Advise on this lathe

[Donny Lawson]

I am out of town and found a place that has a 2hp ShopFox. I think it is a recondition place. It looks great and it's priced at 499.00. To me that sounds cheap for that size lathe. It has a 35" bed and is a V/S digital readout. I think the lathe is a model W1758.Anyone know anything about this? That's all I know right now. They were fixing to close so I didn't have time to look. I will be back over there today.

[Alan Zenreich]

It sells new for $569 on Amazon. Looks like it has a Reeves drive for variable speed. It's likely a fair entry level lathe, but nothing special

[John Keeton]

ShopFox is the wholesale division of Grizzly, as I understand it. Many of the ShopFox models are identical to their Grizzly counterpart, but sold through retail stores.

[Roger Chandler]

Donny,

That lathe is not one you would want.........it has a low speed of 600rpm which is too high for bowls, etc. and it is fairly lightweight for a 16 inch lathe. It would be fine for making mostly spindles like table legs, etc for furniture, but if you want to mount heavy blanks on it, then the overall weight will leave you disappointed.

[Harry Robinette]

I'm with Donny, you don't want this lathe for bowls, I know a guy that had one and I tried to turn a 9" bowl and that was scary...Don't make a mistake cause of price,Shop Fox is not a good tool at all and John their a wholesale of Grizzly BUT a much lower line of tools from my point of view.As always JMHO

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great spindle lathe but not for bowls, HF's, etc. I was told one time it was the seconds of Grizzly.

[Donny Lawson]

Well, Just thought I'd let you know I did not get the lathe. I took your advise and thought I might wait till I can get a better deal on a much better lathe. I really want a nice powermatic but that will have to wait a while since I'm still trying to finish buying odd items for my shop right now.

[Jake Helmboldt]

I'm with Donny, you don't want this lathe for bowls, I know a guy that had one and I tried to turn a 9" bowl and that was scary...Don't make a mistake cause of price,Shop Fox is not a good tool at all and John their a wholesale of Grizzly BUT a much lower line of tools from my point of view.As always JMHO

Not true. Some of the ShopFox stuff is identical to Grizzly and both companies are owned by Shiraz Bailola (sp?). SF is their line they sell through retail outlets. I have their parallellogram 8" jointer and their 19" bandsaw. The jointer is identical to the Grizz, save for a slightly different shaped base. The bandsaw is almost the same as the Grizz 19" (or was at the time) but with Euro guides instead of the roller guides.

As for the lathe; avoid for the reasons mentioned. None of the Shop Fox lathes are worth buying.