# Question about deal on Craftsman lathe



## Ted78 (Dec 3, 2012)

Hey guys, I've been wanting to try my hand at wood turning for a while, but funds, as always, are tight. I saw an old Craftsman lathe on Craigslist here. Looks like an 80's era thing with a tube for a bed. He only wants $25 for it which seems like a good deal and cheap way to try my hand at turning (I have ZERO experience) BUT it seems to be missing the tool rest and banjo. E-bay sellers want about $20 for each of those pieces, add shipping and….More than I'm gonna spend. So my question is are these two pieces something one could cobble together on the cheap or is this the kind of thing where my heck of deal turns into spending $200 on a $50 tool?


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

After getting that kind I deal on the lathe, I wouldn't fret much over spending that much that the banjo. 
However, if buying a new rest, I'd opt for a better rest. 
Penn state, PSI, (sorry, not at my computer to post links) sells some decent rests.

I've had the craftsman single tube lathe and several if it's china made clones. 
It's not a bad starter lathe and you can do a lot of work on it.

As for spending several hundred on turning, I have bad news for you. 
When I first got into turning, I was told that the lathe was the cheap part. 
I never knew how true that was. 
If you start liking turning, it is a slippery slope of a pit, you'll eventually spend much more than several hundred.


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## PaulDoug (Sep 26, 2013)

I'm just going to throw this out there, I have never had one of the "tube" bed lathes, so take this for what it is worth. I've been around wood turning for a while and have not heard good things about the tube bed lathes. I've heard that the tubes flex and that causes problems with the turning. I'm just saying be cautious and do some research on them. I'd hate to read you had a bad experience and got discouraged. Turning is very fun and rewarding. And, yes the lathe is the cheapest part of the hobby, but you can move into it gradually.


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

William is speaking the absolute and minimal truth. You said you are a beginning turner, how experienced
are you at making things? The banjo and tool rest can be made for any lathe, but a certain amount of
skill and tools are needed. I needed to make some "things" for my lathe, so I acquired a cross slide rest
and some adapters, this is where the cost starts to escalate, or the time and handyman part are required
to make something without it being Rube Goldberg. It is a wonderful hobby and right now I have a few
rough bowls turned from about 10' of spalted birch log that are drying. I do not know how they will turn
out, but I can always use firewood. Send a message to the seller and make sure the motor is included.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

The lathe could also need new bearings as well. I'd look for a complete unit - how about the Sprunger on your CL? If you're gonna spend money anyway on a rest and a base….

http://lincoln.craigslist.org/tls/4294676534.html


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## bigogre (Jul 7, 2012)

Don't buy it. My first lathe was a craftsman tube lathe, and it was by far the most miserable piece of junk tool I have ever used. Harbor freight has new ones for cheap, and they have gotten great reviews.

Don't buy it. I didn't even grace mine with a trip to the scrap yard. Threw that sucker in the trash.

Don't buy it. Anything that you get as an attachment will have to be retrofitted to this lathe, and won't work when you upgrade.

Don't buy it. I spent a lot of time reworking it, trying to get the centers to line up, and there is a little flat bar under the tube that is pop riveted on that will need replaced when you try to turn anything of decent size.

Oh, and one more thing, don't buy it.

It would be better to take $25 and spend $8 on a premium steak, then take the 17 leftover dollars and start a fire to cook the steak on it.


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## Ted78 (Dec 3, 2012)

Think I may go ahead and buy it. I am fairly experienced at making 'things' I just have never had access to a lathe. dhazelton that Sprunger lathe looks nice, but I don't have $200, and if I did there are a dozen people in line for it. I'm not going to spend money on a rest and base I don't have money for those either. I was wondering if it was feasible to make those parts. Maybe someday I can just go spend money to buy a nice tool and enjoy it but that day it not here yet.

What I'm hearing here though is that this could be an aspect of woodworking I can't afford. Where does the expense lie? turning tools? wood? I've been woodworking for a while now and I sure see the opportunity to spends lots of money on it I've managed to do it pretty cheaply so far utilizing salvaged wood, and second hand tools. Is there something unique to turning that makes it expensive?

Oh and Bluepine, I've got no problem with Rube Goldberg. Rednecked, cobbled together and jury-rigged are all good friends of mine.


