[Russ Kaiser]

I have been shopping for a larger lathe for a few months now. I looked at quite a few used lathes on Craig's list and couldn't find anything in my price range that I wanted to own or I could find room and power for. Yesterday after taking a vacation day and coming back from a two hour trip to look at two, over-priced, basket-case Emco Compact 10s I had had enough.

I knew HF was running a 20% off sale that ended yesterday and so I bit the bullet and purchased the harbor freight 43681 12x37 lathe; good reviews and just what I need size wise.

Well,If the web site selling experience is any indication I may already be in trouble. I had to read the on line manual to get the real specs and it looks like a cousin to the grizzly 12x37.

What I am wondering about is the measly $103 dollars they charged me for shipping. Will that put it in my driveway or will the truck driver show up with a semi with no lift gate and a temper. I tried speaking with HF associates yesterday and I couldn't get any straight answers; I don't think they are US based.

I was hoping one of you has had a similar experience recently and could tell me. If they can't put it in my driveway. I can get it delivered to work, which has a loading dock and my coworkers can set it on my truck.

Thanks,

Russ

[bobsch]

I've found standard shipping usually means a semi with, as you said, a driver with an attitude and no lift gate. It usually costs extra to have the local terminal re-load to a lift gate truck for local delivery.

[Al_The_Man]

I have also found that they will not deliver to residential area unless extra for the tail lift, but if they have a local wharehouse, I have had them off load it to their dock and allow you to pick it up with your own vehicle loaded using their forklift.
If you can get them to deliver to your dock at work, it probabally would be the best way.
Al.

[Russ Kaiser]

I will contact them and reschedule for work. That way, I don't have to worry about being home either.

Russ

[nguyenst]

I just got mine , exact same one you got with 20% off. It comes on freight for $104, no lift gate. You are responsible for the liftgate charges. The freight company will call you prior to delivery and tell you that it will cost $140 extra. Rediculous but that's how it is. I opt to rent a trailer from Uhaul for $20. Came to the freight center and pick up the lathe that way. They can forklift it into your trailer. When you get home, tilt the trailer and pull the crate out with a neighbor's help. Mine is still on the floor of the garage. Haven't figure out how to get it on the bench yet.

[Russ Kaiser]

Well, the lathe has arrived and is in the parts warehouse at work. The crate looks completely intact - good! And it's a big joker - not so good!

I think I am going to borrow a trailer to take it home, since getting it out of the bed of my truck will put the boom of the engine hoist at a high angle and make it hard to lift without interference.

Regardless, it looks like it will have to be un-crated on the trailer or truck and then lifted and I am concerned about rigging. Until I have it home I don't want to open the crate, so I am just looking at drawings and photos, but I don't see a convenient way to grab this thing other than to wrap a couple of chokers under the bed.

I certainly don't see any fittings designed for lifting and there is nothing in the manual other than a little blurb to move the apron and tailstock to the far end to help balance. I understand from nguyenst that the chip tray isn't attached so that should make things easier.

If anyone has any warnings or advice, I would love to hear it. The lathe weighs about 850 lbs.

[nguyenst]

I should be lifting mine sometime tomorrow onto the bench so will let you know how it goes.

Van

[Russ Kaiser]

Van,

I found a photo of a lifting clamp made from 2 pieces of channel on the 12x36 forum - I will be making one of these. I have already liberated the lifting eyes from a control cabinet at work (3/4 inch so plenty stout for the task) and I am going to go scrounge for the steel soon.

Luckily my employer lets us buy anything out of the scrap bin for the same price they get paid for it by the recycling outfit. That's just a few cents a lb. Most of the time, if the piece is small, they just let me have it.

Q. Who has the nicest car in town?

A. The man who runs the scrap steel yard, always buying low, always selling high.

[Spinnetti]

I just got mine , exact same one you got with 20% off. It comes on freight for $104, no lift gate. You are responsible for the liftgate charges. The freight company will call you prior to delivery and tell you that it will cost $140 extra. Rediculous but that's how it is. I opt to rent a trailer from Uhaul for $20. Came to the freight center and pick up the lathe that way. They can forklift it into your trailer. When you get home, tilt the trailer and pull the crate out with a neighbor's help. Mine is still on the floor of the garage. Haven't figure out how to get it on the bench yet.

Yep, that's the drill... the shipping co. called me, but upcharge was minimal. I forget exactly, but the guy at my request drove down my back lawn and put it right infront of my basement door (walkout).. I used a automotive cherry picker to move it in place.... (I have the Griz 12x37)

[nguyenst]

I got the lathe off the pallet first by lifting longitudinally so I can clear the pallet with the cherry picker.






