What lathe? No room" (JETMINI)?

[roy knapp]

Well the reality of the available room in my shop has left me with one choice for the lathe, looks like a mini lathe.

i cant sacrifice anymore floor space for a larger lathe so if i want a lathe at all looks like the Jet Mini JML-1014.

Just got back from getting a price for 12"*36" jet jwL-1236 for $499.00 :) less the chuck and is only 5 feet long and i went into the shop and there was no way i could fit this in there and still do any projects, ohwell":( :(

So i have resiged myself to the fact that if i do want to do any lathe work at all its a mini lathe:mad: which brings me to question.

The mini lathe that like is the JET MINI JML-1014 andwhat i was wondering just what can be turned on this lathe besides pens not that there is anything wrong with that i want to be able to do a bit more than that.

Those who have this lathe could you please give me your pros and cons and what you have found as the limitations of this lathe.:)

[John Hart]

I think the folks of this forum could put together a 1000 page portfolio of pictures of stuff you could do with that thing Roy. No giant stuff....but some absolutely stunning work.

Welcome to the Vortex!!!;)

[Jamie Buxton]

I know a guy who has a lathe roughly the size of the JWL1236, in a small shop. He stows the lathe, his grinder, and his lathe tools in a footprint which is about 20" square. In operation, the lathe bolts to his workbench. To stow it, he slides it off the end of the bench, tilting it to stand on end on something like a furniture dolly. He said that it is important to have casters with brakes. The "furniture dolly" has a tall arm running vertically, so after he gets the lathe standing on it, he can bolt the lathe to the arm. The "furniture dolly" actually isn't as low as a normal dolly. It is tall enough to have a compartment at the bottom, below the lathe, for the grinder. It also has hanging space along one side for lathe tools. It all seems quite solid, and quite compact.

[Mark Patoka]

You can turn pretty much anything on that lathe. I have it and turn 9" bowls on it with no problem. Because it's not very heavy, you will want to bolt it to a bench or something as rough, out of balance bowl blanks will give you more of a challenge but it's very doable. With the bed extension you can turn full-size spindles also.

[Cecil Arnold]

Like Jamie said, in turning, where there's a will there's a way. Welcome to the dark side.

[Jim Becker]

The Jet mini is a very capable system for just able anything up to its 10" swing capablity. Further, with the bed extension, you can turn some long spindles for furniture, too. It would be easy to provide a quick-release mounting system on a bench so you can also put it away in a cabinet or under said bench if your space is really constrained. Consider the VS version if you can swing the cost, too...much more pleasureable and better when you get into bowls and vessels.

[Chris Lee]

I had that lathe and turned plenty of stuff. I turned quites a few bowls with no real problems in the rande of 6-9"s. I really enjoyed that lathe. I got rid of it because I wanted the VS capabilities so if you can buy the vs model you will be real happy as you expand your turning abilities.

Chris

[Robert Mickley]

You can turn a pile of stuff on a mini, While I started out on a JWL1236 and techincly I'm still on a 1236 its just a yates american that I modifiied to turn 24 inch stuff outboard.

I saw one 1236 that a guy built a bench around, pulled 4 pins and flipped to the underside so it was out of the way and gave him a bench to work on.

[Peter Dougenik]

you can do a lot on a Jet Mini, as others have said. mount it to a piece of 3/4" ply and then clamp that ply to the bench to keep it from getting unruley when you turn larger pieces and you're all set.

I think mini-lathes actually clear up space in a shop more than any other tool...you get one because that's all you have room for and once you're addicted you either knock down a wall or get rid of some flat work machines to make way for the bigger lathe ;)

[Bill Grumbine]

Roy, if you want a fulll sized lathe with lots of power, capacity, etc, that takes up as much space as a mini, check out the Vega 2600 bowl lathe. It will spin bowls up to 26" in diameter and spindles up to 17" long, and mine does not take up much more room that my Vicmarc mini. If you do a search on Vega lathe, you can find some articles I wrote complete with pictures.

Bill

[Bob Noles]

Roy,

Send me an email and I'll share my set up with ya. As you already know, my shop is as small as yours. We haven't talked in a while and need to catch up.

Bill G has a good point for you as well if the $ will permit.

[George Troy Hurlburt]

For a small shop I would suggest a Nova DVR. 16 swing, swivel head. 1 1/4" x 8 spindle thread. You have a decent tool rest which won't snap on you. Approx 1 3/4hp that can operate on 115 volt. The speed range now will let you go from 100rpm to over 3000rpm. It will take care of your needs for years. GT Look this web site over of Nova Owners

http://groups.msn.com/NovaOwners