Diving in with my first lathe!

[Dustin Lorenz]

I recently purchased my first lathe! I am the kind of guy that can't do things small and simple though, so I bought a 12 x 38 2hp lathe. Now I know you guys probably want to know what kind it is, but you have to remember it is my first one and I wanted a larger one to suit my larger projects I like to try without spending a whole lot in case I didn't care for it. So I bought a craftsman but for only 75.00 with a dozen tools I didn't think I could beat it. It seems to do a pretty good job it is not one of the old antiques, but what I believe was the last large lathe they sold. I am sure some of you guys know which one I mean I think it was also built under another name I can't remember. I have converted my dad's garage into my shop because he does not use it, and the first day I got the lathe I had to try it out. I grabbed a piece of 6"x6"x24" oak block and started turning. I really didn't have any thing in mind to make the piece into just wanted to turn. Well the shavings started flying and I was having a blast. A while later my dad came in and there I was standing in a huge pile of shavings grinning from ear to ear. He looked at me and said so what did you make. I stepped to the side and said well can't you see my new 1" dowel! :D Anyways as you have read I love it now, I have done a lot of metal maching work that turned out beautifully, but I can just tell there will be a lot more self satisfaction with wood turning.

I did have a couple of questions about my lathe though. I have not taken a look under the motor cover yet, but I am assuming(I know u & me :rolleyes:) that this lathe is not variable frequency but rather voltage. I did stop it a couple times in the begining, but the tools I got with it were pretty dull and I have not purchased a sharpening setup yet. Any insight on what I should get? The guy had used it to make two vases and then he gave up on it. He said it was to tedious and not his cup of tee. I also have to turn the speed all the way down to get the lathe to restart if I should happen to switch it off rather than turning it all the way down which also does turn it off.

[Steve Mawson]

Woodcraft has their slow speed grinder on sale with free shipping over $50 to the end of the month.

A picture would help as well.

[Dustin Lorenz]

As far as sharpening gouges, is that done on a standard wheel with a fixture. I have sharpened a lot of tooling for metal work so I am no stranger to a good edge. I might try making a fixture for my surface grinder. thats what I use for a lot of my metal tooling.

[Norm Zax]

Welcome to the vortex! If you planning on making a "fixture", check out AroundThe Woods, specifically: http://www.aroundthewoods.com/sharpening03.html or make a Wolverine look-a-like from metal: http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/grind_jig.htm
For here its just up all the way...

[curtis rosche]

a 2 HP motor for a 12 inch lathe!?!?!?!?! nice

[Don Orr]

Hey Dustin, glad to hear you are enjoying your lathe. As you know, sharpening is important for fun and safety. If you are comfortable around bench grinders, you should be able to freehand grind your turning tools to get them reasonably sharp until you come up with some sort of jig or fixture. Wood cutting angles are usually more acute than metal cutting angles. Except maybe for scrapers. The Around the Woods website is a real good one. Just be careful with carbon steel gouges and heat from grinding. I imagine you already know that with your machining experience:D.

Most important is be safe and have fun !

[Dustin Lorenz]

a 2 HP motor for a 12 inch lathe!?!?!?!?! nice
12" Diameter 38" spindle Does anyone know or own one of these Craftsman lathes. I know it seems they don't get the best reviews, but for 75.00 I think I did ok.

[curtis rosche]

i have a 9 inch one right now. but mine is a different model totally. mine is from the 1930s i have a 3/4 motor on mine. the only thing that stops in is if i have the speed to high or i am tuning dry locust

[Kyle Iwamoto]

A pic would definetely help. Some people over-rate the hp ratings, and the say 2 hp max, which is what I'm thinking you lathe is. Not a problem, just take the rating as the max hp the motor will generate just befre it evaporates into blue and white smoke..... If you do the math, 1.5 hp is the max sustained hp you should be able to pull from 110v circuit. That's what you need to look at. I started with a 3/4 hp Craftsman lathe. I used it until the motor burned out. I say it's a good starter. 75 bucks for a lathe and 12 tools is a deal. That's like 6 bucks a tool. Cheaper than Harbor Freight almost. Just counting the tools.