Help with a new Harbor Freight 8x12 metal lathe

Well the stars aligned and I had a few and the wife's blessing at the same time so I recently bought a Harbor Freight 8x12. I know it is Harbor freight and not old iron but it for in my available space and budget...and I couldn't anything else that would fit the bill. I am totally new to using a lathe and very slowly trying to learn as much as I can. The first upgrade I decided to attempt was a quick change tool post. I purchased the to tomarch set from litte machine shop that their chart said would work with some modifications. I got the old tool post of the bolt on the slide but for the life of me could not remove the bolt from the slide. I tried searching for ideas but did not find much. So I am hoping someone here has some insight. Any tips or advice would be great, especially for addi,g the qctp or really anything 8x12 related. Thanks in advance!

Guywitha3006

My very first metal lathe was the harbor freight mini lathe but, I'm having a hard time picturing which bolt you are talking about. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you a bit. You state, "You got the old tool post OF the bolt or OFF the bolt?"

If I remember correctly, you have to remove the slide so that the bolt in question gets pulled out the underside of the slide. That's how I remember it. It would seem that the diagrams provided with the mini lathe would indicate the procedure. My mini lathe was purchase many years ago now so it may be that the diagrams no longer ship with these little metal lathes.

HollowPoint

Hollowpoint, I saw in the diagram the bolt the tool post rests on comes out the bottom. So I got the tool post off the bolt but could not get the bolt out of the slide. I hope that make more sense.

I think the cross-slide has to be removed in order to create the space needed to remove the bolt in question out of the bottom of the cross-slide. It's been so long ago that I owned that little mini-lathe that I'm just making these suggestions based on faded memory.

HollowPoint

Thanks Hollowpoint. I ended up taking it to a gun smith in town that also does machine work. Hopefully I'll be back on action next week.

I bought a 1998 HF combo lathe/mill/drill press a couple years ago and the last time I had worked with any machine tools was back in 1978 or so. To help refresh my memory I watched most every You Tube video on the lathe and also on the mill attachment. I was lucky enough to get a 4 part tool post and tons of other tools along with two lathe chucks. So I went to a metal supply shop and bought some aluminum round stock and also flat stock to practice on. The aluminum was much easier to work with.

I also bought a Machinist Handbook which has things like cutting speeds, ETC and also bought some cutting lubes for aluminum and also steel.

Oldracer, I have been watching a lot of you tube videos and reading a lot of machinist boards and a few books. I still need to track down a Machinist Handbook, for now I have been using Little Machine's speeds and feeds calculator. I am slowing getting what I need to get started, I am avoiding aluminum for now because I don't see a ton of need for it in mu future. I am taking my time learning the set up and going slowly with steel. I have some brass but at the price of it it seems like it is a fairly expense practice medium. I am hoping to save the brass I have for making laps at some point.

I started on the little harbor freight, it did the job, within its limitations. I never messed with a quick change post, considering the cost. Still dont have one on my full size Grizzly, again the cost. I have just gotten used to using feeler gauges to keep things lined up.

I have the same size lathe and also bought the QC tool post from LMS, but I did not remove the old bolt to be able to get the best of the both worlds.
I simply use the original bolt with the original nut and it works fine with the QC.

The main and most important upgrade for me was a strip of 5/8 plywood inserted between the motor and frame to prevent the motor pivoting on its very long mounting screws and skipping teeth of the belt when cutting.

In addition to YouTube videos, particularly those by Tubal Cain, I recommend getting "How to Run a Lathe" by South Bend. Good basic and not so basic instruction.

Thanks everyone for the words of wisdom. I will probably end up making a bushing (once the lathe is back up) so I have the option to go back to the standard tool post if I need to.