Mini Gloat

[Virgil Jordan]

Just got back from my local woodcraft with a new Jet 1220 Mini Lathe.

I had originally intended to buy A Nova 1624/44, but when Jet came out with the 1220 it seemed like a perfect starter lathe, at least for me.

To top that off Woodcraft has it on sale for $269.

I only got one picture before the battery in my camera died. In the background is soon to go Harbor Freight 12/36.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Good deal, virgil. BTW, What's that bad boy behind the Jet?

Bruce

[Virgil Jordan]

The lathe behind the Jet is my old Harbor Freight lathe.

Can't really say anything bad about it. For the price it does the job admirably. It just isn't in the same league as the Jet Mini. I've got a supernova chuck on the HF that will fit my Jet just fine.

Laying on the HF lathe is my new Wolverine jig. I bought it and a Woodcraft low speed grinder to handle my sharpening needs.

Now if I can just get all this set up and organized I can start learning to turn!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Virgil - congrats on all your new gear! Looking forward to your posts - just remember to charge your batteries first!!

[Pete Jordan]

Virgil,

Looks like you've got a sweet setup! You will love the wolverine. Make sure you watch the sharpening videos at www.oneway.ca

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Virgil. Looks like you got a heck of a setup. Now get it dirty.

[Virgil Jordan]

BTW, I owe a great deal to the people on this forum. For the past several weeks I've been reading the posts here and have gained a mind boggeling amount of information.

I feel pretty confident that the set-up I bought will make me a happy camper for some time to come. Without all the knowledge and expert opinions I was exposed to here I wouldn't have had a clue on what to buy or more importantly what not to buy.

Thanks to all who post their knowledge here!!!!

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations on the new lathe, Virgil! And be sure to keep us posted about it from time to time...the 1220 is a new model and you're one of the first SMC-ers to scarf it up.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats on the new lathe Virgil! Give us a review after you've used it for a while. I have the Jet VS Mini and it's been a good one.

[Virgil Jordan]

For what it's worth I can give you my initial impresions of the lathe. I'm not a knowledegable turner, but I have a good deal of experience buying and maintaining industrial equipment.

I got a good chance to compare it to the 1014 in the Woodcraft store. The 1220 is a much larger lathe. It's longer, taller, wider, and some thirty pounds heavier. I was expecting the lathe to be just a streched version of the 1014, but it appears to be a completely different casting. As best I could tell the design is identical so all the good things about the 1014 should carry forward.

The spindle and spindle bearings are the same. This might cause some concern, but I have not read of any problems with the 1014 spindle or bearings so my take is they should be adequate to handle the extra load of the larger turnings.

The belts are the same ,except for the length. Again, I have read nothing about the belts being fragile on the 1014 so I'm hoping they can handle the 50% increase in HP. There may be differences in the belt material that are not visible. Only time will tell.

I naturally had to fire it up when i got it out of the box. I ran it through all the speeds and was very impressed with the smoothness and quiet operation. Even after mounting the chuck, it was difficult to tell the lathe was running. I do think that changing speeds is a bit "fiddely", but I guess that's the price you pay for a manual speed control.

One stupid thing Jet did was to retain the washer for tail stock lockdown. Since this is a well documented problem they should have corrected it on the new model. I intend to make a t-nut for mine asap.

Jet did have the forethought to include a 10 inch tool rest in addition to the standard six inch . It still only has a 5/8 inch shaft, but I guess I need to keep in mind that this is still a mini lathe.

Overall the fit and finish is very good. Everything is well oiled, free from rust and moving smoothly.

My gut feeling is that the 1014 earned it's reputation as being indestructable by being well made and probably overdesigned. I don't think that transfering the same components to a larger frame is going to make all that much difference. It should have no problem handeling the slightly larger, heavier objects bieng turned.

For $269 it's really a no brainer. Anyone looking for a lathe in this catagory should just grab it and run.

So I did!!!

[Jonathon Spafford]

Way to go... I love the little mini! Only lathe I got right now! Works really nice! Make sure to post lots of pix now! ;)

[Mark Pruitt]

Congrats Virgil!