Craftex Lathes?

From what I've read, in general they fall somewhere between Harbor Freight and Grizzly as far as lathe reputation. Potentially OK, but not really made by a company that knows lathes. From the looks of things, they quite likely are coming out of the same Asian factory as HF and Griz lathes (as well as plenty of other brands). I think the suitability depends a lot on the particular model. They have some electronic variable speed lathes with lots of cast iron that look pretty decent, and they have some cheaper Reeves drive models with stamped steel that probably aren't worth the gasoline it would take to drive to the store and pick one up.

Were you looking at a specific model?
 
It's this one. The gentleman has coppied the text from the Busy Bee site as the description in his ad. Busy Bee is selling it right now for $429, which makes me think I should offer about $275 to start, as it likely won't have any warranties on it if I buy it.

It's in Toronto, too, so it will be a good chance to visit my daughters... :D

Oh, the stamped steel ones look awfully like my HF lathe.
 
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Personally, I'd pass on it. Or maybe offer about $100 and not be willing to negotiate higher. With 1/2 HP and a 600 RPM minimum speed, it's pretty limited as far as bowl turning...it should be OK for spindle work as long as the headstock and tailstock line up. It looks eerily similar to this 3/4 HP lathe that HF sells for about $275:

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-x-33-3-8-eighth-inch-wood-lathe-with-reversible-head-34706.html

I totally understand your anxiousness to step up to a better lathe, but I don't think this one is it. ;)
 
His ad say "variable speed gives almost infinite control"... that's a Reeves unit which will likely have various speed settings, but you will be limited to those settings... and the legs in the picture look like stamped steel instead of cast iron... it'll be pretty light weight and you'll get some wobble if you put an out of balance piece on it... I had one similar from Home Depot (Ridgid brand) and it almost left the shop one day when I put a larger out of balance blank on it...
 
It clearly has 10 speed settings. I'm in a bind as I want a better lathe than the HF one that I am trying to sell, but the $350 this guy is asking strains my budget a little.

Being able to turn spindles at least 36" long, and to turn bowls up to say, 12", is very desirable.

I've decided not to get a Beaver lathe, in spite of the good reputation they have in Canada, as it doesn't have a MT in the headstock, and the selection of spur centres is severely limited as they are not manufactured any more.

I'm trying to avoid tubular ways and stamped steel, which pretty much eliminates Mastercraft and some Craftsman lathes. I would prefer to have variable speed, but as I'm not doing production work, I can afford the extra few minutes to change pulleys.So, I've got a bit of time to look for a laathe, and to see what comes up on Kijiji (Canada's Craigslist.)

Anyway, thanks very much for the continued advice.
 
Hi Roger
I have that very lathe. It works but very shortly after you get past the "new tool" feeling you will want to get rid of it.
Forget that stand, I was lucky i had a heavy steel bench i brought with me from SA which i mounted mine on but that bent sheet metal stand is totally a waste of time.
The castings are rough and so are the tool rests and the biggest dissapointment to me was when i lined up the tailstock and headstock and found they dont meet in the center.
While this looks like the grizzly version, i have been to grizzlys store several times and checked out their product each time. Its very clear theirs is a cut above craftex and you can see it in the grinding and finish of the bed and operation of the tool rests.

Since you have a desire to get further into the lathe work than your current lathe is permitting, I urge you to save a bit more towards your budget and buy a better model. You will only marginally be upgrading from where you are now and in my opinion quickly realise you have jumped from frying pan into fire with this lathe.

Even turning spindles we move and adjust tool rests frequently on lathe work. Its only when one recognises this that the rests get a fair hearing in terms of smoothness of operation and ease of adjustment.

I know one can buy or make rests but its the base of the rest i am refering to as well.

And whilst our friends here particularly Vaughn if my memory serves me correct advised me on a method by which i could compensate for the lack of the tailstock and headstock meeting, it would be so much more enjoyable not to be concious of having to do this each time i move it.

I am now of the opinion that its far better to save and buy a good machine than make do with less than adequate performance of these "marketing devices" because that is all i think they are.

Best of luck in making this choice were i buying today in your situation i would be looking to purchase one of the minis that have nice well machined beds and variable speed drive and overall a smaller footprint still capable of doing spindle work.

Consider if you want to do spindle work what happens when the two points at each end dont meet. :)
 
OK, how about this lathe? This one has a good reputation, and the advantage for me that I can go visit my brother in West Chester, go to their store and load it onto my truck and come home. The price is workable, and my bro probably won't mind me dropping by again. :rolleyes: I have dealt with this company before, and found them to be very helpful and eager to please their customers.
 
