Can I gloat too? (new lathe)

[Bill Esposito]

Hey folks,

Here's the gloat.

Bought the 2hp Jet 1642 on amazon, got free shipping and 0% for 6 months.

Called the trucking company this morning to see where on the truck it was so we could guess the time of delivery. "Oops, sorry Mr. Esposito, I put your order in the wrong basket. We can deliver it tomorrow."

Well, that wasnt going to work because I had already taken today off and borrowed a truck (tractor trailer was going to meet me at Walmart to make the exchange since they couldnt get down my street...small liftgate was 2 weeks away). So I jumped in the truck and drove the 1.5hrs to the trucking company and got it loaded and returned home by 12:30.

By 12:50 all the pieces were in the shop. It was very simple. I just removed each piece and brought it into the shop until all I had left was the bed. Two lag bolts and it was off the pallet an in the shop as well.

Cleanup and assembly took another hour.

This lathe is a leap above the 1236 in size as well as performance. The variable speed motor is whisper quiet. If it wasn't for the fan it would be almost silent. The lathe is as smooth with the motor running as with it off. Of course I havent chucked up any out of balance wood on it yet, will report on that later.

Here's a few pics.
http://cerealport.net/woodworking/lathe/1642.html

[David Fried]

That is a pretty sight! Enjoy!!! Nice to get pictures when it's all clean and new - now go bury it in shavings! And let us know how great it is in real use. :D

[Andy London]

That is one sweet looking unit...Jet is desperate hard to buy around here, although I do have their mini, it looks in the picture that it has a digital readout?? Is the 2 h.p. something new on these?

Thanks
Andy

[Dominic Greco]

Bill,
Glad to hear you got the lathe home safe and sound! I think you'll be very very happy with your 1642. I know I am.

I know it's early, but have you thought about adding that ballast box and trestle legs like I did? It really does make a difference when turning big, out of round blanks.

[Ted Shrader]

Bill -

Looks great. Congratulations on your new lathe.

Ted

[Bill Esposito]

Dominic,

I'm going to do the box (I already have some sand as you could see) but not the legs.

As it stands now (pun intended) I think the lathe is a bit tall for me. At least for using the Alan Lacer method for the skew. It may be as much as 2 or 3" too high for that....it sits at about 5" above my elbow now. So making the trestle legs is out of the question unless I make a platform to stand on. It may be fine for bowls, I'll have to see.

I never knew a lathe could be so smooth, I'm not used to elctronic speed control.

By the way, how slow can you run your lathe?

[Bill Esposito]

That is one sweet looking unit...Jet is desperate hard to buy around here, although I do have their mini, it looks in the picture that it has a digital readout?? Is the 2 h.p. something new on these?

Thanks
Andy
Andy,

I didnt buy it locally, Amazon with free shipping :) Southern tool also has free shipping on Jet lathes (last I looked)

Yes, it is electronic speed control. The 2hp motor is a 3ph motor with an inverter. There are two torque ranges which are set by changing the belt position. It has reverse as well. I dont know how long the 2hp model has been offered, but I believe right from the begining.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

That is a nice looking machine! Well worth the effort you had to go through to get it. Congrats!

[Keith Outten]

Bill,

The new lathe is a real beauty, I checked the web link and even backtracked to the BBS page. Is your board still online? I started Hampton Roads Online as a BBS running WorldGroup and it stayed online untill the last hurricane, we just didn't bring the BBS server back up...the end of an era for us anyway.

[Bill Esposito]

Thanks all.

Keith, Yea, the BBS is online albeit telnet only cerealport.homeip.net

I dropped the dialup like like 2 years ago for lack of callers. I get a couple of telnets a week now, just dont have the heart to take it down. I'm still a member of Fidonet and still ocasionally connect with folks I met in the 80's while using my C64

An end of an era is right, BBSing was a big part of my life at one time. Kinda sad.

