General Lathe any good

[jason lambert]

I found a General Lathe for sale for about 1k seems like a good price. It is Canadian made I beleve and green in color, varable speed. I had my heart set on a powematic 3520b (or a one way) but wondering if this will be good enought. Of if I get the general will I out grow it?

[Scott Hubl]

Go to youtube and look for a video "stopping the General lathe" I believe it's called and see if it's the same lathe.

A fellow on another forum bought one brand new and had nothing but Problems with it and getting it fixed, Getting it fixed right never happened, he finally was able to return it after a long time of He77 with it and bought himself a Stubby after that experience.

[Denis Puland]

I have a General 26020VDR-M2 and I am very happy with it, in fact it is my second love::))).
I have heard that service from The General company is less then optimum but I have not needed to find that out yet.

Denis

[Allen Neighbors]

Ask Ruth Niles about her General. I think it's been an awesome Lathe for her. She had trouble with her headstock bearings, but that was after she applied too much heat when attempting to unstick a faceplate. (BTW, don't get her riled up, she bent a large pipe wrench in those same attempts.) :D

[Joel Sauder]

I have a General International Maxi Lathe. I love it and that service from General International had been great

J

[Daniel Potter]

I also have a General MODEL 26020VDR-M2 20-24" lathe. I bought it new 5 years ago and have never had a problem. It has been a great lathe.

-dan

[Greg Savage]

The General is a great lathe. I have one that is about 15 years old. Its a 260 with the variable speed and riser block. The only problem I ever had was due to a lightning hit! Replaced all the electronics and motor and it hasn't stopped since. It is now my #2 lathe since my big Oneway got here. I don't know what Ellsworth is using now, but I know he used a General 260 for a long time.

[Gordon Seto]

Fine Woodworking Heavy Duty Lathe Test_April 07.pdf (application/pdf Object) (http://www.teknatool.com/products/Lathes/1624/Downloads/Fine%20Woodworking%20Heavy%20Duty%20Lathe%20Test_A pril%2007.pdf)

The General DID make good lathes.

[Garth Hulley]

The youtube video, Stopping a General Lathe, and the article, Fine Woodwooding Heavy Duty Lathe Test, have one thing in common – neither feature a General lathe. Both refer to a General International 25-650 lathe. General and General International are not one and the same, even though they have a common ownership. General tools are made in Drummondville, Quebec, and are more industrial than the General International line whose tools are manufactured in Asia. A similar General machine is usually between two to three times the price of a General International machine.


Garth

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got several General tools. I haven't seen a General Lathe in person, but I would imagine they are just as high quality as the rest of their offerings. Personally, I'm not fond of gap bed lathes. I also seem to remember reading they have a short tailstock stroke, but maybe that was the GI.

[Ron Fleice]

I have a General 160-18 variable speed from 0- whatever...very heavy duty machine and built like a tank...new it was about 2600.00 Canadian, even at that price it turned out to be the least expensive part of this hobby :)...The video mentioned is not A General Lathe but it is a General International...clearly not the same lathe...if it is good running condition 1000. bucks is cheap...grab it
Ron

[Steve Trauthwein]

I saw the General Maxi at a KC demo. I didn't get to use it (rats!) but it seemed like a strong and very quiet machine. It is on my list as lathe number four if my ship comes in.

Regards, Steve

[Don Kondra]

I guess once again it bears repeating, sigh..

General International is NOT the same as General Canada... who ever decided to call the import line the same name did General Canada a HUGE disservice.

Back to the originally scheduled program :)

The General CANADA lathe comes in two basic versions, the 160 and 260.

I have the 160 and love it. The only reason I can see "moving up" is if you wish to do larger turnings. My in board capacity is 12", the 260 is 12" and 20" with riser block.

1k is about 1/3 of the current price.

Cheers, Don

[Gordon Seto]

General International is NOT the same as General Canada... who ever decided to call the import line the same name did General Canada a HUGE disservice.



Both come up in the same home page:
http://www.general.ca/pagetitre/ang/lathes.html

Don't tell me they are not related.

If Honda and Toyota don't know how to make good cars; I don't want to consider their Acura or Lexus either.

They can't have it both ways. If they want to use the coat tail of the parent company, the quality of the new line would reflect back. I believe the person who posted the video bought the GI, the reputation of the original General has influenced his decision.

On the other hand, some power tool companies uses different brand names for their consumer grade and contractor grade tools. Even owned by the same company, there will never be any confusion.

