How good are Chinese lathes? A proper review of the ELATHE-613 

I believe you have an ability and skill that works around the shortfalls of the lathe.

Hi from the Netherlands (ex Pmburg) Thoroughly interesting video. All the best to you

I have an old 50's lathe, changed bearings, spindle, feedshafts, and nuts. Its able to do things far better than I am capable of. Thank you for this video.😊

I started my machining hobby with a cheap Chinese lathe, the real basic version. It works and can make nicely accurate parts as long as you're patient with it and keep checking your progress. It has a lot of weaknesses that I've learned to work around and it takes time to make something worth it. Still, it was within my budget range at the time and taught me a lot about how a lathe works and what you can do even with a crap one. Accuracy is definitely more a feature of the operator than of the machine in this case. My main expectation of a better lathe would be in the efficiency that can be gained from having to do less double checking as you go. Anyway, I'd recommend a cheap lathe to anyone starting out, the second hand market around here has lathes that either require a huge shed that hardly anyone will have space for, are even in a worse state than these Chinese ones, or still cost a fortune.

Another fine video! Thank you.

Accuracy can be measured and it’s meaningful. It depends on what you do though. Those of us who have been doing this for a very long time have learned how to work around inaccuracies. If you need to make a high precision shaft on a lathe usually know to do all the operations without removing th part before it’s finished. Then, even if concentricity isn’t great, the part can be perfect. But if the spindle isn’t perfectly in line with the bed, you’ll get a taper. That can be a problem. Sometimes you can loosen the headstock and straighten it, but often it’s on the front way which doesn’t allow it. Then, it’s a problem. If you only make short parts, it may not be. But it will if you make long parts. The point is that sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you can work around it and sometimes you can’t. I always tell beginners to buy a Chinese (or Taiwanese) lathe from a company with a good reputation rather than buying an old used machine from the USA, Germany, England, etc. The reason is that the old, industrial machines are usually worn out. If you’re new to this, you won’t know when you buy it and won’t be able to fix it.

Thanks. Enjoyed looking at your locos

enjoyed this, have the same lathe and totally agree with you

I love you're videos someone realistic not someone who thinks there working for Elon making a space ship, I have been doing some metal working and getting very frustrated but since finding you I now have the proper outlook and am much more relaxed about it and my work is becoming better, thank you and keep them coming

Thanks for the video, beautiful work by the way, I buy my tools from Adendorff since 2006 and haven't had any problems with them , they are more affordable and work well enough for me. I think Bosch tools are manufactured in China nowadays, says a lot about there good manufacturing abilities. I won't knock them for most home hobby guys , we run our tools on 220 v , maybe that's the difference. 👍

I love the train, its so beautiful and cute. Also good enough well explained, cheers.

Just because there made in ASIA doesn't mean there that bad, but people have done upgrades and they do give people a starting level to enter into the machining world on affordability, doing a hobby of some sort. There's also a lot of education here on you tube to learn.

Ha! Roodepoort track.. us spies are everywhere 🙂

I think the skill of the operator is at least as important

Accuracy is fantasy. Accuracy is as good as the machine operator. Repeatability is real. Repeatability is as good as your machine can be.