Ken Salisbury
11-12-2003, 10:11 AM
I received a Jet Pen Lathe Monday and experienced my first ever disappointment in a Jet product. The fit and finish of the product was fine and it actually performed well.
The unit weighs approximately 12.5 lbs and has a 1/12hp motor. There are 2 speeds (1600 and 3000 rpm) available by changing the belt/pulley relationships. (The beer bottle in the picture is for size reference only :D )
The design of the headstock is such that it has a somewhat unique (#0MT) taper (smaller than a Morse #1) and only accepts the mandrel that comes with the lathe, which is the size of the standard “A” mandrel. The threads in taper are unique to the mandrel supplied and the hole in the taper and the threads are too small to accept the normal mandrels from other suppliers.
Some of the parts like the captured wrenches used to tighten the tool rest and the tailstock are flimsy and look sort of look like something from Toys R Us and are somewhat awkward to operate.
This design results in being limited to the 7mm style pens and other craft products that use the “A” size mandrel, eliminating the majority of the kits available. I did however manage to make a couple of Slim Line style pens that were quite satisfactory.
It is apparent that whoever did the design of this machine was not well versed on pen making.
At the present time I would not recommend this tool. For a mere $60 more a Jet Mini could be purchased which is a far superior product than this. Hopefully Jet will receive feedback on this product causing some changes that would make the tool more versatile. I plan to make Jet aware of my evaluation.
The unit weighs approximately 12.5 lbs and has a 1/12hp motor. There are 2 speeds (1600 and 3000 rpm) available by changing the belt/pulley relationships. (The beer bottle in the picture is for size reference only :D )
The design of the headstock is such that it has a somewhat unique (#0MT) taper (smaller than a Morse #1) and only accepts the mandrel that comes with the lathe, which is the size of the standard “A” mandrel. The threads in taper are unique to the mandrel supplied and the hole in the taper and the threads are too small to accept the normal mandrels from other suppliers.
Some of the parts like the captured wrenches used to tighten the tool rest and the tailstock are flimsy and look sort of look like something from Toys R Us and are somewhat awkward to operate.
This design results in being limited to the 7mm style pens and other craft products that use the “A” size mandrel, eliminating the majority of the kits available. I did however manage to make a couple of Slim Line style pens that were quite satisfactory.
It is apparent that whoever did the design of this machine was not well versed on pen making.
At the present time I would not recommend this tool. For a mere $60 more a Jet Mini could be purchased which is a far superior product than this. Hopefully Jet will receive feedback on this product causing some changes that would make the tool more versatile. I plan to make Jet aware of my evaluation.