General 160-1 as First Lathe

[Robert Lang]

A friend wants to sell this lathe to me for a very fair price with a few turning tools. The lathe was bought new in 1983 and seems very clean and runs very smooth. The chuck is broken but all else seems intact.

It has a 1,725rpm 3/4 horse Doerr Motor and you have to manually change the belt on the pulleys to change speeds.

Is this a good lathe? What should I look for or test to be sure it operates properly? Does it have the right rpms to turn bowls and spindles? I am not an experienced lathe user.

Any other thoughts are welcome.

[Wilbur Pan]

Here's a link to a write up (http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/general160-1.shtml) on this very lathe.

Basically, it should be a solid lathe. It has a 12" swing and 38" between centers. The low end speed of 850 RPM is a bit fast, but then as long as your blanks are reasonably round when you mount them on the lathe you should be fine. It's probably more of a spindle lathe than a bowl turning lathe, but you should be able to make bowls without problem.

Plus, if the price is fair, and you get bitten by the turning bug, you should be able to sell it for what you paid for it, so in that sense it's free. ;)

[Brent English]

Hey Robert, buy it and start turning. You'll learn if you really like to turn and you can go from there. If you find out you want something else, you'll get plenty of advise here from lots of experience turners.

Not to much to go wrong with these old Generals, plus you'll get your money out if it if you sell later as long as you don't beat it up to bad. Most of the change belt lathes run a bit fast on the low end for bowl turning IF you are turning something out of balance. You'll know that when it happens. It will run plenty fast enough for spindle work. Most newbies turn to fast, so just start slow, speed is no substitute for sharp tools.

Also, join a club in your area if there is one. A good place to look is here: http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp

You'll find lots of other turners who are only to happy to help out a new guy. Really.

Good luck and have fun.

Brent at Robust Tools

[alex carey]

sounds like an alright lathe but 850 sounds way too fast for bowls on the large end of a 12" lathe. I normally start around 300-500 rpm but I guess it really depends on how well your blank is already balanced.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Robert my concern would be 850 rpm low speed. I thought 500 rpm when I started turning was way to fast for a big 12" bowl blank. With a unbalanced blank I may start turning it at 100 to 250 rpm to start.

[Don Kondra]

Hi Robert,

We should all be so lucky to start twirling on a 160 :)

It's a very well made tool that will serve you well, the only reason I can see to upgrade would be if you are into turning Big stuff..

Cheers, Don

[Leo Van Der Loo]

That's a high quality lathe Robert, if you find the lowest speed to high (I think it is for bigger bowls) you can change the motor later for a VFD.

[Robert Lang]

Now that I think of it, what is a fair price?

Thanks for the replys.

[John Landis]

Perhaps there is a way to change out a pully to lower the speed?