Buying a New Lathe

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

Traveling First Class
It seems that, of the 16 large lathes, at the Arrowmont School.... the top of the line are the Oneway 2436 ( 24" throwing capacity over the bed and 36" between centers) and the Stubby. Both ring up @ $4500 at the cash register.


Oneway 2436........... $4500
Shipping for lathe...............@$350
Oneway Stronghold Chuck.... $269
Oneway Complete Grinding Jigs...$169
8" Slow Speed Grinder..$200
Lathe Tools.....$400 to start
Turning Ways System... @ $500 (Hollow Vessel System)
Face Shield, Dustmask, Calipers etc...$200

<center> This List Totals $6600

This is a first class set up. Wayne Shipman used this Lathe at the Class and uses one at his studio. Other heavy lathes can be bought for $1800 to $3500.

Can We get some discussion here?
This is a big decision for me. Have I forgotten something on this list?
I got these prices from catalogs and rounded off. Links:

Oneway Manufacturing (http://www.oneway.on.ca/)
The Woodturners Catalog (http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com)
Packard Woodworks (http://www.packardwoodworks.com)
Stubby (http://www.stubbylathe.com/)

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Zack

I can't believe the people at Arrowmont have steered you so wrong! Everyone knows the best lathes are painted blue!:D Seriously, if you are considering spending $500 on a hollowing rig, you might think about what a pivoting head lathe will do for your back. Of course, you wouldn't be able to use that fancy rig, but there are lots of other alternatives...

Considering that any lathe in that price range (Poolewood included) is more a matter of personal preference and features than anything else, the rest of your list looks pretty good. I would submit for your consideration though, that you add in a powered air personal respirator instead of a dustmask. There are more models on the market than ever before, and in addition to protecting your lungs and face better than a face mask and shield, they add to the pleasure of the turning experience in that your comfort level is greatly increased through the confidence of that protection.

If something in your projected budget has to go, make it the hollowing system. You can make hollowing tools for less than $50.00. They won't be as fancy, and depend a little more on operator finesse, but a lot of us learned to turn hollow forms without a captured system.

Other than that, have fun spending some money, and we'll all look forward to seeing your efforts as a new convert to serious turning disease.

Bill

[Bobby Hatfield]

Hey Zack, bring your spindle gouge and parting tool and come on down and try some table legs on an old 45 Powermatic, or Rockwell 11" for some practice.

[Dennis Peacock]

Congrats Zack on your grand class you just had!!!!!!! Looks like you learned a LOT and was able to share a lot with us. Now you have the "round ww'ing" disease and go for the best you can afford...you won't regret it!!!!!

I have always wanted to go to a class like that but if I did everything I wanted to do...I would be bankrupt.....like I keep telling myself and LOML......all it takes is money!!!!!

I hope to see some pics of your new lathe, turning tools and some round stuff you turned on that new lathe..!!!!!

Now...get yourself a lathe, tools and stuff and start searching through your firewood pile...!!! :)

[John Weber]

Zach,

Wow, talk about sticker shock. I have an old Delta with some nice tools and accessories, however it well surpasses my skills. The Oneway is without doubt an outstanding tool, but the best money spent for your turning is the class. I say go for it, you can't make a bad choice when talking about that level of tool. It seems like a lot of money but is still cheaper than a bass boat.

John

[Jim Becker]

It seems that, of the 16 large lathes, at the Arrowmont School.... the top of the line are the Oneway 2436 ( 24" throwing capacity over the bed and 36" between centers) and the Stubby.

The OneWay is certainly a nice machine and I've turned on it as well as the Poolewood that Bill cites. Personally, I'm a Stubby fan since I first saw one at the AAW Symposium in Providence last year...and will have one in my shop one of these days. It's perfect for the kind of turning I like to do the most ...hollow vessels...and stays compact in my shop. It actually has less footprint than my OneWay 1018 with the bed extension and in my shop, that is a plus. Yet, I can "expand" the bed if I need to turn a furniture part once in a while.

Make your decision, however, on how you plan on using the lathe. All of the high-end lathes are great, but each has particular features that may or may not be valuable to you.

[Richard Allen]

Hi Zack

You have it all mostly right, give or take a few hundred here ot there.

Hard to beat the Oneway as your lathe. Expect to wait a few months for the folks at Oneway to build your lathe. I would add a couple of things to that Oneway lathe. The RFI filter, 96 point indexing , the short bed extension.

