Harbor Freight 7x10 for pens?

[jsun-1]

I just liberated a Harbor Freight 7x10 metal lathe from work that has been sitting in its box for 3 years. I'd like to turn wood with it. Any suggestions on how to set it up would be appreciated.. I was planning on using one of the pen mandrels to hold the blanks and bushings. Pics welcome! Thanks in advance! jL

 

[Tim'sTurnings]

Good job on your new acquisition. I have always wanted a metal lathe. I have 2 lathes and a Shopsmith 10er lathe but want to try making metal thingies someday. I have no answer for you but just wanted to congratulate you on your new toy.
Tim.

 

[KBs Pensnmore]

I just liberated a Harbor Freight 7x10 metal lathe from work that has been sitting in its box for 3 years. I'd like to turn wood with it. Any suggestions on how to set it up would be appreciated.. I was planning on using one of the pen mandrels to hold the blanks and bushings. Pics welcome! Thanks in advance! jL

Congratulations on the liberation. You will need a tool rest that can be obtained from Little Machine Shop. What taper is in the head stock, as you may require an adaptor, if it is #3 Morse taper to fit a pen mandrel to it. If you don't already have wood turning chisels and a grinder for sharpening, you'll need them as well as pen kits etc.
Apart from that that is about it. Before you start to think about putting on a nice blank, grab some small tree branches and practice turning on those to get the feel of using chisels.
Kryn

 

[ironman123]

HF 7x10 lathe for pens

Those are pretty good little lathes. Might be troublesome for some pen making because of the short bed. I have been trying to make this reply since after 3 pm yesterday but there was a posting problem somehow. glad it is fixed.

Ray

 

[Penultimate]

Congratulations and many happy turnings.
Hop over to the metal lathe section of IAP that's a good place to start.
What kind of accessories did you get with it?
It probably has an MT2 tail stock, my 7x12 does, so you will need a live center and a drill chuck. The head stock is MT3. Check out CDCO Tools and Little Machine Shop for accessories and cutting tools.
If you are just starting out I recommend Home Shop Machinst magazine. It has a lot of good info on machining and specific articles on mini lathes.
I also recommend getting a small collection of aluminum bar stock, eBay is a good inexpensive source. I have a 5/8" piece that I mount in my chuck and turn a 60 degree angle on it. That gives me a trued up center for between center turning.

 

[Rockytime]

Congrats on your lathe. There is a Yahoo group on the mini lathe.Hundreds of tips there to get you started. The lathe is cheap but the tooling can add up quickly. Once you get started with pen turning you will get the itch to try metal turning. Start slow, buying what you need as you need it. tool catalogs are very alluring.

 

[KenV]

I just liberated a Harbor Freight 7x10 metal lathe from work that has been sitting in its box for 3 years. I'd like to turn wood with it. Any suggestions on how to set it up would be appreciated.. I was planning on using one of the pen mandrels to hold the blanks and bushings. Pics welcome! Thanks in advance! jL

My experience turning wood on a metal lathe was with a Taig lathe. I could do it BUT with hand tools, the tool rest was a hassle. With cutters and the compound, it was best with straight barrels and hand feed.

Quickly learned not to mix wood turning and metal turning projects without a good cleaning between the two materials.

Went to just metal in the metal lathe.