Stan Smith
04-20-2003, 8:44 PM
Again, thanks to some nice guys on here, I got a great deal on a Jet mini lathe and stand, from Woodcraft, for $350 including shipping and tax. Setup was no problem, but there were no instructions. Even with my -15 mechanical apptitude everything went smooth.
I had green turned a sycamore bowl blank about 4 years ago so I decided to use it as a test and practice. The lathe runs very quiet and smooth with no vibration. I was concerned about vibration with the stand but it is really beefy and stable. The piece was out of round a little but still no vibration. I just set it on a lower speed and finished up the bowl using my chuck for everything. Seems to me to be smoother than my full size lathe was by more than a little bit. There is a dinky ding on the paint where a weld is on the stand, but everything else was just great right out of the box. I hadn't turned for quite awhile so I was a little apprehensive. Ended up really enjoying it and am looking forward to more. It really did help me out on shop space too. I highly recommend this little lathe for those who like small projects.
Stan
I had green turned a sycamore bowl blank about 4 years ago so I decided to use it as a test and practice. The lathe runs very quiet and smooth with no vibration. I was concerned about vibration with the stand but it is really beefy and stable. The piece was out of round a little but still no vibration. I just set it on a lower speed and finished up the bowl using my chuck for everything. Seems to me to be smoother than my full size lathe was by more than a little bit. There is a dinky ding on the paint where a weld is on the stand, but everything else was just great right out of the box. I hadn't turned for quite awhile so I was a little apprehensive. Ended up really enjoying it and am looking forward to more. It really did help me out on shop space too. I highly recommend this little lathe for those who like small projects.
Stan