The RFI filter lets you listen to AM radio with the lathe on. $38
96 point indexing has no down side and gives a nice capablity. Free
The short bed extension will give you a short bed lathe outboard. $267

You are right about the captive hollowing rig. But then again you took the class!

You could save a little on the sharpening equipment, Woodcraft 8" grinder and Tru-grind combo for $220 instead of $369.

I am all with Bill on the powered face shield thing.

Please know that you will easly find a few other things to add to your list.

What are you going to do for several months while you are waiting for your new lathe?

The setup you are considering is close to what it took me 3 1/2 years to get. While I didn't waste those 3 1/2 years I certinaly spent a LOT more than you you are considering.

Thanks

[Anthony Yakonick]

Do you really need a 24" lathe? I have a 20" General and have thinking about "downsizing" to 16" Oneway, try turning a 15"+ hollow vessel you may decide it's not for you, its fun untill the second time. As for hollowing tools, I have turned hundreds of vessels with the Stewart tool and find no reason for a captured tool I also think a captured tool may limit my shapes. Don't forget General, Woodfast and Vicmarc lathes great machines at about half the price. One note to my local buddies I am warming up to the Big Blue machine but the Big Black one still bothers me.

[George Troy Hurlburt]

Hello Zack,
I added the Vicmarc VL300ES to my other lathes. This is a 24" swing shortbed with a 2 hp motor. 1 1/4" spindle. Minehttp://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/30000/3.jpg came from Australia just the way they make them with their stand. You can take a look at Vicmarcs in this group. http://groups.msn.com/VicmarcOwnersGroup Here is a picture of my setup with The Kelton hollowing rig.

[Philip Duffy]

Doc, I have said it before- - a big ole heavy Powermatic 2035 is so perfect. Check with some pros and see what they use. The ability to stand at the end of the rails and look into the workpiece is worth it all. When you get above 15in, that ole chunk of wet/green wood needs something to keep it from killing you and a big lathe is a big safety factor. A 20in piece of locus just got turned and not many lathes could have handled that task! Lots of marketing available to convince you of all choices, and Wayne is a great turner, so he is now just one voice- - call a couple others.
Keep that wood turning! Phil

[Bill Grumbine]

One note to my local buddies I am warming up to the Big Blue machine but the Big Black one still bothers me.

We'll give you the same treatment I gave Jim F. on the Poolewood Anthony. He tried to talk me out of it, then he spent some time on it in my shop. It changed his impressions dramatically. I'll have to get it all set up for you at the picnic. ;)

Bill

[Bob Oswin]

[QUOTE=Dr. Zack Jennings] Traveling First Class
It seems that, of the 16 large lathes, at the Arrowmont School.... the top of the line are the Oneway 2436 ( 24" throwing capacity over the bed and 36" between centers) and the Stubby. Both ring up @ $4500 at the cash register.



Can We get some discussion here?
This is a big decision for me. Have I forgotten something on this list?
Hi Zack:
At our last meeting we had an open meeting discussion on what lathe our turners group members would buy next.
The group was split almost evenly between Vicmarc and Oneway.

I am partial to Oneway because they seem to be continously developing their products and peripherials to add to their line ahead of the competition.
Their new adaptation of the head to tail adapter for instance that allows the flipping your work from head to tailstock and maintaining accuracy of center.
They have a complete vacuum system for their machine and others as well.
Of recent, many of our turners have bought Vicmarc. They sight more bang for the buck and equal engineering.
If you are anything like me, best to give it a week or so and keep asking these really good questions.

p.s. the resale value of Oneway is very good.
The next step down is probably to General and similar lathes. It is not a quality issue but rather a limitation of design the separates these from the first two I mentioned.

None of the ones I mention would disservice the best of us amatuers.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

The new head to tail adapter for instance that allows flipping your work from head to tailstock and maintaining accuracy of center.

I had this device from Johnny Tolly in TX long before OneWay brought out their version...they didn't innovate on that one!

[Bob Oswin]

I had this device from Johnny Tolly in TX long before OneWay brought out their version...they didn't innovate on that one!

Hi Jim:

The point I tried to make is that they seem to be adding the best of what's available to their product line, whether they have invented it or not.

If only the same could be said for some others.

You buy the lathe then go around looking for compatable parts elsewhere.

Hope this makes better sense.

Bob

[Peter Gregory]

[QUOTE=Dr. Zack Jennings] Traveling First Class
Oneway 2436........... $4500
Shipping for lathe...............@$350

I'm pretty sure that Oneway ships for free. It was true a couple of months ago when I bought my lathe. Every other item on your list I own or plan to own.

