Thread: Hare & Forbes lathe

I checked one of these out at H&F last week, as you say, it pretty much has everything.

The stand is better than I thought and is tailor made for this particular lathe, with the bolt holes on a flat plate as opposed to all others I have seen that have their bolt holes in thin metal strips.

The fact that you get a short and a long tool rest appears to be a bonus to me, especially on something like this that is relatively cheap.

The price is quite sharp, no doubt aided by the smaller motor that others with an almost identical bed body and head and tail stock units, but running a larger 745W motor.

They are very new so I don't think there will be too many people with one, but you never know.

Mick.

The motor spec is interesting.
It's rated as a 240V x 550W motor that draws 6A , which is almost 3x more than is usually needed ie a 500W motor needs about 2-3A.
Reading the manual says it uses a DC motor but then I wonder why it then needs to use two different belt positions because DC motors should easily cope with the claimed 8:1 speed. For example the Teknatool Nova Comet has a speed range of 16:1 with no belt changes.
Some of extra current required will be due to converting the AC to DC, and the result of small motor inefficiency which is normal, but I do wonder a bit about the quality of the AC to DC converter / controller.
This may also explain the need for a belt change to maintain the power spec.
Most folks probably wont notice anything unless it's loaded up with a largish lump of wood and given it has 14" swing I suspect some users will want to do this.

Yes!! I have this exact lathe. There was an issue with the EVS motherboard, but it was swapped out no issue and the ones left in stock will have had them replaced. The motor used to stop dead, no wind down, like coasting to a stop. I did have an issue with a catch on a small block of burl where the block and chuck came off whilst in operation and a change of undies was required. But the EVS swap out has fixed that issue. I have had access to several lathes at my club, and it stands up to a lot of the big ones, as in functions which other mini/midi lathes don't have. the main points for me was in this order, 1. Price, 2. EVS. And this met both criteria. But as in many circumstances, you get what you pay for, the tail stock with point to point I thought was off, but when I slide it up to the pen mandrel, the saver goes over with no adjustment from me, so I'm thinking the points on the spur drive are not right. It also has reverse, which is great when sanding as it kicks it up a notch.

i will be getting the bed extension, when I extend my garage, but apart from that, it's a sturdy little monkey, and perfect for what I need. I like making my own handles, and unfortunately this needs the bed extension for that, so I go to my club and use the big kahuna for drilling the tang, then back home to finish the masterpiece.

best of luck, hopefully I have been helpful.

Originally Posted by Fumbler

Yes!! I have this exact lathe. There was an issue with the EVS motherboard, but it was swapped out no issue and the ones left in stock will have had them replaced. The motor used to stop dead, no wind down, like coasting to a stop. I did have an issue with a catch on a small block of burl where the block and chuck came off whilst in operation and a change of undies was required. But the EVS swap out has fixed that issue. I have had access to several lathes at my club, and it stands up to a lot of the big ones, as in functions which other mini/midi lathes don't have. the main points for me was in this order, 1. Price, 2. EVS. And this met both criteria. But as in many circumstances, you get what you pay for, the tail stock with point to point I thought was off, but when I slide it up to the pen mandrel, the saver goes over with no adjustment from me, so I'm thinking the points on the spur drive are not right. It also has reverse, which is great when sanding as it kicks it up a notch.

i will be getting the bed extension, when I extend my garage, but apart from that, it's a sturdy little monkey, and perfect for what I need. I like making my own handles, and unfortunately this needs the bed extension for that, so I go to my club and use the big kahuna for drilling the tang, then back home to finish the masterpiece.

best of luck, hopefully I have been helpful.

Thanks for the feedback Fumbler. I have pretty much made up my mind that this will be my next lathe. Its quite a step up from the unit I recently sold which you can see here. https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/produc...ood-lathe-midi

You're gaining a bit in bed length and swing, but most importantly, EVS, and although I kept on the top end range to begin with and have now swapped down to the lower bad 450-1800, 1. Cos I'm petrified of 3800 rpm, and 2. The Hare and Forbes chuck is only rated to 2000rpm, and for general use that I need, 1850 is ample for top end. The lower end is better for drilling and forstner bits.

Yeah I know what you mean. I tried the top speed of my previous lathe at 3200 rpm and apart from a pen I didnt much like the wood whistling off the chisel and past my nose a supersonic speeds, not to mention the amount of heat it created.