinery.

The 8x Chinese lathes have a spotted history in the US. Initially they were greeted with some scepticism as late-comers to the burgeoning market for the very popular 7x and the "larger" 9x lathes. Many comments were published in the web groups to the effect that the 8x was just a "light 9x" or a taller 7x without any of the good features of either. These comments were obviously from otherwise well-meaning folks that had never seen an 8x first-hand. Rumors grew and fed off one another to the point that, it is reported, LatheMaster threatened to sue some of the chief offenders. I have not been able to confirm this event with LatheMaster; to date my inquiry to them is unanswered.

Contributing to the confusion is the seemingly self defeating gaff by Harbor Freight in running a catalog description for their 8x12 lathe that is misleading to say the least. They have not corrected the weight (listed at 89 lbs) which seems to be lifted from their 7x description, and the old image they show is of a lathe with much less appeal than what they now ship. If my knowledge of the lathe was gained by reading that advert I would think it was somehow just a 7x with 1" more swing. It doesn't help that none of the HF stores carry the 8x12, so unless you buy one or have a friend that has one?? Go figure. The best source of a description is the LatheMaster site, but somehow that seems like cheating if you're really interested in the HF 8x.

Neither does it help that HF insists on calling their version of the 8x an "8x12" rather than the 8x14 that it really is, by any standard of measurement.

See Late News 12/31/07 above also for more recent info affecting the material in this review.