[Keith Outten]

Bill,

It seems to me that many of the services people want on the Internet these days are the same ones we offered in the BBS days. The BBS software did reach an impressive level of services and you had everything in one comprehensive package. I know that WorldGroup had chat, file sharing, message boards, and some very cool games. We also had a game connection module that allowed live play of Doom and all the latest multiplayer games. We had a very nice drawing board module that allowed groups to draw while in chat and an excellent email service. Best of all the software was really secure and private areas were definately private, the Federal Covernment ran a WorldGroup Server for a long time as it was the only BBS software that met their security requirements.

Six months after we connected our BBS to the Net the board just about died and we were installing email servers, web servers and became an ISP overnight it seems. In those days there weren't even any graphics on the Web, my how things have changed.

[Barry Horner]

Ya, that is one sweet lathe, one of these days when I get good enough to justify it, I will move up to something that nice. Right now if I buy one more tool the wife will throw me out.

Have fun with it. This is my second post a big hello. Great site you guys have going here. Will be nice to learn some new tricks. Barry

[Darren Ford]

Bump for the BBS. Those were the days. Remember when people had dictionaries and an encyclopedia ?

Information has really changed my life, but it comes at a price, I am addicted to instant knowledge.

[Dominic Greco]

Dominic,

I'm going to do the box (I already have some sand as you could see) but not the legs.

As it stands now (pun intended) I think the lathe is a bit tall for me. At least for using the Alan Lacer method for the skew. It may be as much as 2 or 3" too high for that....it sits at about 5" above my elbow now. So making the trestle legs is out of the question unless I make a platform to stand on. It may be fine for bowls, I'll have to see.

I never knew a lathe could be so smooth, I'm not used to electronic speed control.

By the way, how slow can you run your lathe?

Bill,
Mike Schwing from WoodCentral has a PM3520A (which is a LOT like our Jet lathes). The spindle height of that lathe is a bit too high for him to comfortably turn bowls. So he built a wooden platform to stand on while he works. From what I hear, he found it made standing at the lathe for extended periods a much more comfortable experience.

My spin on this is to build a platform and make it 3/4" SHORTER than you need. At that point, add a 3/4" horse stall matt. I have one at my lathe and have found that the extra cushioning is awesome! And a (approx) 5' x 6' x 3/4" thick mat cost me $34.00 at a local Seed and Feed store.

To answer your question, I can spin my lathe down to about 150 - 200 RPM. That's about as slow as I can go.

Have fun!

[Keith Outten]

Visit any machine shop in the US and look at the wooden platform in front of every metal lathe. Since machinists have to stand in the same spot virtually all day long they build wooden platforms made from long strips of wood to get their feet off of the concrete, it gives their legs and feet a softer cushion since there is plenty of spring in the design.

[Kurt Aebi]

Bill,

Great loking lathe you got there, too bad you couldn't have just gotten it at Western Tool Supply in the roundhouse at the Colony Mill in Keene, though. Woulda saved ya a bunch of time (most likely pay more too, from what I've seen there). Someday, I'll have to treck over to Ringe and check that thing out in action! We go down to Keene quite a bit, and you aren't too awful far from there, are ya?

Enjoy that really nice lathe and maybe someday, i too can grow into one. I'll hone my skills on the HF lathe first!

Nice Gloat and thank for sharing!

[Bill Esposito]

Bill,

Great loking lathe you got there, too bad you couldn't have just gotten it at Western Tool Supply in the roundhouse at the Colony Mill in Keene, though. Woulda saved ya a bunch of time (most likely pay more too, from what I've seen there). Someday, I'll have to treck over to Ringe and check that thing out in action! We go down to Keene quite a bit, and you aren't too awful far from there, are ya?

Enjoy that really nice lathe and maybe someday, i too can grow into one. I'll hone my skills on the HF lathe first!

Nice Gloat and thank for sharing!

