Harbor Freight 7x12 Mini-Lathe

[Vinny]

That bean counter is usually at the buying end not the selling end in this case. You can get very high quality Chinese made tools or lower that HF quality. It depends what, in this case Harbor Freight, spec'd when they ordered it. Also some of the Chinese mfgrs stand by their work. I bought a gear hob from one a number of years ago. Works great. 2-3 years after I bought it I needed to make another but couldn't remember the settings on the mill for it. I sent them a note and had a response within 20 mins with the info I needed. Then as I was setting it up I noticed those same numbers were engraved on the opposite side of the hob that I was looking at!

That's not to say all Chinese tools are good... or bad... and cheap doesn't always mean crappy.

Now all of that said ... I'm usually the first to blame the cheap ass chinese tooling for being pieces of crap and not the company that spec'd them to be that way.