INPUT NEEDED - Grizzly G1495

[Barry Stratton]

I'm a short term lurker turned "registered" user. i have to say, it is ALL YOUR FAULT! That random act of kindness or "bomb" drop was an incredble gesture. This is obviously one very special, if whacky, kind of place.

I love to work with wood and have advanced my skills to the point that I can be called a wood butcher. Turning hardwoods into firewood seems to be my nuche. I've been thinking about going "spinny" to supplement my wood pile produced by the table and scrollsaws so........

I found a lightly used Grizzly G1495 "heavy duty wood lathe" for a great price. I'll start with practice spindles and move into pens, bottle stoppers, small bowls, large bowls, pates, platters, etc......

What are your thoughts? Is this too much lathe for a rookie? Should I be looking at a "mini/midi"? I can get this for slightly more than I can get a Jet VS Mini here in Alaska.

Oh yeah, here's an attempt at posting the obligatory photo of my work.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/bearfretworks/pair_of_rams.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Barry....Welcome to the Creek! Thanks for required photo. Nice looking work!
You're right about this being an incredible wacky place! I found it 2 years ago. And this week they drop a bomb on me. I can't answer you lathe question as I hadn't seen one before the bomb hit me on Tuesday! Other much more qualified than I will answer your question I'm sure. Again.....Welcome to the Creek!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Hello Barry, and welcome!

Do you mean this lathe.....

http://images.grizzly.com/grizzlycom/pics/jpeg288/G/G1495.jpg

Man, that will be your first lathe.... paint me green with envy! :D

Man I'd be on that like a rat on a cheeto!!

BTW, you scroll saw work is very nice, need an attention to detail and a lot of patience to do that, VERY nice!!

Going spiny myself here real soon.......:rolleyes:

Cheers!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Barry, I have this lathe. I wasn't happy with it for what I wanted to do. One problem is the slowest speed is 500 rpms which is kind of fast for a large bowl rough out. Although it is a 14" swing, the banjo only extends out to allow for a 9" swing when the tool rest sits parallel to the ways and is a bit light duty. They have an extension for it, but I broke 4 of those without much pressure. A delta banjo will fit, but is another $75.00. With that said, I did turn some bowls up to 12", but it wasn't easy and not really that safe on the rough out. The power for that size bowl is a bit low in that I stalled the motor several times. Is there a lathe too big for a beginner... only if you are testing the waters to see if you want to really turn. But if you know for sure... there's no such lathe. I have since bought the PM 3520 and it's just now been a year since I started.

I don't know the ins and outs of the Jet for a comparison.

Hope this helps. Any particular questions, fire away.

Ernie

Oh yea... welcome to the creek and that is some nice scroll work.

[Dick Parr]

Welcome to the Creek Barry:)

[Andy Hoyt]

Welcome, Barry! Spent some time up your way, Eagle River to be exact, in the mid seventies. Loved it. Ended up there again right after 9-11. Wow, what a transformation.

Sure looks like most other gap bed machines I've run across or heard about. And from what Ernie says, sounds a bit underpowered and undersized for significant faceplate work.
If you quickly out grow it, you may have trouble unloading it on the next guy. I'd pass this one by, but that's just my 2 rpms.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome Barry. Lots of good folks here and lots of knowledge.

[Earl Eyre]

That lathe was also my first lathe. If you have already bought it then ignore the following and have fun! It will serve you well for a first lathe. If you haven't bought it yet, seriously consider the Jet. My Grizzly never worked well. The Reeves drive continually got stuck. The sheet metal stand vibrated and shook, even weighted down. The banjo broke as did the tool rest. Motor never lined up properly. Admittedly, as the first lathe, I often subjected it to stresses than no lathe should endure--huge catches, etc that certainly weren't the lathe's fault.

When the motor burned up I got so mad I just gave the whole thing away. I think my initial experience with turning would have been alot more fun with a better lathe, even if it had been a small mini.

As far as too much lathe...never. You can do tiny things on a big lathe with no problem.

Sorry for the negative report and I hope if you have bought it you will totally prove me wrong!

Earl

[Barry Stratton]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the input! I appreciate the input from all, especially you guys that have owned and used this lathe. And I haven't bought it, "found it" for sale and am considering it. From the info so far, looks like I should keep looking.....

And yes, Andy, Alaska has really grown in the past 25 - 30 years. I' lived there from 67-78, north before that and Anchortown since. Funny what building an 800+ mile pipeline to carry oil does to a place! The fishing and hunting is still great (trapping ain't bad either) but the winters are just as long and cold.

Again, thanks for the info. I've been admiring all your work, laughing at your stories, learning from your trials and tribulations the past few months. And feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you are interested in a photobucket.com invite to see more of my scrollsawed stuff. Sells pretty good up here.......

I'll try to search thru the past threads and research the options!

[John Bailey]

Barry,

Welcome to the Creek. You'll like it here. Good luck with your lathe search.

John

[tod evans]

barry, welcome! never used the lathe you ask about. .02 tod

[John Hart]

Welcome to the Creek Barry!!! Spent some time in your town....not much...just blew through on my way back and forth from Adak. Always thought I'd make it back some day. Nice Scroll work! Good luck in your quest.

Oh...heres a thought since you like that scrolly thing.....Turn a lamp on the new lathe when you get it and then make a scrolled 6-panel lamp shade. I'd do it.... but I'm lazy.:o

[Curt Fuller]

I don't know squat about that lathe Barry but I had to chime in to say that's some of the prettiest scroll work I've seen!

[Barry Stratton]

Thanks guys. I decided onthe Jet mini VS from Amazon.com for ~$380.00 w/FREE shipping, even to Alaska. There's something about getting 70+ lbs shipped to you FREE that gets a guy pumped - must be the dark. Now just got to wait for it to arrive as they are on back order........

And John Hart - besides being a prolific, creative turner extraordinaire, bomber, turning blank logger for the masses, you just proved you are a mind reader as well. Probably a side effect of being in Adak. Combining turnings with scrollwork projects are one of the points of getting a lathe. Been making lots of trophies and want to add all kinds of cool, spinny round column type rigs to them......