I then put the lathe on some wooden blocks so I can raise it up high so the legs of the cherry picker will clear it. This way I can come in at it perpendicular to the lathe and lift it and push against the wall. Only problem now is finishing up the stand.

[GaryCorlew]

I bought that same exact lathe! In my opinion its a good lathe, I also used a cherry picker to get it out of my truck. I unboxed it on my truck then I used lifting slings to pick it up, I put 1 as close to the headstock as possible and the other I put in front of the apron so I could move it back and forth to get the balance right, Once I got it where I wanted it I then lifted it up enough to clear the skid/truck, then drove my truck out from under it. Mine is no longer manual, I cnc'ed it with a tool turret, ball screws, and VFD. It sure was a pleasant surprise to open up the box to find it green rather than that god awful red they show on the website!!

[Spinnetti]

I bought that same exact lathe! In my opinion its a good lathe, I also used a cherry picker to get it out of my truck. I unboxed it on my truck then I used lifting slings to pick it up, I put 1 as close to the headstock as possible and the other I put in front of the apron so I could move it back and forth to get the balance right, Once I got it where I wanted it I then lifted it up enough to clear the skid/truck, then drove my truck out from under it. Mine is no longer manual, I cnc'ed it with a tool turret, ball screws, and VFD. It sure was a pleasant surprise to open up the box to find it green rather than that god awful red they show on the website!!

I'd like to know (a lot) more about that if you don't mind... I have mine partially apart right now to do the same thing. I got some crummy ballscrews off ebay, but haven't figured it all out yet. I don't know how to do the sync for threading yet either. I was going to do it manual/cnc, but decided on pure cnc. I stripped out the entire carriage drive system, am changing the switch to be on top of the lathe only, and will remove most of the carriage too... I'd like to set it up as a gang but still have tail stock capability... Do you have a seperate thread somewhere?

Thanks!

[Russ Kaiser]

Hey Nguyenst,

Thanks for those great photos. GREEN, good! I still haven't opened my crate. Am I patient or what? We had some nasty weather that came through Sunday and I had 6 yards of dirt on my front lawn that needed to be graded before the Monsoon. So I put the appearance of my yard before setting the lathe and left it at work. It goes home today. :banana:

My stand is done and painted and it turned out nicely. I used three computer floor tiles from work scavenged from a bunch that delaminated for the top, and had a friend weld a platform to tie them together out of 1.5 inch tubing and angle.

I wish I had the room that you do. I am tool bound and have to move stuff around every time I want to get something done. Of course tools like the mill and lathe are pretty much fixed in position making space even more confining.

If I was a bachelor (not that I am wishing this ) I would have a 1 bedroom apartment tucked into the top corner of a 60 x 80 shop equipped with 14 ft roll up doors at opposite ends, 480 volt 3-phase power, and a beam hoist.

Russ

[GaryCorlew]

I'd like to know (a lot) more about that if you don't mind... I have mine partially apart right now to do the same thing. I got some crummy ballscrews off ebay, but haven't figured it all out yet. I don't know how to do the sync for threading yet either. I was going to do it manual/cnc, but decided on pure cnc. I stripped out the entire carriage drive system, am changing the switch to be on top of the lathe only, and will remove most of the carriage too... I'd like to set it up as a gang but still have tail stock capability... Do you have a seperate thread somewhere?

Thanks!

Sorry I didn't do a thread about it, I just went ahead and did it. I have a 1" ballscrew on Z and .625" on the X. Threading sync depends on what software you are going to use, mach3, you need a 1 slot disk, EMC2 you need an encoder(I use amt encoders). I also stripped out the whole carriage drive system, so If anyone is looking for parts I have them all, very little use maybe an hour or 2. I also have a VFD driving it 3 hp and 3 phase motor and an ATC, gang tooling seemed to be limiting to me and that is why I decided on an ATC.
I also have a couple of videos of it here:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1hOb_Qx3lI"]YouTube - 100_2044_xvid.avi[/nomedia]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3T8jZYUpcI"]YouTube - Diy Tool Changer[/nomedia]

[ViperTX]

Gary,

Do you have any additional info on the Diy Tool Changer?

Also HF has 2 lathes 12X36 (green) and 12x37(red)...which one are we talking about?

Thanks,
Paul

[GaryCorlew]

Gary,

Do you have any additional info on the Diy Tool Changer?