Great work, you can have years of fun with that setup.

[Gary Hern]

Sounds like you had one great experience in the Smokies! Our visit there last October was great also. I was impressed with Arrowmont also and vowed to take a class there in the future as time permits.

I respond last night, but I don't see my post today so I'll type it again?

As far as lathes go, I'm a Stubby S750 owner and supporter! I researched almost every lathe out there and turned on many prior to purchasing. I think the question of which lathe is best depends on what you intend to turn and even then it is subject to opinion to a great extent. Out of the lathes I tried, the Stubby was by far the smoothest operationally. The tool rests slide so easily, it almost requires no thought and they lock down as rigid as anything I tried. The different configurations make it a plus. Basically, you have a super smooth 16" lathe but can expand that to 30" by configuring the bed differently and 40" for the S1000. It comes with an auxilliary bed and two tool rest bases included in the standard pricing. If you purchase another tool rest and configure the auxilliary bed appropriately, you can turn the inside and outside of the bowl without moving the bases. On another positive, it has a built in vacuum chamber through the spindle, yet retains a hollow spindle. (Requires plugging on the handwheel side prior to using the vacuum chuck.)

In my tests of different lathes, I think the Oneway was probably the best spindle lathe but you could aslo turn bowls on it. I felt the VB was the best bowl lathe out there, but if you wanted to turn something else, you had a large outlay for bed rails and tail stock, and even then, the outrigger type hollowing tools would have required modifications for the rear support. I felt the Stubby was the best lathe for bowls and hollow forms, but would still allow you to turn spindles and such. My preference is hollow forms, and I don't think there is a better lathe out there for the money. The Nichols custom lathes may exceed it, but at a considerable expense over what the S750 is. I will not bash the Oneway or the other lathes out there for that fact, but the Oneways tailstock and tool rest base were far too fickle for me, and that big thing had to be perfect (beds waxed and base adjusted properly)to smoothly operate and even then would require work prior to the next turning session. It was just something that I found irritating while turning an intricate shape. I found that I was leaving the tool rest sitting instead of moving it to the best location.

The others do have a point about the Vicmarc and some of the others offering a price point for a good lathe. I have not turned on a PM basically because of the issues prior to when I purchased mine.

If you are interested in the Stubby, there is a group on the internet where you can get any question that you may have answered. There is also an archive that you can read of all past questions. The resale is also a positive of a top of the line lathe. If you should decide to sell it down the road, you loose very little of your investment. Of all the Stubby owners I have heard of, I've only heard of one being sold, and that was for a Nichols custom so the guy could turn very large tables.

My recommendation would be to spend some time on anything you are considering with someone knowledgable on that piece of machinery to show you the ins and outs!

Good luck with your choices. It's part of the fun! ;-)

Gary Hern

[Mark Mandell]

Zack,

My 3hp Stubby s1000 just left Nashville :D :D for delivery day-after-tomorrow. I could have had a s750 months ago, but decided to wait for the Lathe of My Dreams.

It turns 20" over the ways, 44" with the bed retracted, and, with the bed extended and aux bed in place, will turn a 40" spindle, all with less than a 4' footprint that allows me to work from the end of the lathe without bending/stooping/twisting over the bed.

My personal aversion to Oneway products, fine machines though they may be, has been documented elsewhere.

I'm making my own boring rig with some 3/4" steel, the boring tools from my Don Pencil Scorpion set, and a $12 laser pointer from Harbor Freight

Good luck.

Mark Mandell

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

Good Information
At Arrowmont we had and used all the different lathes. At my level, Im not recommending 1 system over another. Since the big systems are similarly priced, I was just trying to estimate the budget for getting started.

<center>Thanks Guys

[W.C. Turner]

Best of luck with your selection. Look forward to seeing what you wind up with.

[Gary Hern]

On the high end side for getting started first class. There are areas that you could save on in the initial investment if you need to and also things you could ad like a powered visor, but you are very close. As Bill said, you could save on the hollowing tools or just do without the laser for awhile. Tools are high at $400.00 for a beginner. I'd say you could get by with a 1/2" gouge, a parting tool, and scraper for a little over a hundred if necessary. If I would guess, I'd say you could get by for about 10% less starting out first class, then build on that. Besides, you don't want to have all the fun in to brief a period. Strecth it out and enjoy! ;-)