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## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

I think bigogre should be rewarded for his comment. It's the best advice I've seen a in a looong time…..... hehehehe….... Jerry (in Tucson)


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

Ted, learning to turn is not really expensive at all. The problem is that once you get some practice at making some real pretty firewood, you'll wish to start acquiring all the tools and accessories to make all sorts of things. 
Presently, we won't mention the cost of the lathe, but I have hundreds tied up in bowl turning tools an accessories. For pens, if I include all the kits I've bought to date, it easily goes over a thousand. 
Now, before you jump to any conclusions that I have money, the pens I've made with all those kits just happens to be what has helped me finance all the other expenses.

Oh, and I am also dreaming up ways daily to pay for a better, and much more expensive, new lathe.

So turning itself, in my opinion, is not expensive at all. I got into turning on less than a hundred bucks. Almost immediately though, it started getting much more expensive, and fast. 
Just a couple of weeks ago I ordered close to two hundred dollars worth of spindle gouges.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Tube lathes are not the most popular but for $20 I'd buy it for parts. I bought a Craftsman lathe (not tube) that the previous owners hated as much or more than bigogre hated his so I got it cheap. I took it apart and realized that someone had assembled it poorly, an hour and some small effort on my part and I had it spinning like a top.

Shopnotes designed a decent wood banjo/tool rest and actually a whole lathe if you want to build your own. Here is the tool rest.


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## Ted78 (Dec 3, 2012)

bigoger, That's a pretty convincing argument. I had an 80's Craftsman direct drive table saw that deserves a special place in hell right next to your lathe. The instruction manual for ripping a 2×4 should have read
1. locate vise grips
2. Attempt to get fence roughly parallel to blade
3. remove battery from smoke alarm
4. don hearing and eye protection (not for the ungodly loud saw and bits of carbide teeth that are going to get thrown at you, but for the much louder and visceral onslaught of curse words that are about to spew from your mouth.)
5. remove wood mangling wood hurlers. They are sometimes quite ironically called anti-kickback pawls.
6. Attempt to get fence roughly parallel to blade
7. remove wobbly piece of tin can (sometimes referred to as a splitter and strategically placed by the factory about 4 foot behind and about 1/8" to the right of the blade
8. call the USGS and let them know their seismograph readings they about to read are not tectonic plates shifting deep within the earth's crust, just vibration from your saw.
9. decide a zero tolerance throat plate might be a good idea, but realize bizarre design of aluminum table makes anything but the stock throat plate near impossible to fit.
10. Attempt to get fence roughly parallel to blade
11. Begin feeding stock through and wonder if you installed blade backwards as your scroll saw cuts faster
12. determine blade is not in backwards but install a brand new sharp one just in case
13. continue feeding stock through before realizing visibility in shop has been reduced to about 2 foot.
14. Open windows to clear out smoke.
15. Use butter knife to finish ripping board and marvel at it's speed, efficiency.


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## Ted78 (Dec 3, 2012)

Rick M. That's exactly what i need, thanks for the post.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Is this the one? Do not waste your time or money.

http://lincoln.craigslist.org/tls/4265810650.html

Would rather see you save some money and make an offer on a lathe that looks like this one.

http://lincoln.craigslist.org/tls/4294676534.html

Definitely stay away from junk like this:
http://omaha.craigslist.org/tls/4273543250.html


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

Rick, what issue of shop notes is that?
I may be interested in building the whole lathe. 
I have two lathes (one is the ridgid version of the single tube) but I love building my own tools.


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## JollyGreen67 (Nov 1, 2010)

I had one of them Craftsman tube thingee lathes, what a bunch of crap!


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## 228861 (Feb 23, 2009)

I agree with DON'T BUY IT ! JUNK! JUNK! JUNK! It's like buying a cheep guitar to learn on. it looks bad,sounds bad,tunes bad,and you loose interest fast. Get something made out of cast iron. Even if you have to put bearings in it you will be ahead of the game.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

The centers alone are worth $20 on ebay, it's a zero risk purchase. Buy the lathe, try it out and if you hate it use the parts to build a wood lathe or part out the spindle, bearings, centers, then scrap the rest.

William … issue 73. Same issue has a nice rolling lathe tool cabinet which I would build if I had the room for it.
http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/073/


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/3720

You will end up with this much in the Craftsman before you throw a chip. Get the new one and I think the lathe is as good as or possibly better than the Craftsman.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

By that measure he'll be $400 + in the HF lathe before ever throwing a chip, though I agree it is a better lathe. I'm guessing that Ted doesn't have $400 to throw into a lathe or else he wouldn't be asking about the Craftsman but maybe that is a bad assumption on my part.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Are parts available for it?