Yup I dont know that particular lathe but that is more like I would recommend. Maybe someone knows this exact lathe and can comment. What i see i like is that the variable speed looking at the fact that it also comes with the bed extension makes it cool for long spindles and the rest surface looks way better than craftex, but nothing beats checking it out first hand. Way better than a craftex unit inmo.
 
The Penn State lathe is definitely a step up from the Craftex. Not a great mini lathe, but pretty decent. It probably isn't up to the task for turning 12" bowls, but it will handle smaller stuff and the spindle turning you have in mind.
 
OK, how about this lathe? This one has a good reputation, and the advantage for me that I can go visit my brother in West Chester, go to their store and load it onto my truck and come home. The price is workable, and my bro probably won't mind me dropping by again. :rolleyes: I have dealt with this company before, and found them to be very helpful and eager to please their customers.

Roger,
If your going to spend that much money, why not go to the Grizzly G0658 it's a 12 x 20 with true variable speed and you have a showroom in Muncy, PA which is (and I'm assuming your brother is in West Chester PA) is on the way.... I've never worked on a Grizzly, but a number of turners have and do, (Frank Fusco being one I know of).... you'll get a little larger lathe.
 
Oh yeah i second what Chuck is saying Roger. And if you stay with your brother for a couple of days when you bring it back you will have saved the HST too on your duty free allowance. :) But you will pay sales tax at the store in Muncy same for Penn State btw.
 
It clearly has 10 speed settings. I'm in a bind as I want a better lathe than the HF one that I am trying to sell, but the $350 this guy is asking strains my budget a little...

I know this lathe is water under the bridge now, but just for clarification, that lathe may have 10 speed markings on the dial, but being a Reeves drive, you can set the speed to any spot between the markings, too. (Within the speed range it provides, of course.)

Also, that guy is on drugs if he thinks he can get $350 for a used lathe that's available new from other outlets for $250. :D
 
Supplementary question here: what speed range should I be looking at to do bowls?

With bowl turning, the slower the lathe can go, the bigger the bowl you can turn. When you first start roughing out a blank, it's sometimes necessary to keep the speed low until you get things round and better balanced. These are just rough guesses, but for bowls in the 6" (or thereabouts) and under range, I could probably do fine with a slow speed of 500 to 600 RPM. In the 6" to 12" range, it's nice to be able to go a bit slower when starting, maybe 400 to 500 RPM. I've turned blanks that were over 24", and for starting those, I was glad my lathe can go slower than 100 RPM. One thing to keep in mind, particularly with mini and midi lathes, is that the lower end of the speed range is also the lower end of the torque range. I've found that at 200 to 400 (or so) RPM, I can stall a mini or midi lathe pretty easily by simply taking a moderately aggressive cut with a bowl gouge.

For sanding, I typically run my lathe at the slower end of the scale -- 100 to 200 RPM -- although lot of folks run tend to faster than that when sanding. (I used to do it, too, until I found that I got better end results in less time by slowing down the lathe.)
 
Roger, I have two of those turncrafter lathes at school. Quite honestly, they do what the Jet minis do. So unless you are stepping up to the VS Jet, that turncrafter is a fine lathe and will do a lot of work. Unlike the HF its handles are like the Jet and are user friendly and don't require a wrench. It has a spindle lock on it if you want to build a bracket for your router and flute spindles even.
 
Roger, I have two of those turncrafter lathes at school. Quite honestly, they do what the Jet minis do. So unless you are stepping up to the VS Jet, that turncrafter is a fine lathe and will do a lot of work. Unlike the HF its handles are like the Jet and are user friendly and don't require a wrench. It has a spindle lock on it if you want to build a bracket for your router and flute spindles even.

Thanks very much for the recommendation. I do have a router lathe here, but I haven't used it so far. It needs a little tuning, but should still work as it is. I think my mind is made up on this lathe. :)
 
Roger if it were me I would pass on that lathe and echo what Vaughn said. As Rob said you won't have it long as the low speed is to high for bowls and the stand is weak. If you are looking at the PSI lathe instead of the 10" I would get this one for slightly more but has more to offer. http://www.pennstateind.com/store/TCLC12WB.html It is a 12" with a bed extension included, has 1 hp and 150 rpm to 4000 rpm. I know 3 people including my brother that has one and are extremely happy with it. With the bed extension you can turn a spindle 40".
 
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