Craftsman Pro Wood Lathe Question

[Ronald Blue]

Considering a Craftsman Pro model 351.217150. Is it worth considering? Anyone with first hand knowledge/experience with one. It's 2 horsepower variable speed with 15" swing and 38" between centers. Any and all comments welcome and thanks in advance.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

unless it's really cheap - I would pass.

Craftsman "over rates" their motors by saying "2HP (developed)" - in reality it's probably 1-1.5 HP

it's a very lightweight machine and will not hand a 15" unbalanced bowl blank.

it has a Reeves drive - and the slowest speed is 365(ish) RPM - still too fast for many blanks.

[Thom Sturgill]

A quick Google search shows lots of problems with belt breakage. Parts may still be available, but the lathe does not appear to be in production.

[Roger Chandler]

I would not count on being able to find parts.........my first lathe was a Craftsman 15" VS.....ended up taking it to the scrap yard.......the parts I needed were not available anywhere........I searched for months, and even went to 3 machine shops to make parts.......no joy!

[russell dietrich]

I bought one about 2008. Gave it away 3 months later. The pully kept hanging up. Had to take it apart sand the shaft and polish. I purchased a spur for the headstock ( #2 morse taper). Had to cut abot 1 1/2" off due to excessive movement from center. Taper in headstock was not true. The drive belt stripped out, they were really proud of the belt. (Cost was excessive.) Vibration was excessive (even with ballast). All in all it was the worst lathe I have ever turned on. (Been turning since 1972).

[Ronald Blue]

Thanks for the replies. I am not looking for a lathe that's going to be trouble from the beginning. This is why SMC is such a great place.

[jared parson]

I learned to turn on this lathe. Bought it new, and turned on it for many years. I had good luck with it, but can't say I'd recommend it for the reasons stated above. The only issue I had was most of the time when starting it up, I had to give it a little "help". It often required me to spin the workpiece by hand after turning the switch on, kinda like firing up an old prop plane. Otherwise the piece would just spin at a very low rpm and the motor would hum, like the start cap was bad. Once I gave it a crank or two, it rolled right over to proper rpm.

[Bill White]

Craftsman and "Pro" is counter intuitive. I'd pass for sure. But, there was a time..........(long ago).
Bill