CXRCY 12" x 18" Wood Lathe, Benchtop Wood Lathe Machine 3/4 HP Infinitely Variable Speed 650-3800 RPM with Goggle for Woodworking, Woodturning

The media could not be loaded. Addition: I have loved using the lathe. It is actually soothing and seeing your imagination take shape at your whim is very gratifying.The seller has been excellent. One piece was "bad" and the seller replaced in under 5 days! Wonderful communication with me and prompt service! Not a combination that is common these days. I hope they get more as this would be a great starter for the hobbyist that wants to give lathing a go. Two thumbs up!!New photo is of a handle I made my wife just messing around learning. She liked how it looked so I turned it into this handsome handle.Initial review starts below. Ps. Bumped rating for lathe from 4 to 5 stars.I am no stranger to equipment as I was an aircraft mechanic (sheet-metal worker) for many years. I am outfitting my own wood shop now and this is the latest addition to it.Woodworking is only a hobby, so I didn't want to go in debt buying an expensive machine for me to play with. I chose this model as it was reasonably priced and came with a few tools.Again, I have nothing to compare this with because I've never used a lathe before in my life. I've only watched a few videos online to learn the basics.Overall I would give this product of 3 1/2 to 4 stars I was kind and went 4 for the review. I really do not want to mislead anybody about this machine, however I feel it will serve my purposes just fine.If you're looking for an inexpensive small lathe to start out on this lathe should do just fine. I will update if I have any issues as others did with another model that looks very similar here on Amazon. However, I hope this to be a wonderful little machine for a long time to just do small projects on.Pros:Reasonably pricedComes with some basic toolsCompact for smaller shopsVariable speed controlCons:Mounting system requires you bolt the lathe from underneath into threaded mounting holes. Even though I followed the measurements supplied in the manual I still had to play with it a bit to make it line up. I feel a stand would be easier to work with. I mounted mine to an old piece of furniture.Construction could be better as I noticed at least one defect from the casting process (see the second picture).The paint is also chipping already. It happened before I used the machine or even attached it to the work surface. It is most likely to poor surface preparation before painting.The manual is very basic, so I suggest going online to learn the basics if you do not know them already.

I bought this as my first lathe, wanting to turn pens and bowls. Soon after I purchased it I moved, so it sat in the box unopened (and untested) for several months. Finally got a space and stand for it and have been putting it through some tests.Somewhere around the second or third piece of wood I noticed that the motor could not hold speed. Thought it might just be a local power flux, or that I had too much weight on the mount, but it continues to do that every day since. I either have to speed it way up to get it to turn, or just work in between speed cycles.From the very beginning, it felt like there was minimal support with the tailstock. I would spin the knob to move the spindle forward, but as soon as it hit the wood, the mechanism would spin (which is what it is supposed to do) but not advance any more to help secure the wood. I know drill a good hole into the bottom of the wood for the point to sit in.On the 6th piece of wood the tool rest snapped (see pictures). The tool hit a knot in the pine, pulled the tool down a bit, which forced it back into the tool rest - not much, but enough that it snapped clean in two at the post. That cannot be quality workmanship. Fortunately I have the second one it comes with.The teeth on the spur center are dull and do not catch at all. The tools are also somewhat dull right out of the box. Not having a sharpening station (I'm a beginner, hence the beginner lathe) meant I had to use what I had. Glad I had picked up some carbide-tipped tools also.Yes, my fault for not testing it within the 30 day window (if I had I would have probably returned it), but there is still ZERO customer support - even to order new parts. No where on the internet can I find where this company actually exists. Amazon description says 1 Year Warranty and lifetime technical support - no idea how that works when you cannot contact them.I will continue to use it until it dies - not really much of a choice - but will not replace it with another lathe from this company.

There is nothing wrong with this mini lathe, it has power and does the job. However with most things that are cheap - some drawbacks have to be accepted. This does come with some very basic starter chisels to teach you how to sharpen and mess up before you go all out on the nicer sets you are going to buy. The motor controller is sufficient if you set up your belts and adjust the potentiometers for high and low on the board to fix the over spec speed. It does NOT have reverse, but that can be added with a 3 way 6 pole switch with plenty of room to mod in the controller case. That being said the huge heat sink is only contacting one mosfet and the rectifier is floating in air off to the side. If you were to be working the motor hard over time this will overheat and die. Be careful and go easy on the speed controller for long jobs. I threw away the ridiculous tool post and as others have noted looks like it will simply snap off. The tail stock only has 2" or so of travel which is about the right amount for lathes of this size. Most projects above a pen will need to reposition the tailstock for multiple passes. I have yet to figure out how I will remove the slop from the tailstock as it is clearly not cast for this bed. rocks from left to right 1/8" off center but does seat center if you pay attention. Lastly the metal quality here is sub par. The first set screw for the chuck on the headstock completely smashed and distorted the thread. Luckily I was able to chase it and reform it with simple hand tools... be gentle. All in all for the price and you have variable speed. Its still a good buy when compared against more expensive models. Just go easy, clean, edit, and replace junky parts and you'll be able to turn most appropriately sized projects with ease.