Perhaps that is the difference, though the owner of Lathemaster was very helpful in advise when I was setting up my HF. I bought all my tooling and non-HF pieces from him, of course.
From what runout and parallelism checks I did, the HF was the equal of the Lathemaster. Maybe mine was a good one, and others aren't? Yahoo forums, however, seem to show folks are happy with the machine generally.
The HF was under $500 for me, including tax and with free pickup at the local store. Lathemaster would have ended up over $800 as I recall. Being a toy for me, I really couldn't justify the additional. And afterall, you need to plan on at least $200-300 minimum in goodies later (QCTP, indexable bits, boring bars, blank tool bits, drill chuck, etc)

Mr. Cover;
Thanks for respondin! I gues if I ever get to the point of turning out some of the incredable titanium work as yourself I will have to step up to a beter machine.

I had a Taig and would not recommend it to anyone, it is a mini lathe for turning mini parts, mostly a toy not meant for any real work. It also has no screw cutting capability. I currently have a Grizly 7x12 and it was fine right out of the box, I didn't see the need to do anything to it, I must have just got lucky and got the one they made right in that batch. One of the things I like about it is that it has a big enuf hole thru the spindle that I can turn my grips right on the rod, I make bamboo rods so I have something a bit more substancial to tighten the chuck against. It also works fine on ferrule stations and reel seat inserts. I haven't got around to making ferrules yet, but that's more due to the scarcity of tubing as anything else.
john

Ray (or anyone else) - I'd like two opinons:

1) what do you think of the Jet min-lathe offered at last Spring at the Show for $150?

2) if you don't like that one, what do you like for a wood lathe?

Please note that we are able to create the grips we want using a relatively crude solution now, but I'd like to add a dedicated capability to our shop.

Now, I know that perhaps "precision" is not a term some of you would apply to a wood lathe but we need a small machine for turning cork and exotic woods, maybe creating wood reel-seats. I'm into metalwork, although I'll probably regret saying that within the time it takes me to hit "send" for this message.

Thanks in advance
Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Russ,

I think one thing that needs to be said in this thread is that intended purpose is important but it seems that it is being discounted. I will be the first to say that a couple hundred dollar import mini metal lathe lathe is not as good as a $2,000 high end lathe, BUT, If you're just turning out wood, acrylic, etc reel seats and maybe winding checks and stuff like that, it's perfectly suitable. If it came down to spending $300 for a mini or going without rather than spend a couple thousand, I would opt for the cheapie every time. Same with wood lathes. A Jet mini like yours (or Turncrafter Pro like mine, Delta, Ricon, etc) is more than capable of doing anything that a rod builder would ever do, PLUS!! I do game calls , bottle stoppers, small bowels and various other little projects with my Turncrafter and if I had to come up with the money and room for a high end lathe, I'd still be hand sanding cork. You have to keep in mind that in addition to the lathe, you have the expense of tools, chucks, sharpening systems, etc. One thing that I do plan on adding is the variable speed conversion kit from Penn State.

I'm not in any way demeaning top of the line high end tools but for most this is a hobby or small, part time business and they have to weigh the end use versus the cost! Just my opinion!!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

That is very true Russ and thank you for pointing that out.

When I look at a tool the first thing that pops in my head is productivity. How fast and accurately will machine X make a part compared to machine Y.

To me the tools to make the rod are no different than a rod I make with it. The process is as big a part of the equation as the finished product. So the quality and performance has to be there for me and that bias plays into my opinions.

If all a person is doing is occasionally turning cork and retrofitting reel seat barrels where tight tolerances and repeatability are not needed anything you pick up that will spin the material will work whether it is a wood or metal lathe.

Ray