Lathe upgrade for the financial challenged folks

[Dale Gregory]

I know this is getting beat to death, but what do the Pro's suggest for someone in the under $600 range when that is the max. a person has to spend and would like the capablility to turn greater than 12" diameters?

The Jet 12/14 series, Griz, HF, Delta, CM/Palmgren?

I for one started with the Rikon Midi and quickly found that I am drawn more to bowl turning vs. spindle turning. While the Rikon can do up to about 11" and it is great to learn on, I would like to be able to do 16" or larger. Keep in mind that a whole lot of folks will never be able to afford or justify the $2000-4000 machines.

Since some of you teach, what is your recommedation to your students when under these constraints? If they can't save for the "PRO" models do you tell them to stay with the Mini/Midi's and 10" max. diameters, or go for one of the lesser brand models mentioned above.

[Dario Octaviano]

For your budget and intended use...look at this lathe

http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0462

BTW, I am by no means a PRO...just a newbie actually :D

[Harvey M. Taylor]

About the best advice I can give you is, Check everywhere you know for a used lathe. People get tired of turning, get sick or any number of things. Be patient and you will come across one to your liking.Go for the lowest speed you can find if you are going to turn out of balance bowls etc. My opinion and I am sticking with it. Max

[Dario Octaviano]

About the best advice I can give you is, Check everywhere you know for a used lathe. People get tired of turning, get sick or any number of things. Be patient and you will come across one to your liking.Go for the lowest speed you can find if you are going to turn out of balance bowls etc. My opinion and I am sticking with it. Max

Good advise but while you may find one tomorrow...it is also possible that you may never find one.

Most of the nicer 2nd hand lathes I've seen actually sell for a lot more than I am willing to pay for. There is also the potential problems associated with used machinery.

Dale, Since you have a lathe and if you don't want the Grizzly...save more and look at the Jet 1642EVS down the road.

[Jim Ketron]

Dale I was in the same position a few years ago with my Jet Mini.
You have a good little lathe now, I say stick with that one and save your $ until you can buy a nice larger lathe. Thats what I did, I sold turnings and Bowl blanks to raise $ for my PM3520. A lot of nice people on here help me get my machine by buying bowl blanks. I started with $1000 from selling a few pieces of furniture that I made in my flatland days. the rest was earned by selling the blanks and a few turnings. If you can get some nice figured wood to sell on E-bay it wont take long to get there.
Just an option that worked for me.
Jim

[Gordon Seto]

Dale,

There is no good choice in that price range. You will be facing another upgrade very soon. Find some opportunity to turn on lathes of different price range first. Nothing beats your personal experience. If you have not turned on a good lathe before, you don't know what you should expect.
Bill Grumbine has some good advice in this thread:
http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=36501

I wished I had those advices before I bought my first lathe, a Jet 1236. I replaced it with a Jet mini lathe. I believe that was an "upgrade". I gave up some capacity, but I have more enjoyment using it.

Too many companies are using the lathe capacity as their selling points, but a lot the lower price lathes do not have the integrity to support turning at their claimed max. capacity.

Gordon

[Dario Octaviano]

Like Gordon...I started on Jet 1236. Later added a Jet mini VS when it went on sale for $200.00.

When the PM 2035B landed in my garage unexpectedly, I sold the Jet 1236.

The mini is a great lathe and I love it! :) Ofcourse I love the PM 3520B more :D

[Neal Addy]

You're getting good advice here. IMHO the smartest thing to do is enjoy your mini and save for a better lathe in the future. I don't know if I agree that there are NO good choices for under $1K but I do agree that whatever you buy in that range will have you buying again before long.

The best lathes under <$1500 I can think of are the new Nova 1624 and Jet 1442. Both are good lathes but they are only steps along the way to bigger iron for most people. Personally, if I had it to do over again I wouldn't buy anything less than a Jet 1642. PM3520 would be better.

You've got a great lathe in that Jet mini. Enjoy it, save money, and learn turning.

[Keith Burns]

Well, I am not a pro and I typically stay out of this kind of discussion because it seems to always turn (no pun intended) into a "wait and get a pm or oneway lathe. This is not a bad idea at all, but sometime's circumstances won't allow that. Would I save my pennies for even 1 year to buy a lathe, doubtful. A couple of months, maybe. The Grizzly lathe referred to earlier is probably a decent lathe except for the slowest speed of 600 rpm and you can adapt to that.

I firmly believe that it is the turner that produces nice work, not the lathe.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Has anyone seen this one from Griz? I think it is new cause I hadn't seen it around in their catalog or on the web page.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0632

Looks like the 1642 Jet except it only comes in 220V. Goes from 0-3200 rpm and 0-1200 rpm.

