RIKON Power Tools 70-105 10" x 18" 1/2 hp Mini Lathe

Received lathe pretty quickly. It is heavy. Set up was quick also, but it suffered some minor damage. The cover to the motor was caved in and made loud noise when turned on. Had to remove cover and take the dent out with a hammer. It now runs smooth and quiet. I love everything about it. I will add another review after I use it for a few hours. Used the lathe to cut a gear shift knob, worked like a dream, cuts smooth, speed change is quick. Nice bang for the buck. Customer service is not responsive on my motor cover defect. But the lathe is awesome to use.

i got his lathe just before Christmas 2015, I was impressed with the machining and the smoothness of the travel on the tail stock. Stock. I was looking at buying the one from Harbor Freight and the Excelsior from Rockler as I think they are about the same lathe. This one was on sale at Woodcraft for $50.00 more but it has a 5 year warranty instead of a 90 day at Harbor and 1 year at Rockler. The motor seems to be an up grade as it has some cooling fins on it. Other have had concerns about how hot the one from Harbor gets, this one so far has run just warm. It is very well balanced with no vibration. I got it to play with turning some pens and toys, so far it has been great as i;m just learning. I've had an old Craftsman lathe for years and never did much with it because I was always fighting ( i didn't know that until now) so it wasn't much fun now with this one it has become a joyful thing to go to the shop and play.It is heavy enough an smooth enough that I haven't bolted it down and it hasn't move even with some big peaces of wood that were not squared and were out of balance at the beginning and it still handled it just fine. Great little lathe for turning pens and toys or small projects

The lathe works well and I am happy with its performance.The only issue I have with the lathe is that the holes that receive the bolts for the rubber feet were not properly tapped.I broke one bolt during assembly and had to buy a replacement bolt and an easy-out and also had to borrow a tap to correct all four holes.I sent an email to the manufacture's tech support and copied their customer service with this information and did not receive a reply.4 Stars for the Lathe.0 Stars for their customer support

My husband can’t get enough of this lathe. It was a great present.

GREAT LATHE FOR A GREAT PRICE. HAD A SMALL ISSUE WITH THE HEADSTOCK WHEN CHANGING THE BELT. JOE AT TECH SUPPORT WAS ON POINT. NO HASSLE HANDLE THE ISSUE QUICKLY AND WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND TO SOLVE IT AND MAKE SURE I WAS BACK UP AND RUNNING

I use this for small projects from tops to pens to wand to icicles and it works great for what i need it to. there is slight hassle with having to move the belt and it not being variable speed. also when i recieved the product the tailstock wheel was slightly bent but does not affect the functionality of the product. would i buy it again? possibly but my next lathe will definitely be variable speed.

This miniature lathe is well constructed and operates smoothly. I did have to purchase a chuck for the drive side separately but this was not a surprise. The lathe came completely assembled with just a few adjustments needed before turning it on. This suits my needs very well.

Outstanding build for this money. Runs super quiet and is heavy enough to run right on a table top.Very pleased with the power of the motor and the each at which you can switch speed on the belts. Takes about 10 seconds to switch speeds so its not that big a deal, Son says he doesn't mind it. Don't spend the extra money for one that has speed control :)