Today we are unboxing my new King Canada 7"x12" Mini Lathe! I've been planning to get my hands on one for quite a while so I real excited to give this thing a go!
I've used and abused my 7x14 and never had a problem with the nylon gears, in fact I've been using PLA change gears that I 3d printed and none of them show any signs of wear so i wouldn't worry too much about them if I were you. I've heard the metal ones are pretty noisy anyway, that's why I never bothered to buy them.
I needed a functional lathe for the jet engine I'm working on building this summer. I'll revisit the homemade lathe in the future when I can invest more time into it!
I see your interest. Return that POS. Buy an old Atlas/Craftsman lathe. They built a ton after the war with all the good left over steel. So there are a lot nice reconditioned ones for close to the same price or alot out there that need reconditioned (you should accept that) either way it is 20x the lathe.
