Around 2013 I acquired two mini lathes for pen turning, one Central Machinery 10x18 mini wood lathe I bought from Harbor Freight and a Steel City I bought used from a woodshop employee in Kansas City. I'm setting up my workshop and trying to decide which one I should keep. I turned 10-15 pens on the Central Machinery, I'm not sure how used the Steel City was when I got it.
Ideally I would sell them both and buy a Jet or Laguna midi lathe, but I can't quite afford it right now. I'm looking for advice on which one I should keep, or just get rid of them both now and put it toward a new one. I know they are both low end brands, but I'm trying to decide if one is worth keeping or not.
I was leaning towards the Steel City since it has the variable speed setting but it doesn't seem to be lined up straight. In the photos you can see the drill bit goes into the tail stock skewed to the left/back, and on the other photo the blank holder chuck doesn't line up straight, there is a gap where it lines up on one side. Is this a problem? If so, is it fixable? The points line up on the Central Machinery lathe, is there anything else I should consider?
Ideally I would sell them both and buy a Jet or Laguna midi lathe, but I can't quite afford it right now. I'm looking for advice on which one I should keep, or just get rid of them both now and put it toward a new one. I know they are both low end brands, but I'm trying to decide if one is worth keeping or not.
I was leaning towards the Steel City since it has the variable speed setting but it doesn't seem to be lined up straight. In the photos you can see the drill bit goes into the tail stock skewed to the left/back, and on the other photo the blank holder chuck doesn't line up straight, there is a gap where it lines up on one side. Is this a problem? If so, is it fixable? The points line up on the Central Machinery lathe, is there anything else I should consider?