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

I would never recommend someone buy a used lathe that is not complete. Think the OP, worried about cost of buying tool rest base or tool rest from E-bay. Base alone will run $30 and that will not get him up and running. Cannot tell you where to buy an after market tool rest for less than $50 unless you find one at a flea market.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CRAFTSMAN-12-inch-Wood-Lathe-Parts-Base-Holder-for-Tool-Rest-New-Never-Used-/331109435656?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d17a90908

You can find those old Sears mono tube lathes complete selling for less than $100 if patient.

Speaking from personal experience any time you need wrenches or pliers to tighten tool rest base or tool rest while turning creating an accident waiting to happen!


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

I wouldn't spend $100 on a tube lathe. I have less than that in both my cast iron lathes but I'm very patient and love a bargain.

Knothead, nuts, washers, bearings, centers, chuck inserts/adapters are commonly available. Craftsman made mediocre lathes but they made a lot of them and most from off the shelf parts except for castings and spindles of course.


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## PaulDoug (Sep 26, 2013)

With the input you received and you buy that lathe, will …. I know people that have had that lathe and they would all agree with the "don't buy it" crowd.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

I can remember when higher end companies had tube lathes in their line-up namely Record, Nova, Wood Fast. Only maker I know of still making and selling tube lathes today is Record Power in UK. Can remember when more than one vender here in the US carried these lathe.

http://www.recordpower.co.uk/category/woodturning

Lot more entry level tube lathe still around made for and sold by Harbor Freight, Rigid, and Sears. 
Many of the people selling these entry level tube lathes today just want them gone and will take less than $100 for them. Then you have people that think they are sitting on a gold mine.

If on a very tight budget and find a complete tube lathe in working order for less than $100. Really hard for me to tell you to buy or not to buy.

Other that repeating all the cons already posted on entry level tube lathes would tell you do not fall in love with your bargain. Parts if available expensive.


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## Randy_ATX (Sep 18, 2011)

If it comes with the motor, that alone is worth picking this deal up for $25.00.


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## jimintx (Jan 23, 2014)

I recently removed the motor from my Craftsman tube lathe. I set all the rest of it out on the curb for the trash collection. If i had read this first i would have given it to Ted78, although shipping it would be costly.

I bought it new in about '90-'93, as I recall. It simply was not any fun to fart with it. But I fully understand the situation of wanting to try lathe work for as little as possible. That's exactly how i ended up with that lathe.

I wish you luck. I see very few wood lathes for sale on the C'lists around here.

Oh, yeah - I kept the motor, because it runs fine, and might be useful for some other project.

...


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

I like to tinker too much to throw out a working lathe. I would have made a drum sander or dedicated polisher of it.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Rick M., my personal experience with Craftsman is that they make a few changes from the OEM parts so all parts do not interchange. Even what is thought to be common parts aren't really common but only available through Sears. I worked as an independent sales rep for several years. Some manufacturers I called on refused to do business with Sears due to their manufacturing practices.
I saw a lady in KY who tried to get a bolt for a riding lawnmower. The part was no longer available from Sears and was an odd size that an off-the-shelf bolt wouldn't fit.
I had a gunsmithing business many years ago. I found shotgun parts for Sears won't all interchange with the OEM parts. Sears only keeps parts to last for a few years, based on what they think will need replacing over that time.
Consequently, I don't buy anything that is from Sears.


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## jimintx (Jan 23, 2014)

Rick M., you're probably right. I guess I prefer to tinker with other things than making my own power tools. At least i did keep the working motor for some possible project. 
That old tube lathe was in rusty condition, and it is awkward to move and store since it is not all one unit but must be bolted down to something like a tabletop or plywood board to keep it together. Storing the motor takes up a lot less space than the whole lathe, and space is almost as precious as time.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

By off the shelf I just mean (fairly) commonly available but you're right, it might not be something you can buy at just any hardware store. For example my 1958 (US made) Craftsman uses mixed imperial/metric bearings. Now why? Why would anyone ever make a mixed imperial/metric (OD/ID) bearing? But they do make them and are not hard to find but it isn't something you'd find at most local hardware stores.


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

Rick that is what Delta used on a lot of its equipment, along with an offset inner race to make it more of 
an OEM part. For some reason, turning a lot of big long projects maybe, I keep a spare set of bearings on
hand for my 1950's Delta lathe.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Rick M., I went crazy trying to find the SAE size of the oil plug on a 1986 Buick Park Avenue. I finally discovered that it was 16 mm. Not really trusting of Sears products.


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

In 1980 the car manufacturers started going metric, by 1984 they were 50% to 80% metric depending on 
which manufacturer, since 1990 almost all parts are metric including Caterpiller and all other heavy equipment,
it was the only way the US could compete in a world wide market.


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