Also HF has 2 lathes 12X36 (green) and 12x37(red)...which one are we talking about?

Thanks,
Paul

Mine is the 12x37and mine is green(red on the hf website:
12" x 37" Heavy Duty Geared Head Metalworking Gap Bed Lathe

The toolchanger is based on this design
cnc-projects

After I started converting the dimensions to us, some of the dimensions were interferance fits so I began my own design based on his, As with most zoners its never done but it works very well!

[Spinnetti]

Sorry I didn't do a thread about it, I just went ahead and did it. I have a 1" ballscrew on Z and .625" on the X. Threading sync depends on what software you are going to use, mach3, you need a 1 slot disk, EMC2 you need an encoder(I use amt encoders). I also stripped out the whole carriage drive system, so If anyone is looking for parts I have them all, very little use maybe an hour or 2. I also have a VFD driving it 3 hp and 3 phase motor and an ATC, gang tooling seemed to be limiting to me and that is why I decided on an ATC.
I also have a couple of videos of it here:
YouTube - 100_2044_xvid.avi

YouTube - Diy Tool Changer

Thanks for the links.. would you happen to have any pics of the changes you did for z and x? I'm not that experienced at this, so its always nice to see what somebody else did. I did my own mill ballscrews and servos, but haven't done a lathe before.

THnx.

[GaryCorlew]

Here you go, I don't know why, but when I resized them they turned balck and white

[cram1972]

Hey everyone.

I have been looking at lathes for months now, but I just started looking hard at this exact same one you guys got at HF

Have any of you had time to work with them yet? If so, I would appreciate any feedback you may have. According the pics I see that the lathe has levers on the gear box instead of dials like the image on HF's site shows. Any other differences noticed you may want to share with us? How do you guys like this machine?

I have narrowed my search to a Grizzly, Enco, or now possibly the HF 12x37, which is really appealing to me with 20% off discount.

Thanks ahead of time.

[Russ Kaiser]

I just saw your question cram1972. I will try to take some photos and make another post as soon as I can but here are my first impressions of this lathe.

This lathe has a Norton Lever transmission for feed; it is also green, absolutely nothing like the photo on the web site (if they haven't fixed it since I purchased mine). The manual available for download is correct for what they shipped me.

Mine arrived well crated with no visible damage to the crate. It was not covered by heavy red grease as some Chinese tools I have purchased, all the machined iron surfaces were covered with a very heavy oil that was easy to clean off.

The only issue with mine was a slight wobble in the hand crank for the cross slide. It turns freely and the slide does not bind, but I believe the end of the shaft is tweaked a couple of thousands. I am going to disassemble this and order the part before my warranty expires. I called harbor freight immediately about the issue but told them I had not identified the part that needed replacing. Customer service is very attentive but be aware that the parts can take 10 to 20 weeks to arrive. The lathe works perfectly as is.

I have found a few small places of "Painted Sand" where the casting was not properly cleaned before it was finished. The castings are fairly rough, but the machined surfaces look fantastic. I find it interesting also that their foundry sand is light colored and large grained.

All the lathe controls: apron movement, cross slide, and compound work smoothly. The lathe is fairly quiet, and the spindle runs coolly. I ran the spindle for ten minutes in each speed finishing up with 1600 RPM and the spindle was very warm but by no means hot.

The spindle has 18 speeds, but you have to change pulleys to get 9 of them. The two sets of speeds are so close together, I can't imagine going through the trouble. Mine came set up for the higher bracket. Keep in mind that I machine wood and brass and very little steel.

This lathe does not come with a drill arbor so you will need to order one. It has two dead centers, a nice live center, an adapter shaft for 5mt to 3MT so you can place a center in the spindle.

This is a threaded spindle lathe. Many will pass it by just for this reason, but for me it is not a big deal. I will not change chucks often. I have not mounted the 4 jaw chuck as yet. I measured the run-out of the 3 jaw at tad less than 0.003 at the end of a precision ground 3/8 by 6 inch shaft, call it 4 inches away from the jaws. This is out of the box without disassembling and cleaning the chuck and after I used the lathe to make a part of its tool holder. The 3-jaw and 4-jaw chucks come with their own adapter plates.

If you have any other questions or would like a specific photo, just let me know. I think the lathe is a good deal. I have made some small parts on it already with good results. My previous lathe was a 7x14 so this is a big step up of me. If I had seen one in a show room I would have still purchased it for the price I paid which was just shy of 2100 including state tax and delivery.