Does anybody have specific info on Wilton mini-lathe?

[Harry Thornton]

I have the specs on it but I don't have the experience to interpret the data. If you are willing to help me please reply or PM me and I will send you the specs. I have no turning experience. I don't know what attaches to what. If I can't get a chuck for this unit it is useless to me. I have never had this much trouble figuring something out in my life. Heck, this is the www era...I can usually figure something out in an hour or less.

Sorry for the whining. Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Harry

[Hank Walczak]

I don't own one and I suspect you won't want to own one either. I'd guess it's a glorified pen lathe. In other words, save your money and get a Jet mini. More versitile and something you'll want to keep. The specs don't give a spindle size or even if it has any Morse taper. Bed at 12" is really short. In other words it doesn't have much going for it even at $100. If you still want to go frugile (read cheap) look at some of the Harbor Freight units. Some members have had good luck there.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Evenin Harry.
I own both a Jet Mini and a Wilton mini. Other than the size of the motor, the difference in Morris taper, and no hand wheel on the Wilton, both lathes are of similar quality. I use them both for pens and bowls and boxes up to 9" Diameter. The Jet stays in the house because it is heavier and I added an extention. which gives me a working length of about 34". The Wilton is used as a traveling lathe that I take to demonstrations.

I have a Harbor Freight in town and have looked at their lathes, I have yet to see anything there that has ANY quality to it. I'm not against Harbor Freight. I do purchase from them, but only after carefully checking out the item.

If your budget is tight, the Wilton will be good enough to learn on. You can upgrade to one of the big lathes, when you're comfortable with taking 50 lbs of wood and slinging it around at 1000 rpms.

Just MHO.

If you want to talk more about it, PM me.
Bruce

[Harry Thornton]

I can see right now I need to go to the library and get a book. I don't even know the parts of a lathe much less the significance of their specs. Morse taper? Hand wheel? Frankly, if I can't figure out how to do what I want without a $200 chuck, I am going to have to put this off until later.

later that day Harry adds: OK, nevermind, I did my research and now I know about adaptors for the 3/4 x 16 spindle, etc. I have also found some chucks that are way less than $200. I am sure they are not as good but they will have to do if I am to get into turning.

[Jack Savona]

Harry, I recently bought a Wilton from Amazon - couldn't beat the $99 price with shipping. I just took a break from making 6 pens on it and am in the process of finishing up a bottle stopper to take to our dinner hosts tomorrow night.

Now if we get some warm weather here in Maine, I can take it outside to turn. I mounted it on a 2x10 so when I'm using it in the cellar (er...studio) I can set it on my regular lathe and use my dust collector setup.

I have to admit, I do enjoy the little Wilton. I bought a 3/4"x16tpi to 1"x8tpi adapter (so I can use my current accessories) and a bottle stopper chuck from woodenpost.com. At Woodcraft I picked up a #1 morse taper pen mandrel for about $10. I can't believe that the mandrel came with a full set of slimline bushings and an adjustable collar/nut.

At our club meeting a few days ago, I did a demo on a table-top Delta. I could see that it had some better quality and was a #2 morse taper which allowed me to use my current Jacobs chuck, etc., but it didn't have the variable speed motor of the Wilton. I love being able to turn at a high speed, going right to the lowest for sanding, then to the highest for friction polish...all without changing belts.

I have no idea about the durability compared to the Jet/Delta/etc., but so far I'm impressed and I think the value is there for the dollar. I do wish it had a hand wheel, but I'm adapting to it, even thinking about MacGyvering something for it.

Be interested to hear about your experience with it.

Jack

[Jack Savona]

Went to make a second bottle stopper last night on the Wilton and the motor wouldn't start without my turning the shaft. Then a few starts later at higher speeds I had very erratic motor speeds. I'll have to check out the problem later this am.

Jack

[Jack Savona]

I removed the motor brushes (very easy to do), saw they still looked new and reinserted them. Tried the lathe and...voila! It works fine.

I'll call Wilton tomorrow and chat with them to see if this is a common problem.

Jack