Kurt, They actually only sell the mini lathe there and their prices are pretty high. I do go there but do more window shopping than anything else. Plus I got to use the Amazon 0% for 6 months and cashed in a few of my USAir miles just in case they didnt come out of chapter11 (next time I need to worry is june) and got a $500 Amazon gif cert so it was a no brainer.

We are about 25 min se of keene, down rt 12 and east on 101.

[Bill Esposito]

Bill,
Mike Schwing from WoodCentral has a PM3520A (which is a LOT like our Jet lathes). The spindle height of that lathe is a bit too high for him to comfortably turn bowls. So he built a wooden platform to stand on while he works. From what I hear, he found it made standing at the lathe for extended periods a much more comfortable experience.

My spin on this is to build a platform and make it 3/4" SHORTER than you need. At that point, add a 3/4" horse stall matt. I have one at my lathe and have found that the extra cushioning is awesome! And a (approx) 5' x 6' x 3/4" thick mat cost me $34.00 at a local Seed and Feed store.

To answer your question, I can spin my lathe down to about 150 - 200 RPM. That's about as slow as I can go.

Have fun!

Dominic,

I got mine down to 125 last night...just wanted to make sure it wasnt supposed to start at zero.

Do you unplug it after use? I'm kinda worried about surges so I may try to find a 230v surge protector....now that it's a piece of electronics instead of electrical.

I may try just using the pallet that the lathe came on for now....I've got no time to do anything else.

I bought 6 of those 24x60 anti-fatique mats from woodcraft when they were 9.99 each, I'll put that on the platform.

Funny, I was just thinking about cutting the legs on my Jet TS as well to lower it a bit...a platform there might be a trip hazard.

[Bill Esposito]

Ya, that is one sweet lathe, one of these days when I get good enough to justify it, I will move up to something that nice. Right now if I buy one more tool the wife will throw me out.

Have fun with it. This is my second post a big hello. Great site you guys have going here. Will be nice to learn some new tricks. Barry

My skills dont justify it, dont let that get in your way :)

[Bill Esposito]

Bill,

It seems to me that many of the services people want on the Internet these days are the same ones we offered in the BBS days. The BBS software did reach an impressive level of services and you had everything in one comprehensive package. I know that WorldGroup had chat, file sharing, message boards, and some very cool games. We also had a game connection module that allowed live play of Doom and all the latest multiplayer games. We had a very nice drawing board module that allowed groups to draw while in chat and an excellent email service. Best of all the software was really secure and private areas were definately private, the Federal Covernment ran a WorldGroup Server for a long time as it was the only BBS software that met their security requirements.

Six months after we connected our BBS to the Net the board just about died and we were installing email servers, web servers and became an ISP overnight it seems. In those days there weren't even any graphics on the Web, my how things have changed.

My 15 min of fame. And they paid me $2K for this back in 95. It was the first time I ever tried writing. Virtually no edits and about 17 hours of work...it was actually fun.

http://www.byte.com/art/9502/sec11/art11.htm

I sell autographed copies of that issue for the price of a turning tool now :)

[Fred Floyd]

I became the prowd owner of a Jet 1642-2hp as well. Thanks to Woodcraft and their 10% off sale. I was considering the 1.5hp, but they didn't have any in stock. Coincidentally, I have a 220 plug right whre I wanted to put the lathe. Oh darn... I had to buy the 2hp.

They put the box in the back of my pickup and then I took it out in pieces when I got home. It wasn't much to set up, except for the 220 plug. It only draws 12 amps on a 30-amp circuit, so no problems with being starved for power.

Yeah, you're right about the height. It's a bit tall for bowl turning. I figured that if I buy a good lathe to start with, then I don't have to replace it next year -- or for that matter for the next 20 years.

Woodturning is like golf. You can do it the first time, but you spend the rest of your life getting better at it. My turning skills are pretty anemic, but I find myself at the lathe during every spare moment. I think I'm in the market for some lessons.