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Mar 12 2012

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Excelsior Mini-Lathe Walk-Through

Categories:

Harbor Freight, Lathe, Rockler

by benjamen

March 12, 2012

Picture Gallery
Excelsior Mini-Lathe Walk-Through

  • Where the extension bed connects

  • Extension bed cap

  • Upper pulley and belt

  • Upper pulley access door

  • Lower pulley

  • Lower pulley access door

  • Motor specs and belt tension lever

  • Safety switch

  • Live center and spur center use a #2 Morse taper

  • Included live center and spur center

  • Included 3" face plate

  • The 1"-8 thread on the head

  • The head stock without the spur center

  • And the spur center

  • It's a knockout bar for the live center

  • I took me a while to figure out what this tool was for

  • Tail stock fully extended (2" of travel)

  • Tail stock fully retracted

  • You can see the two "ratcheting" locking levers

  • Cam action

  • Watch the cam action between this picture and the next

  • Bottom of tool rest and tension nut

  • Bottom of the tail stock and tension nut

  • Lathe info

  • Original box

I thought I’d post a slide show showing some different views of the Excelsior mini-lathe I recently bought, in case other people are interested in purchasing one. Also I thought I’d share some of the specs from the Rockler page and some I figured out on my own.

From the page:

  • Powerful 1/2 HP motor
  • 6″ tool rest
  • 3″ face plate
  • 5 different speeds: 760, 1100, 1600, 2200 and 3200 RPM
  • Spindle Taper MT2

Less apparent specs I found the hard way:

  • Motor speed: 1700 RPM
  • Head stock thread: 1″ – 8.
  • Replacement belt: 3-groove 0.275″ x 2’1″ circumference
  • Tail Stock Quill Travel: 2″

It’s interesting to note that this seems to be the exact same lathe sold at Harbor Freight under the Central Machinery brand. I mentioned this to Steve over at ShopNGarage who just bought the Central Machinery version. It’s funny how the Harbor Freight version has a much better looking and far more detailed manual than the version sold at Rockler, including critical information like the belt type and size that’s strangely absent from the Excelsior Manual. Here’s a link to the Excelsior manual (PDF) and the Central Machinery Manual (PDF).

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/excelsior-mini-lathe-walk-through/

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