The drill press needed a pulley, and belt guard, the planer a motor and stand.

If you don't mind a little work you can repair these "Old" machines for usually less than the cost of a cheap "New" machine that probably won't last as long as the "Old" machine.

This is fairly true because if I enjoy this hobby of turning and wood working, for a lathe I do plan on investing in a full sized lathe I've seen a lot of people using the harbor freight lathe and had good luck with it but not sure on that just as of yet.

On 5/24/2020 at 11:46 AM, AndrewB said:

went to dig in with the chisel and next thing I know i have a chunk flyin out at me lol. 

Yeah, I'm NOT a turner, but if you don't have it...get a good face shield, eye protection, hearing protection, breathing protection...   I know that sounds like a lot, but many of the turners here can tell you of flying chunks and allergies to certain types of woods.

 

Thank you for your service. 

already have all of that stuff lol I was working with metal and bladesmithing before I started into this area.

The only downside I am seeing so far with this Wen 12 by 18 inch lathe is that I'm finding that the motor tends to get hot after using it for a bit not sure why that is.  Even my belt sander motor doesn't get as hot, I could only assume that would be simple due to the fact that I've actually been putting some load onto it while carving into the wood.  Not too sure exactly.  But I think I do want to invest in the bigger lathe, I'm thinking about the harbor freight one as I said but making an actual bench for the lathe to sit on rather than the feet it comes with not sure if that's fully feezable since I've been getting pretty bored with gaming lately LOL.  Not sure if anybody here actually has the harbor freight lathe or not.

I am in no way a sponsor or working with the company.  If you want a good lathe with other options, and have limited space, a Shopsmith will do rather well.  The one limitation I have with Shopsmith is that the lowest speed is 750 rpms.  There are times and situations in which it would be nice to get down to about 100, but for spindles it works fine.  Just a thought to consider.  And, you can get a good one for about $500 to $1000 with table, saw blades and possibly a bandsaw or jointer or both.  

Hi there.