Introduction To Harbor Freight
12 x 33 WoodLathe

I decided to start and develop a category for my Harbor Freight 12 x 33 wood lathe. It is the first woodlathe I used since highschool some 50 years ago!

Since a lot of new woodturners and old…..use this lathe, many have come up with unique ways to use and to modify the HF lathe. I hope to share some of

the modifications and hacks you can make to your Harbor Freight 12 x33 woodlathe. These tips will help you turn your machine into a beast. For instance …..just one of the hacks I discovered allowed me to slow down my turning speed enough that I could turn bowls “outboard” (not over the bedways) that are 18″ wide ……soon going to find out if I can go 24″ 🙂

So as I find more HF lathe users and discover their modifications I will post them in this category. It could be simple stuff or a major rebuild. I hope as you read these posts you comment and let me know if you have a hack or modfication that I might be able to publish here!

Honestly, I do not know why I purchased this lathe. I had no interest in learning how to turn wood but I was in the harbor freight store, something led me to get one …..and that changed my life forever 🙂

This lathe is made in china. I believe it is the basis for many different name brand lathes …such as Jet and Grizzly. There are others that purchase this lathe and brand it with their name …..except for a few changes and upgrades it is the same woodlathe.

Beginner Wood Lathe

I found it to be an excellent beginner wood lathe. Its simple to operate, easily available and parts can be obtained for repairs. You can modify the lathe if you have the abilities. Add a Nova Chuck and a good Tailstock and with the right tools you are good to go. I purchased the SuperNova2 scroll chuck with 2 sets of jaws and a worm drive. The beauty behind the Nova chucks is that almost 100% of the accessories (jaws) fit all the jaws. I highly recommend you purchase the SuperNova 2 wood lathe scroll chuck.

The thread on the head stock is 1×8 tpi, this is important because you need to know this for accessories. The morse taper for headstock and tailstock is #2MT.

Also, something called the morse taper is important to know for both the tailstock and head stock, you will want to be accessories that fit a #2 morse taper for the HF 12 x33 woodlathe. For instance if you wanted to get a better tailstock live center you would need to know that it would have to fit a #2MT (morse taper)

Harbor Freight Banjo and Toolrest

It comes with a 3 piece banjo/toolrest that takes a little bit to figure out but once you do, you will able to reach around and in a lot more  areas of a bowl or project as opposed to a single bango and tool rest.  The metal is kind of soft, you’ll see pictures of the toolrest snapped off in various forums and groups …..just know it is usually due to user abuse and misuse.

Be careful of over extending your turning tools to avoid nasty catches and your tool rest should last a long time. I sand across the top of my tool rest a couple of times a year to remove nices and divits …..these will translate into your turning piece as your woodturning tool glides over a bump on the toolrest.

The tool rest and banjo posts are 25mm according to my measurments. That’s short of 1 inch, so if you want to build a custom toolrest you need to get some 25mm stock. Double check that measurement on your machine before ordering materials.

Custom Tool Woodturning Tool Rests will really increase your work abilities. For instance the S-shaped tool rest lets you get deep into your bowl and keeps the rest close to the wood so you are not over extending your gouging woodturning tool. Some guys just weld a piece of flat 3/4″ steel on a post and then can stick that into the bowl or project they are turning.

One more thing about the 25mm dimension for the post, hole of your bangjo. I have heard of some woodturners buying tool rests with 1″ posts and you can do one of two things:

• sand down the post, its not too hard to remove a 1 or 2 mm from the steel post. Use a disk sander, grinder or even a file. I have not tried that because I have on my list of things to do …….building some tool rests with 25mm posts.
• the other thing I have seen some HF woodlathe owners do is to drill out the hole for the toolrest to 1″, if you do not have that ability ….any local machine shop can easily do that for you. Now you can buy tool rests with 1″ posts ….there are lots of them.

Comes With 6 Inch Woodturning Faceplate

You also get a steel/iron 6″ faceplate that screws onto the headstock shaft. Pay attention to the shape of this faceplace because simply buying a faceplate might not get you the results you want because the back end of the electric motor sticks out far enough that the faceplate has to extend at least 1″ more than normal woodturning faceplates.

