VEVORMini Metal Lathe, 7"x14" Benchtop Metal Lathe, 550W Variable Speed 2250RPM Metal Lathe, with 3-jaw Chuck CNC Mini Lathe Machine, Precision Mini Lathe w/Tool Box Digital Display for Metal Turning

Fast shipment from the vendor & very professional! I would recommend this machine to any of my friends. It's a great bargain for its size class.The machine arrived undamaged. Everything appears to be working as it should. Tolerances and runouts are as advertised and will not require much, if any adjustment. It's just a nice little lathe! Machines packed for overseas transport are usually covered with clear cosmoline or something similar. This unit was no exception. Expect to get several shop towels saturated wiping off the bulk of it, then use WD-40 to dissolve and wipe off any of it that remains. It's also a good idea to check the gears for detritis like wood chips and styrofoam that popped off the inside of the crate due to stapling of the crate at the factory to prepare the machine for transport. The stiff, brown grease on the gears in the drive train is for lubrication. As long as it's clean, there's no need to remove it. I plan to keep it well lubricated and use Vactra way oil on the various gibs, dovetails, and Morse tapers. Regular oiling of the lead screws and bearings that have oil ports is best practice and the machine should last for many years if you take care of it. Swarf it down at the end of every work session and when you expect to leave it sitting idle for extended periods of time.One thing that's often overlooked by newcomers is shimming the lathe bed. If you want to maintain tighter tolerances and minimize errors, shim the legs of the lathe bed to remove any twists. The rubber feet supplied with the lathe are not helpful in this regard. Bolt the lathe feet to a heavy bench and add shims. YouTube has several good videos showing how to do this.As to the several comments about the motor not running, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!. There are several interlocks on this machine. The plastic cover over the lathe chuck has an interlock to ensure it is closed. The motor will not run if the cover is open. The Forward and Reverse switch on the front of the unit has to be set to the desired direction or the switch will trip out. And ALWAYS be sure to stop the machine when changing gears or directions. This thing isn't like a vehicle. Any time the gears or direction are changed, ensure the chuck is not turning!One other thing worth mentioning is that tachometer sensor under the end cover has to be close (but not touching) the left end of the lathe shaft. The small metal studs must clear the tachometer sensor. But if the sensor is too far away, the tachometer might register the rotational speed as something other than what it actually is. When I first turned on my machine, mine was reading about half the correct value. This is easy to fix by pushing the sensor a little closer to the shaft encoders, the small studs surrounding the end of the shaft.I have also seen a few people complaining about the lathe tools. These are brazed carbide cutters and need to be correctly sharpened before using. As with most brazed carbide cutters, it's up to the user to profile and sharpen them as needed before using them. You will likely also need to shim them in the tool holder to center them up to your workpiece. The lathe tool muti-tool holder will allow several cutter sizes. The ones in the included kit are 10mm x 10mm. If the cutter isn't lined up with with the vertical center of the workpiece, then watch some Youtube videos that explain how to do it. There is plenty of support for these machines on the Internet. If you have trouble finding videos, remember these all use similar parts that are made in the same factories in China.I agree that the multi-tool holder is a bit lacking and perhaps even more than a little clumsy. And depending on the metal you are working with, brazed carbide cutters might not be the best choice. They are typically used for cutting mild steel. Materials like high speed steel (HSS), titanium nitride, or cobalt steel cutter tools might be a better choice for other metals. It's just a budget tool holder with some general purpose tools for those who might not need anything better. There are lots of tool manufacturers with thousands of specialized tools available. Several recommendations are Shars Tool, Harvey Tools, and Tormach.There are several after-market quick change tool holders that will fit this machine with little or no modification. Remember, you are at liberty to add after-market parts and modify this machine as you desire. For small shop and hobbyist work, it's impossible to guess what every end user might need or expect. So watch videos, read books from the old timers, and ask questions. Someone will likely have a solution for whatever you may encounter. Also, remember that the larger the machine, the greater the cost for the tooling and work holding attachments. The cost of tooling and add-ons goes up exponentially with size of the machine. Many production shops that are trying to reduce turnaround time will expect more than the mini lathes and mini mills are capable of. If you expect the small machines to plow through the toughest metals with just a few passes, they just aren't capable of doing so. But most are capable of doing a decent job if you aren't in a hurry, take shallower cuts, use the right cutting tools, and don't have a long line of customers waiting.If you don't believe me, then look at what some of the so-called "model engineers" do with these things and even smaller machines of various brands. A good place to start is with the Home Shop Machinist books by Village Press, Inc if you are here in the US, and with lathe and mill books from Fox Chapel Books if you are in the UK or other countries. Amazon has both available.

