Rikon Lathe 70-1824

[Harold Walsh]

Does anyone on this site own the new Rikon 70-1824 midi lathe? What are your likes and dislikes? There is only one review on YouTube and seemingly it's a very nice lathe. Thank you for your feed back.

[Dan Gaylin]

Hi Harold,

I own the 70-1824, which in my view is a full size lathe, although one with a short bed. I bought it in October, despite there being no reviews on it, which is not something I usually do. So why did I do it in this instance? Because it had a unique combination of features that was what I really wanted (more on this below). Bottom line: in the short time I have had it, I have been delighted with the lathe and I am very pleased with the purchase.


Details:

The lathe comes at a very good price, and the accessories are also inexpensive compared to competitors. I purchased the lathe, the wheel kit, and the extension tool rest for a total of $2750. The equivalent purchase from Laguna for the 1836 lathe would have been about $3800.

But price was not my main consideration. Although I was limiting my budget to $4000 or less, there are several other good lathes in this price range including the Laguna 1836, the Nova Nebula, the Record Power and several others. But the Rikon was, as far as I know, the only lathe in that price range that had ALL of the following: (1) a rotating headstock – as a lefty this was more important to me than a sliding headstock, especially since the headstock rotates 180 degrees which means in addition to being able to position the headstock to any preferred angle, you can do outboard turning to the left of the headstock; (2) a wired remote control – for safety on a bigger lathe I like to have the controls easily accessible; (3) a good mobility solution – the Rikon wheels work great and are easy to install; (4) a short bed along with an 18” swing – I don’t have a big shop and I don’t do a lot of long spindles, but I do like to do some bigger bowls, so this was perfect for me (if you end up needing to do a long spindle, the bed extension is not very expensive); (5) availability – I might have purchased the Nova Nebula and used an aftermarket mobility system (I have my doubts about how well these would work and there isn’t one designed for the lathe) but there were long wait times for that lathe.

Likes (pretty much everything important):

• well machined, with very good (if not quite excellent) fit and finish
• essentially zero runout, well-aligned
• assembles very easily, although you will need a hoist, a lift cart, or friends
• powerful (I got the 230 Volt), very quiet, and smooth
• sturdy, doesn’t rock or vibrate, even with big pieces (havn’t tried unbalannced pieces)
• everything works as it should
• banjo is massive and very stable, comes with decent tool rest; banjo is well designed; banjo glides easily along the very well machined ways
• decent onboard storage and tool holders
• the wheels work great and are easy to install
• all hardware, handles etc. are beefy and operate smoothly and effectively
• speed ranges of the two belt settings are very good and require minimal changes; changing the belt position is easy

Dislikes (all very minor):

• the wired remote control box is the only control for the lathe. This actually hasn’t really been an inconvenience of any kind but most lathes with a wired remote have dedicated controls on the headstock. The control box is a little basic and is made of plastic. They could have done better with this
• the foot levers on the wheels stick out a bit and so are a risk for tripping or banging into
• the remote control box has a tendency to fall of the headstock (magnets could be stronger) and hit the floor. I fixed this by installing stronger magnets and a tether…not a big deal
• the decals on the lathe are terrible, more like stickers. I expect they will all fall off before too long
• you can’t set the spindle lock in the locked position. This is probably for safety, but I think all lathes of this size should allow you to set the spindle lock in the locked position and should have a feature that disables the lock (or refuses to power the motor) when you start the lathe with the spindle lock engaged
• after installing the inverter under the ways -- it attaches to the left-side leg -- it is VERY difficult to access the bolts that attach the left leg to the ways. During assembly, you will have already tightened these bolts, but once the inverter is in place it becomes very difficult to re-tighten them, and they do loosen a little bit over time, probably due to moving the lathe around. You could always remove and re-install the inverter, which attaches with a couple of small bolts, but this is a PITA and a little bit fiddly. I solved this by purchasing an inexpensive, long-shanked, stubby 8MM allen wrench and grinding off a bit of the material on the wrench where it bends. This creates sufficient clearance relative to the inverter to get the wrench into the bolts

Hope this is of some help. PM me (with a post here telling me you did) with any questions.

-Dan

[Harold Walsh]

Thanks for the info, Dan. I've owned several Nova lathes and my last lathe was a Record Envoy. I've liked and enjoyed them all so I thought I'd try the Rikon. I own a Rikon 14" band saw and it's rock solid. Where did you buy your lathe and was it shipped? Thanks for the thorough review and I anticipate my purchase will be next week.

[Keith Pitman]

Does anyone on this site own the new Rikon 70-1824 midi lathe? What are your likes and dislikes? There is only one review on YouTube and seemingly it's a very nice lathe. Thank you for your feed back.

Is this the Harold Walsh I know from Lee Edwards HS?

[Dan Gaylin]

Hi Harold,

I, too, have been generally quite happy with other Rikon tools I have used/owned. I purchased the 70-1824 from Acme Tool. Shipping was fast, easy, and free. Also one follow-up: the control box doesn't fall off by itself. I found that when I was using the spindle lock to thread a chuck on or off, I would sometimes knock into the control box, and that would be enough to make it fall off. Again, some stronger magnets fixed that problem, along with a tether (that easily unclips to allow for moving the control box around) to make sure that if it were to fall off, it won't hit the floor. If you do get one please let me know what your experience is with it.

-Dan

[Harold Walsh]

Dan, During the process of assembly can you take the headstock off the bed rail to attach the legs?

[Harold Walsh]

Yes indeed it is ,Keith.

Is this the Harold Walsh I know from Lee Edwards HS?

[Dan Gaylin]

Harold, I don’t think the headstock comes off. The manual is silent on this point but clearly describes an assembly process in which the headstock is attached to the ways during assembly. I would check with Rikon on this.

[Harold Walsh]

Thanks Dan for the info. I checked with Rikon this AM and they advised it could be removed but I've decided not to attempt it. Thanks again.