Tool Review: Harbor Freight 5 Speed Bench Top Lathe #65345

This is the Harbor Freight mini Lathe. I decided to buy this after tons of research. I found that Grizzly, and a few other companies sell this same lathe for $350 and up. Granted they may have certain things that this one doesn't, but they are all basically the same unit and the differences don't qualify the price difference. I bought mine for $195 on sale, plus used the rarely found 25% off coupon. So I actually got this for about $150. That's $200 less than the grizzly.

It comes well packed and is very heavy for its size. The base is solid cast iron, as are all the parts. The motor power's the lathe via pulleys, and a grooved belt. The speeds are changed by moving the belt steps up, or down. Changing the speed is very easy. It uses normal size tapers for the head stock and tail stock, so it is easy to order accessories online. It comes with a spur, and a 4" bowl base which is nice. It can turn bowl blanks up to 10" in diameter, and material as long as 18".

Using this lathe is a dream, it doesn't vibrate at all. The motor is very strong and I have yet to stall it out during turning. All of the adjustments to put in a work piece are tool less and easy to use.

You really just can't ask for a better lathe of this size. It is WELL worth the price.