Harbor Freight Bauer 14X20 EVS Wood Lathe - 6 Month Thoughts and Impressions

Sharing my thoughts on the Harbor Freight Bauer 14X20 EVS Wood Lathe after using it for 6 months.

[tammysamson]

I have purchased many items from Harbor Freight.
The warranty on a lathe is 90 days wether purchased new or exchanged for a new one.
I always buy extended warranty with Harbor Freight.
Exchanges are so easy as long as item is in stock.
They upgraded me to this one for free due to discontinuing the other model I had.
They have great service.

[marks]

Have you considered making the fastener hole a through hole and then can simply run a longer bolt, washer and nut and be using the whole casting as a hold point. Not worry about stripping it out. The one is already started so the remaining metal of the casting cannot be to thick. A through bolt would be stronger than the threads of a tapped hole. Just a thought. Thank you for all the time you took reviewing this lathe. I have two lathes, but glad to know about this Harbor Freight Bauer Lathe from an Owner/user not an advertisement..

[Blah-blah-sure]

Ok, not to be critical. But how about an actual demo? Also the spindle size to mate with an insert?, does it come with a face plate? And what about available replacement belts?

[ScottDavis]

I have the same lathe and I am on my second one as well. The motor in my first one went out do to the shaft twisting into, I thought it was the bearings. Opened up the motor and found the shaft in 2 pieces, and of course it had just went out of warranty. I tried to get in touch with costumer service and could not talk to anyone. I took a chance and took the motor to the store, the store manger saw it and said if I would get the extend warranty that he would swap it out . He said what had happened should not have happened. This lathe is the same exact lathe that the other manufactures ( Wenn, Grizzly, Jet and Ricon ) sell but with their paint colors and stickers. Wenn sells their for a $100 more but you get the 2 year warranty with it so it sell for the same price as the Harbor Freight with their extended warranty. My first one was the stores first one that got to sell. I am not sure that I will buy any more power tools from Harbor Freight. I went with Wenn for my dust collector It was $10 more than Harbor Freights but I got a 2 year warranty with it.

[chadbalkwill]

When these first came out i was seeing people saying that it would just drop in speed for a few seconds then speed back up. have you noticed that?

[kennethmueller]

Just bought mine with chuck, very nice lathe for the money

[rawbacon]

11 seconds is quite a while, I could see how that would be a little frustrating.