[Jim Underwood]

I'd been thinking about this too. I'm sticking with the Jet Mini for now, but perhaps I'll save up for the new Nova. For the money it looks like the most bang for the buck.

Of course there's always Steel City stuff. Anyone been looking at them? I hear they have some good folks designing those.

[Gordon Seto]

I don't know if I agree that there are NO good choices for under $1K but I do agree that whatever you buy in that range will have you buying again before long.


Neal, the budget on original post was only $600 and upgrade from a lathe of 12" swing already.

A lot of us has gone through this mini step ungrades multiple times. Hindsight 20/20, we may have been saved a lot if we would eliminate some of those interim upgrades.

Gordon

[Dale Gregory]

Thanks everyone, I was thinking about the Palmgren because of the large swing and ability to do outboard turning (great price too!), but put the skids on when I heard of all the problems with wiring, motors, and the Reaves VS drives issues:eek:. I still think for price it might be worth playing the odds and hoping for a good one, but from reading between the lines of all the posts on this thread, I'm guessing most serious turners wouldn't recommend any of the ones I've listed. Maybe I'll just keep the Midi until I refine my turning techniques, and by then hope to be able to afford one of the better ones.

As always, thanks again for your honest feedback.:)

Dale

[TYLER WOOD]

I feel your need for upgrade. I have a POS freebie. I have tried on this site to get feedback on which lathe to get, the onlythings you get are a jet mini or oneway/powermatic suggestions. I'm not sure if it is because there are no good lathes with larger capacity in this price range, or if that's all that people here own and can recommend. Nothing wrong with either situation. I am like you and would love to have a large lathe for that price, but would have to save for more like 2-3 years before I would even be able to look in he 1500 range. This is not a cheap hoby unfortunately.

The only option I have found was to maybe try building your own. I have designed one, and have started priving the thing. I have gotten to around 250 for it. But it will have a 2.5 hp vs motor, 26" above tool rest 32" c/c and wiegh in at around 300 lbs of steel without the base. You may look into this, or think like one guy I tried to get opinions from and think I'm a loonatic. He said I can't do it, even more reason to try:D

[Gordon Seto]

It is not that we have not tried to get some more affordable alternatives to those high price lathes; unfortunately most of the cheaper lathes have to cut some corners somewhere. If everything equals, competition always brings the price down. Oneway would not have backorder on their expensive lathes.
Not eveyone can afford or wants to buy the best lathes. Don't expect to find a perfect lathe at $600 range; you have to consider whether you want to live with the cons.

I don't have any knowledge about home made lathe. I think keeping the tailstock align the whole 32" along the ways is challenging. 26" above tool rest, 52" diameter is huge. I don't think too many people have handled any blanks this big. Wishing you success with your project.

Gordon

[Bob Hallowell]

Dale,
I absolutly love the palmgren and it is worth every cent. I would buy another one tommorow. That being saig it is not my dream machine that would be a mustard. but would be a good start. None of the problems that people had were major and palmgren took care of them.

Bob

[Hank Walczak]

Dale - Do you belong to a wood turning club? If not, find one. Two reasons besides the chance to improve your skills and enjoy the fellowship of like minded hobbyists. The first will give you a chance to get some hands on experience using other members lathes (most are always willing to share their experience) to help with a purchase decision and secondly, in a fair sized club, there is a good chance someone will be in the process of an upgrade and you may get the chance at buying their old lathe. That was my experience and others in the club did that too. You will have a better chance of getting a good used lathe then from a "stranger". Good Luck. You have set a difficult goal but I think it is doable.

Hank

[mike fuson]

I would try looking locally for someone who has had a gouge catch and hit them in the jaw and now for fear they want to sell their lathe! Seriously they may be someone in your area that is burned out on turning or just never did get the hang of it and would like to sell. Put an ad in the paper and see what happens. I don't think I would be happy with any 600 dollar lathe I have seen.

[Bart Leetch]

For your budget and intended use...look at this lathe

http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0462

BTW, I am by no means a PRO...just a newbie actually :D


Low end speed it to high.

[Rich Souchek]

My 2 cents worth:
I LOVE the old style Delta/Rockwell lathes. They turn 12" dia. in style and spindles any length you want. They can be gotten for $50 on up.
The motor was about 1/2 hp and this small for most people nowadays. I got a 1.5 hp 240 VAC, 3 phase motor and a 1 1/2 hp VFD ac drive for a combined price of about $200 off e-bay. Another $50 in plywood & 2x4s for the base.
The newer style has a gap bed which is supposed to allow for 14" platters. When I tried to do that, found my chuck moved the platter over into the regular height bed, and the diameter was again only 12. Finally replaced it with a PM 3520B. But I still miss the old style lathe that I learned on.
Go find some old steel and get it turning.
Rich S.