Start/Stop/Safety switch bad out of the box. Holding coil ohms open, and supposedly having a replacement shipped by Seller “After the Spring Holiday”. On that, if they honor it, I guess we’ll have to see…Alignment over just 12” is quite off (photos), and no adjustment to aim tailstock or recenter headstock. Attempts to turn anything over 3” in length also shows resonant frequency from DC motor and work tends to “walk” out of the chuck jaws.No, I would not buy this again, and I’m regretting it.UPDATE: Seller did honor warranty, by sending a complete new Start/Stop/Safety switch, and I do appreciate that. Did quite a bit of work on the tailstock, to attempt to get better centering, but also had to further purchase a live center and a live chuck, to try to stabilize anything over a few inches in length. The DC resonant frequency problem is truly a nuisance, and makes finishing anything a process of hand-sanding and lots of continuous measuring. The tool bars are poor quality, and constantly honing them or better quality replacements are the only options. Things will absolutely not stay secure (I’m repeatedly finding drive-end parts coming loose, probably due to the resonance), and the mic adjusters on the tool holder “jump” up to .5mm without warning (even after going in with micro-shim washers, to take some of the play out. Yes, I understand you get what you pay for, but I wouldn’t do this again.

Best deal/most advanced table top lathe I've seen in 20 years!!!!!This lathe has DIGITAL GEARS or, as more commonly known, an Electronic Lead Screw (ELS)-- It saved me probably 100 hours of work and $200 parts of converting the lathe to ELS! Makes threading a total breeze! Just dial in the thread pitch, and set the length! The computer handles the left and right motions and synchronizing start of thead with spindle on every pass. You move the cutter in and out when it beeps and advance the cross feed cut each pass and let it know when it can start! Once you have an ELS lathe, you will never go back!Oh, did I mention how wonderfully quiet this lathe is? Both the main (brushless direct drive) motor and (digital) lead motors are very strong and super quiet! There are two quiet timing belts, one for the digital position encoder, and one from the electric lead screw motor to the lead screw. Another result is that this lathe, has only 1/3 of moving parts of a conventional lathe. No high speed motors, no main belts, no clutches, no reduction gears, no motor tensioners, no gear direction changers, etc. Just the sliding carriage needs to be disassembled, cleaned, reassembled when you get it!My only word of caution is that the lathe has a minimum speed of about 55 rpm since it is direct drive with feedback speed control. It will "power through" most stalls at very slow speed after about 1/4 second when the feedback detects the underspeed! (A trade off I'm happy to make for the simplicity/low inertia of direct drive.) The large chuck, however, does add back quite a bit of inertia and a lot of stability! Mine had very little runout. --- I guess size matters!This lathe is also also extra large (1 full Meter (39") between centers, 220mm (8.7") Swing, 38mm (1.49") passthrough!) -- That, alone, makes this lathe the best deal on Amazon!Heck, I even really like the color! Light cream white with orange safety cover! Looks great and modern. (not the ugly gray or green or blue everything else is!) Easy read LCD-- RPM and lead screw position!Best value EVER!

Though the description says it is designed for threading, there is no thread dial, making threading problematic. Also, it arrived damaged, with the electronics housing partially crushed. And note it has a metric lead screw, not inch. Otherwise, seems ok.