What is wrong with this lathe?

[Rick Cicciarelli]

For a fraction of the price of comparably sized lathes what is wrong with this one from Grizzly that it is only $500?
http://grizzly.com/products/Wood-Lathe-With-Digital-Readout/G0462

Anyone have any experience with it?

[alex carey]

the lowest speed is 600...That is a real problem for out of balance blanks.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Rick - I haven't heard of anything 'wrong' with the lathe. It really depends on what it is you plan on turning. Would be a good spindle lathe but the low speed (600 rpm) is on the fast side for out of balance bowl blanks. Just my opinion. Hopefully someone who has the lathe will jump in and offer their experience.

[Scott Conners]

The lowest speed of 600 rpm is too fast to safely turn a large unbalanced blank. A lathe with a 16" swing can mount quite a large and heavy piece of wood, which you'd want to start slowly. It also has no handwheel, and the toolrest extension arm has always scared me looking at it (I've never used one of these lathes).
That being said, many people use this lathe. If you search these forums you'll find many similar threads discussing the pros and cons of this lathe VS the Jet 1642 it copies.

[David Christopher]

Rick, nothing is wrong with that lathe I turned on one just like it for 5 years.....only problem is that you have to make sure you blanks are not terribly out of round... other than that it is reliable

[Gordon Seto]

The minimum speed on this lathe is dangerously fast for the swing of this size. 16" diameter at 600 rpm has the peripheral speed 28.57 miles per hour. That is too fast for even well balanced blank and crazy speed for slightly unbalanced blank.
Do a search, this lathe has been discussed many times before.

[Allen Neighbors]

The toolrest extension for turning off the ways, is cheaply made cast iron, and will either break itself, or break the banjo, at the entry point. I broke mine twice on my Old Griz.
Also, the 1" spindle isn't quite strong enough for a 16" swing, in my book.
You can tell it wasn't designed by a wood turner... just a copy of some other chaiwanese stuff.
And of course, I turned on Old Griz for quite a while, and it did pretty well... it's just that when I finally got a good lathe, I then knew what I'd had previously, and wished I'd opted for the better lathe to start with. JMHO... :)

[Dean Thomas]

You would do well to listen carefully to Allen, Grasshopper!

It's really not about what's WRONG with Grizz or Harbor Freight or any of the other KNOCK-OFFS of name-brand, quality machines--it's more about what's BETTER about lathes like Jet, Powermatic, General, Vicmarc, Nova, Stubby, Robust, and a few others. Some folks do well with Grizz or HF, but mainly because they are not pushing those machines very hard. Allen seems to have tried to make his do what the others will do in everyday life and hiz Grizz couldn't. When he tried the same stuff on a lathe that was BETTER, he immediately recognized the increased attention to important details and increased expectation of quality parts and pieces that make up a better lathe.

And don't get me wrong. Lots of folks here will tell you about snapping Jet, Delta, and Vicmarc tool rests, too. It happens, but not with the regularity of some other brands. Don't know that I've ever seen a Mustard tool rest break...

PS Rick, buddy, edit your profile and tell us where you're from. You just might find some help for coffee!

[Wayne Bower]

I have been turning on this lathe for 2 years. The lathe has been good for the most part but the slowest speed is 600 rpm and that can create problems with large blanks. I am intended to upgrade to a variable speed lathe in the future.