Lathe Purchase - advice needed

[Fred Floyd]

I have been interested in woodturning for some time, but now it's time to stop studying. I'm looking to buy a lathe that will be ok for spindles, table legs, the occasional bowl and other useful gift items.

Space is a bit of an issue, but other tools can be moved to make room. My main concern is that I don't want to buy a lathe and then wish I had more power/capacity/technical quality in a short time. I started out thinking that the $600 variety lathes would be OK, but I'm concerned about vibration and that kind of stuff. Research so far seems to indicate that it takes $1800 to get a pretty good lathe and a lot more than that to get a really good one. I think that the realistic budget is the $1800 range.

With that amount to spend, what are the choices and tradeoffs?

[Gary Max]

General Supply in Nashville Tn has the Powermatic 3520A on sale. If you buy the Scratch and Dent you can get the price down to $2,000.00. You might give them a call and tell the owner that you are a member here and try and twisting his arm a little. But anyway you go that is a big powerfull lathe that you will always be happy you bought. Sure wish I could afford one--I am going to start saveing up my nickels and dimes.
No I do not work for these folks---they just got great prices

[Ken Salisbury]

I would recommend a Jet1642VS which falls within your budget. I absolutely love mine. Check this article on the 1642vs written by Dominic Greco:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/articles/6/

[John Shuk]

If you have any doubts as to the capability that Jet lathe has you need only to search for threads started be Dominic to see the beautiful work he "turns" out on that machine. If two turners of the caliber of Dominic and Ken recommend the machine I can't see how you would go wrong with it.

[lou sansone]

Dear Fred

For 2 grand you can find a decent oliver 20 or 25. Here are a couple of photos of them. I am sure you all know this, but they are known as pattern-makers lathes. You can take the cross feed off and use them like any "normal" freehand lathe.
The PM and oneway's are real nice for new machines, as is the woodfast brand sold by wood turners supply and the General from canada . Dont forget the stubby from england....you can sometimes find them on ebay. I happen to have an "American #9" which would be a little on the big side..( over 2000 lbs )

Once I get one of those digital pictures taking things I will show you what it looks like. A good headstock, tool rest that is comfortable ( woodfast is real nice ) and the "law of gross tonnage" seem to be the most important things. Oh yea... the VFD drives are really great, especially if you combine them with a gear box or set of variable pullies. All mechanical devices have a "resonance" frequency that can be "tuned" around when you use a VFD system. That is how my american is now set up and it is really pretty slick.


lou

[Fred Floyd]

Many thanks for all your input. I ended up with the Jet 1642-2hp. I spent this afternoon setting it up. It's heavy enough, with very little vibration. My turning skills are pretty anemic, so it will be a LONG time before I approach the capability of this machine.

[lou sansone]

fred .... turning is a lot of fun and one of my most favorite parts of furniture construction. My turning really got much better after watching a few videos that you can rent from wood turners supply. I have lots of books, but seeing those english chaps turn really helped me ( seems that the english really like to turn ).

[Jim Becker]

Dont forget the stubby from england....
Stubby is from Austrailia...US distribution is now via Bill Rubinstein at http://www.stubbylatheusa.com./cgi-bin/index.py and still sold by John Jordan as well as several other folks. I wouldn't give up mine for just about anything... ;)