Duplicator for Sears Craftsman 15 " woodlathe

[Bob Weisner]

Hi:

I have a Sears Craftsman 15 inch woodlathe and I see that they are now selling a duplicating attachment for it in their catalog. Anyone have any opinions on the duplicating attachment for the Sears 15 inch woodlathe?

Thanks,

Bob

[Jim Becker]

Bob, I don't have an opinion on the Sear duplicator, but I do have one on duplicators in general: unless you are doing production turning and can afford to buy a "good one", like the Vega, don't bother. The inexpensive duplicators, such as the Rockler or similar perform poorly and are more of a pain than they are worth, especially for small diameter spindles. (I bought the Rockler due to a chair project and would return it except for the fact that I had it for over a year before using it) In fact, I've found that after only a few spindles, I can produce them faster manually than I could with the duplicator. Once you get going, they become almost automatic...and you can use a steady that is near impossible with most, if not all, duplicators. All of this is IMHO, of course...for the little that it's worth.