Nova 1624=44 Lathe

[chuck vernon]

The latest flyer from woodcraft has the Nova 1642-44 Lathe on sale for $900. I am a beginning bowl turner and have a Harbor Freight lathe. My main complaint with it is that it is underpowered. I am concidering upgrading, Would appreciate some opinion on this lathe.

[J.D.Redwine]

Get it. I did three years ago.

[Allan Ferguson]

Good lathe and a good buy on sale. I do a lot of turning with one. Allan

[Richard Madden]

I've had mine for 6-7 years and no complaints and no issues. That sounds real close to what I paid back then. Go for it, you'll be glad.

[Reed Gray]

It would be a big step up. I prefer a lathe with a variable speed, and 2 hp/220 volt for serious bowl turning, especially if you plan to sell. It will have good resale value.

robo hippy

[chuck vernon]

Thanks: Since I turn only for fun I think this is all the lathe I will need. I will call the woodcraft store tomorrow and see if they have one in stock.

[Scott Hackler]

That's what I have and its a great lathe. 16" swing, 1.5 HP motor, good speed range through the belts, tilting headstock which is great for inside bowl access. The down sides are relatively light on the weight (but a ballast box would solve that), if the headstock is swung out the detent DOES NOT align to the tailstock (you'll have to manually align it with a spur drive and your tail stock before clamping it down), no variable speed knob :( (this is the one thing I really wish I had. I can change the belt location for the speed changes in about 8-10 seconds, now, but it's still a little of a pain, and no remote control box. I am thinking of making one of these to put on the tailstock side. I don't like reaching over a blank about ready to launch to stop the lathe! But even with the CONS, it's a great lathe and a heck of a good buy on this sale. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

[Jamie Donaldson]

As Scott stated, it lacks the VFD and changes speed by moving the drive belt, so watch out for your fingers! You also have the future option of replacing the drive system with a Nova VFD upgrade kit, but I don't remember the price?

[Michael Stafford]

I had the earlier version of this lathe known as the Nova 3000. Except for changing the belt positions it was a great lathe. I change speeds a lot while turning boxes. I just had an opportunity to move up to a larger lathe with VFD and decided to do so.

I mounted mine on a homemade wooden stand with lots of weight and it turned beautifully with minimal vibration. You will always have some with a direct belt drive like this machine but it can be minimized. Periodically check the tightness of the pulley set screws as I have seen a few posts on the various forums where folks have had set screws vibrate loose and end up with the pulleys and keys jammed which requires a little work to get back into place.

[Thom Sturgill]

... if the headstock is swung out the detent DOES NOT align to the tailstock (you'll have to manually align it with a spur drive and your tail stock before clamping it down)...

Or buy one of these things:

261185 (http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=packard&Category_Code=lathes-acc-mrstool)

Packard and others sell it for just that task.

[John Teichert]

Chuck, I saw that same flyer, and one is coming home with me. But it's rained so hard in Atlanta this weekend, that I'm mopping out my basement, and I didn't want to trailer it home on my open utility trailer and get it wet. I have a 46-460 and love it, but it swayed like we were dancing when I mounted a 12 x 8 oak blank. I finally won out, but the lack of power at slow speed, and the lack of clearance for the banjo just make that deal too attractive. The delta 46-460 will be the lathe of choice for everything else with it's variable speed, but the Nova will be the goto lathe for the larger stuff. I don't see the belt changing to be a problem since I have the delta for small stuff and the torque at low speed should make handling the larger work sooooo much better.

The guys in the store said they only had a limited supply, and I haven't seen a large lathe, even a used one anywhere near that price in Atlanta. Even a rebuilt one from Nova was selling at 950.

One of my neighbors had a oak tree that had to come down that was about 4 ft in diameter, and for the price of a bowl, that I turned for him, got a two sections of that tree. Most of the tree was hauled away, and he kept some for "firewood". We rolled 3 more sections into his back yard, and those were about 3 feet in feet in diameter. I just happened upon it at the very end. I had to split my sections into sixths to even get to flip them onto a hand truck to haul them to my house without breaking my back. He said he counted 135 rings.

[ray hampton]

are you keeping the harbor freight lathe for a back -up