Just Finished My Shop and Lathe Upgrade Project

[Jeff Gilfor]

Have a look. Here are photos of my newly upgraded shop. I moved a wall out 3 feet, added more lighting, and purchased a Nova DVR 2024 (awesome bowl turning lathe!).

First shot is the old dark and cramped shop; next three are of the newly redecorated one.

[Thom Sturgill]

Amazing how much difference moving a wall a few feet can make, and you never have too much light for detail work. From reports, you will love the DVR.

[mark ravensdale]

Nice shop!!!
That 2024 would run so much smoother with 300-500lbs of ballast strapped to it though:)
thats the only bad point about the nova lathes, not enough mass,
wish I had as much space as you do in your shop (must be nice) but hey, you use what ya got, right!!!
i have just today finished remodelling my shop, been at it for two week, I never knew I had so much stuff in it, had to get my dvrxp (which committed suicide) out before I could get my new 3520b in, thought it would only take a day or two, boy was I wrong:eek:

Again, nice shop, now get in it more!!! ;-)

[charlie knighton]

congratulations, enjoy, what was the other lathe on countertop?

[Tim Leiter]

Jeff, nice looking shop, what are the dimensions? Mine is 16X22, not hardly enough room for all my tools. And Mark, what size is your shop? Just a nosey person, Tim.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice looking shop and the 2024 is looking good.

[Tim Leiter]

Charlie, the other lathe I'm pretty sure is a Rikon Mini.

[Matt Owen]

Congratulations on the new shop and the new lathe. I love m DVR XP, though the 20" swing yours has makes me jealous.:p

[Jeff Gilfor]

I'm at work, and will measure the shop to post the dimensions. All I know is, that it's much bigger than before.
The other lathe is a Rikon mini (very good lathe) VS model.
Yes, the 2024 is wonderfull. It is rock solid and smooth as silk. In fact, I was finishing a bowl last evening, and set the bottle of finish on the bedway while applying it with the bowl spinning at 3000 rpm (yes, I know it's dangerous... but that's my middle name). The bottle didn't even shake!

[mark ravensdale]

Tim, my shop is a tiny tiny tiny 9ft by 6ft !!!
Having so little space can be a real pain in the butt, like last Tuesday my 3520b arrived but beforehand I had to get everything out to be able to get it in, I still cannot believe how much stuff I had in there though (stuff I never use!!!)
having a tiny little shop like mine has only one advantage, all my tools are within arms reach :)
still like I say, you use what you got (9ft by 6ft is way better than 0ft by 0ft right?)
another thing a didn't realise was how much exotic wood I had, I got loads!!!
and when it comes down to it, as longs as I have space for my lathe, a pillar drill, grinder and extractor I'am happy :)

[Tim Leiter]

Mark that IS a tiny, tiny shop :eek:. I guess for right now I'm glad I have 16X22. I'm pretty sure most of our kind of folks, (tool lovers), have much larger shop areas. But we all have to make do with what we have and be thankful for it, I guess. :o Tim.

[Jeff Gilfor]

Okay; so, my new shop is 23' long. Half is 7' wide (the part where my water heater and HVAC unit plus bandsaw are). The main part (where the lathes, bench, and sharpening station are) is 9.5' wide.

Interestingly, although I totally expected to need some sandbags on the base shelf, this new lathe (weighing about 450 lbs) is rock solid so far. I have yet to turn a large out of round piece of wood, but so far so good. Still going to be picking up some MDF for two shelves on the base.

[mark ravensdale]

Jeff my 3520b now weighs in at 1200lbs and I can still make it judder around (remember, your lathe can never weigh too much :)) although it is MUCH MUCH more stable than my old dvrxp (and I had 450-500lbs of pea gravel hanging off that!!!)
Those cast iron legs on your 2024 sure will help a lot (much better than the tubular steel ones I had on my dvrxp) but those brackets are just begging for a ballast shelf (even if you just stack some wood on it, it's more mass, and will free up space else where for more tools :D)