[fatal-exception]

Hi all. Well, I finally got my new Craftex BT089 lathe up and running in my shop. I just thought that I would share my thoughts on the lathe after only 3 days of using it. I've read both good and bad about the lathe.

Here's a link to it: http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=CT089

First off, it's a huge improvement over the mini lathe I've had for a few years. This is no supprise, seeing as it weighs about 10 times as much.

For a Chinese product, I was suprised how well it was finished. Mine came basically ready to run. There was only light grease that had to be cleaned off, and the oil in the gearbox is very clean. I will probably change it after a month or so of usage. It looks like some parts were painted after the machine was assembled, since there was paint on things like the dials and spindle, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned off.

I've read that some guys have dials that are a mix of imperial and metric. Not the case on this one, all the dials are labeled correctly in imperial. The backlash on the carriage is .002" and .001 on the compound, which is very good if you ask me.

I've used the 3 jaw, 4 jaw, and faceplate. They all fit properly on the spindle and are easy to swap. (It's a PITA to change the chuck on the mini lathe compared to this lathe.)

Once you understand the diagrams for the gear changing, it's a pretty quick task to change them for various threads. The gears fit well on their respective posts, and the adjustments are easy to get to. There is quite a bit of backlash in the drivetrain, but it all works smoothly.

The carriage and compound ways are scraped flat, which is nice to see. The gibs aren't polished, but they do have a nice finish.

The tailstock is heavy duty with an MT3 taper. The handwheel is large and very free wheeling. I should have built a cam lock for the tailstock on the mini lathe years ago.

The ways are in perfect shape, no dings or scratches. Oh, and they are "Hardened and Grinded". I love the Chinglish... Speaking of which, the user manual is utterly useless. This wasn't a surpise for me since I downloaded it and read through it before the machine arrived.

I guess the only major problem I see is the shifter to switch from fine longitudinal feed to fine cross feed. If you are fine feeding towards the chuck and you take it out of gear, if you push too far, the carriage will start to cross feed into the workpiece! (nuts)This has to be a design mistake. I'll just have to be ultra careful.

I don't know why there is no threading dial. I'm contacting Busy Bee right now to see if this was something that should have been on the machine. There's a sticker expaining the threading dial on the carriage, but no dial. Regardless, I've found a suitable way to thread without one, without having to stop or reverse the motor, although this also works. I can explain it if anyone cares...

All in all, I think that I got good value for my money. Like someone else mentioned, some new bolts and a file are required to touch up some things, but in general, it's pretty good chinese quality.


Hope this helps some of you that are looking at the same machine.

The pictures are of boring the QCTP body to fit the compound slide, and a new handle for the compound.

Take care,
Paul