Consequently I purchased 1×8 tpi nuts to make my own faceplates and I purchased a Beall wood tap set to put 1 x 8 threads into a block of wood that can then be used as a faceplate.

So, when you get your new lathe you can attach a piece of wood in 2 different ways with the equipement that is included with the lathe purchase.

You can attach a piece of wood between centers, a headstock  center spur is included and a Tailstock Live Center is included. Simply put the piece of wood between these two centers and use the tailstock live center crank to push the pieces tightly togehter.

Or…..you can attach the piece of wood to the faceplate, either directly or indirectly through a glue block. 

Harbor Freight 12 x 33  Cons

As with any wood lathe, especially beginner lathe there are some cons.

The electric motor is on the small side, without some modifications you will not be turning 16″ plus bowls. The largest bowl you can turn on a stock machine is a 12″ bowl over the bedways.

A 12″ bowl is tough to turn unless you have a perfectly circular and balanced wood blank because the slowest speed is around 600 rpm. That is very fast for a big piece of wood. You would want to start around 200 to 300 rpm ….maybe slower. We can get into some hacks that will allow you to do that with this machine……I will write about that latter.

Although the bedways are of cast iron, the legs and horizontal supports are made of thin steel. Steel is a problem because it doesn’t add to the weight of the machine which would help to keep it steady. Consequently when turning unbalanced pieces the machine wants to walk or fly across the floor! Again, I’ve got some different ways to help you make your machine very stable and enable you to turn some big pieces of wood…….we will cover that in another post.

The Harbor Freight 12×33 wood lathe has what is called a Reeve’s Drive. This allows for adjusting the speed from 600 rpm to 2500rpm. It is not a variable speed control but a method that allows you to change the speed by lever which means you do not have to pull the cover and change pulleys and belts. It is a nice feature but variable speed would make it a dream……again, I have more on how to do that and will cover motor and speed control replacement in further posts.

Harbor Freight 12 x 33 Specs

This high quality wood lathe is ideal for crafts, hobbies and professional woodworking. The 3/4 HP motor on this lathe reaches speeds of up to 2,400 RPM for quick and precise turning and facing. Features include a pivoting headstock to allow extra-large bowl turning capacity.

Return Policy for Harbor Freight Wood Lathes

I should add. If you buy from your local Harbor Freight Store you can return the item without a hassle as long as you make the return within the period they specify. I do not know what that is  for the lathe but ask before makeing a purchase. I’m sure the return and refund process is different for mail order …..just make sure you understand it. I say this because every now and again you will run into a lemon when buying Harbor Freight products but in general they are very good when it comes to refunds, returns or exchanges.

Current price is $399.00, however, they often will have a sales price on this unit and they have coupons you can use. Although I’ve been told they no longer allow you to use the 20% and 25% off coupons, then again, I’ve heard of others that are able to use the coupons ……so best bet is to talk to the manager and do some fast talking for a decent discount.

Harbor Freight 12 x 33 Wood Lathe Features

1. Pivoting headstock for extra-large bowl turning capacity
2. Headstock rotates and locks in position at 45°, 90°, 135° and 180°
3. Swing over bed: 12 in.
4. Variable speeds: 600-2400 RPM
5. Turning distance between centers: 33-3/8 in.
6. CSA Listed

SKU(s)
34706
Brand
Central Machinery
AC Volts
120
Accessories Included
Stand, tool rest, drive center, 6 in. disc, and Allen wrenches
Amperage (amps)
6
Certification
CSA
Distance between centers (in.)
33-3/8 in.
Horsepower (hp)
3/4
Speed (max)
2400 RPM
Minimum Speed (RPM)
600
Number of speeds
10
Phase
Single
Product Height
45-1/2 in.
Product Length
5 ft.
Product Width
15 in.
Shipping Weight
187.85 lb.
Spindle size (in.)
1 in.
Tailstock taper
MT2
Travel length (in.)
2-1/4 in.

Harbor Freight Wood Lathe Review

This guy has been turning some awesome projects on his Harbor Freight Wood Lathe and he did a quick review with some pros and cons ….quick video and well worth your time to check out!