[Neal Addy]

I honestly think this thread tells more about human nature than it does about any lathe.

Some folks like to have the latest and greatest toys. The idea of "bigger and better" is appealing because it is fun. This group is always going to be in pursuit of that next lathe. Hardware is a rush.

Others see the lathe as a means to an end (the end being the turned product). To them a good lathe is one that is practical and functional, I'd call these folks the "pure turners".

Sure, economics is a factor. But woodturners are some of the most creative folks I've ever seen. Where budget is an issue creativity generally makes up the difference. And the two groupings are not always black and white. We probably all have a little of each group in us.

Nothing wrong with either position. They are both right.

Boy, that'll probably get me in trouble. I should just exit this discussion. ;)

[Dale Gregory]

I have recently joined a local Turning Guild, and hopefully will meet and get to try a few of the better lathes out on the market as the year goes on. I did get a quick into to the lathe lesson on a Powermatic from the President of the Club, it was great, but at $2800-4000 is way out of my price range for a Hobby. That said, if I was a talented artistic turner, and making big bucks selling my wares, then that would be a different story.

Thanks again for all the insight, this is a great forum! I will continue to refind my skills with the Midi, while keeping an eye out for a decent "used" lathe down the road.

Dale

[Bart Leetch]

I am going to up grade my 1930's Delta double duty lathe with a new stand & a VFD & 3 phase motor sometime in the future. The head stock is built with bearings like the front of a rear wheel drive car. On this lathe I can turn inboard or outboard of the head stock. I think for between $200 & $300 I should be able to do the up grade.

[TYLER WOOD]

ooops sorry I meant 13" above rest for a total of 26". WOW 52" would be cool though:D :eek:

When i get started on building I will post updates and pics of the construction. maybe in the next 6 months or so I will be finished or just starting.

[Jim Becker]

I am of the mind that if you have a lathe that you can continue to turn on, even if it doesn't have the capacities you desire, stick with it, practice and turn a lot and save for the kind of machine you really want to turn on. The "magic sweet spot" for VS bowl turning is centered around $2K in the marketplace right now, with the Jet and Delta 16" machines, the NOVA DVR and the PM 3520A clustered around it. Don't buy a machine just to buy a new machine if it's not really adequate...you'll find yourself upgrading again and that raises your long-term costs. DAMHIKT!

[Daniel Heine]

Hello. I have had the Palmgren 15" lathe for almost a year now, and have had no problems at all. From what I was told by Palmgren, the problem with their belts/reeves drive was for the older lathes, and hs been resolved. If you have an older one and still have problems, contact Palmgren, they have an upgrade kit to resolve it. Amazon was selling it recently for 299.00 with free shipping. It's a heck of a lot of lathe for a lot less money.

On the other hand, Jet is supposed to be releasing a new mini lathe very soon that will have the same specs as the Rikon: 12" over bed. My money would be on the Palmgren.

Good Luck,
Dan Heine

[Jim Podsedly]

Looking at the Palmgren on Amazon and at $299 seems like a very good deal. Especially after getting a $100 dollar coupon for Amazon from my bank! :D

Was looking at the mini Rikon and mini Jet but the Palmgren has my attention.

Let me preface this question - I am new to turning..

In the description for the Palmgren 15" they mention indexing. Could somebody explain what is meant by indexing?

Thanks.

[Lars Thomas]

Jim, indexing is a feature on the lathe that will lock your turning piece at fixed intervals - every few degrees. It's useful for reeded columns. Having never made a reeded column, I've never used the feature.

[Jim Underwood]

1)

Some folks like to have the latest and greatest toys. The idea of "bigger and better" is appealing because it is fun. This group is always going to be in pursuit of that next lathe. Hardware is a rush.

2)

Others see the lathe as a means to an end (the end being the turned product). To them a good lathe is one that is practical and functional, I'd call these folks the "pure turners".


I'd say that there is a third group out there... Folks who like to "roll their own" hardware as well as turn. I fit this category. There's nothing like making your own tools and having the braggin rights!

If I ever finish my Dave Gingery metal turning lathe, you can bet yer bottom dollar I'll post pix of it!:D

[Neal Addy]

Good point. I wish I were talented enough to be in that third group. That's where the real adventure is.