[Ron Fleice]

Making a comparison of Toyota and Honda to Lexus and Acura just isnt the same...it would be like comparing a Malibu to a Corvette...GI is offshore and General is made in Canada...if you have been in this world long enough you already know that Offshore products just don't cut it...true they are on the same website but clearly different products, In my opinion General should have distanced themselves from the GI line
Just my 2 cents
Ron

[Gordon Seto]

There are off-shore and no good off-shore. Powermatic and Jet are both Made in Asia, so are lots of other brand names and no name. A Rolex is Swiss watch, but not all Switzerland watches are as good. I believe it all depends on what the quality standard the company demand. I don't believe some factor as simple as where the product is made can determine whether it is a good or a bad one.
South Korea was not known for their appliances. When our 5 year old US made Whirlpool side by side fridge burnt out the compressor, the salesman recommended the LG to us, we had our doubt. I think my next appliance would likely be a S. Korean made LG as well.
A lot of junks are imported from off-shore because we buy them. If we demand quality imports, we support the business who provide us good quality products. They will follow where the money is.

I agree with you General shouldn't try to use their coat tail to cover a product line that has inferior standards.

[Don Kondra]

I agree with you General shouldn't try to use their coat tail to cover a product line that has inferior standards.

Whoa Gordon,

I wasn't implying that General International has inferior standards, it's simply not in the same class as General Canada.

The "names" are just too close for comfort, I know of quite a few woodworkers that have the GI product and am quite happy with them, cost was an issue when they bought.

Cheers, Don.

[john l graham]

Does this appear to be a screw mount on a rough blank? Almost every video and or instruction I have seen tries to discourage this. If the person had caught the tool repeatedly to get to the point of the video it would have caused failure of the screw into the blank. Use of a face plate would be better.

[David Wilhelm]

I dotn know anything about General or GI but I clicked on the link and looked at the pics. and the GI lathes looked like they got the paint from central machinery, that in itself turned me off and makes me wonder what else they have in common.

[curtis rosche]

we have 2 generals at school. the two realy bigg ones the variable speed and the other one. they are about 10years old but in school abuse they have been through 20. they both still work well nothing has been replaced other than a belt. the only problem with has just recently stated is the varible speed one the on switch sticks sometimes and you really have to push it to make it turn on. and the direction switch sticks but al you have to do is switch it back and then to what you want. so nothing major. its lasted through the stuff ive put on it the only thing it ever stops for it when i turned plywood and didnt have the speend high enough. these 2 machines have seen many kids do their first turning anf many accidents (including one kid i know of who lost the peice of skin between the thumb and forefinger when the tool caught because he didnt put it on the rest:eek:) the only problem i can think of that i have found with them is that when trying to hollow out sometimes your in a weird position because of the large bed, but to fix that all you have to do is to turn outboard. and thats only when trying to do a hollow form every thing else is fine, as for the bed gap i found that nice because i could put on a bigger peice. the banjo thingy is long enough to reach behind the peice from the end of the bed. but they also sell gap exstention fillers

in my opinion i think they are great lathes but it you have the money get something really really good like this www.seriouslathe.com (http://www.seriouslathe.com) :cool:

[Dino Drosas]

I have a General Lathe 16018-2 and am very pleased with it. It is very robustly built and smooth running. The only problem I have is that I am only 5'7" tall and the lathe center is too high for me. To correct this, I have built a platform to stand while turning to get the correct height.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/thumbs/General_16018-2.jpg (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=20466)

Yes, the General and General International are related but they are by no means the same. If the lathe you are considering is Canadian made, I would not hesitate buying it if it is in good condition.

[Alex Cam]

There are off-shore and no good off-shore. Powermatic and Jet are both Made in Asia, so are lots of other brand names and no name. A Rolex is Swiss watch, but not all Switzerland watches are as good. I believe it all depends on what the quality standard the company demand. I don't believe some factor as simple as where the product is made can determine whether it is a good or a bad one.

Amen, Gordon. There's plenty of junk made in the good ol' USA and Canada. People aren't machining these things by hand -- it's all done to requirements by complex machines. You specify junk, you get junk, no matter who's loading the CNC.

[Greg Keddy]

The youtube video, Stopping a General Lathe, and the article, Fine Woodwooding Heavy Duty Lathe Test, have one thing in common – neither feature a General lathe. Both refer to a General International 25-650 lathe. General and General International are not one and the same, even though they have a common ownership. General tools are made in Drummondville, Quebec, and are more industrial than the General International line whose tools are manufactured in Asia. A similar General machine is usually between two to three times the price of a General International machine.


Garth

I know I am a little late to the game here but I wanted to share some info about the General International 25-650. Since the issues with the lathe tripping off on high load, GI has released a newer model called the 25-650AB. This newer model has larger motor (2 HP vs 1 1/2 HP) and according to the GI rep this motor has more torque on the low end and is coupled with a beefier inverter that is actually capable of handling 3 HP, which should help substantially with the stalling issue. He also said that they have upgraded the spindle to full size through the headstock (used to step down to 7/8", no idea why they thought that was a good idea), beefed up the tailstock, and upgraded the metal stand. I dont own this lathe yet, but at the moment it is the front runner for the next lathe I will own...unless one of you guys own it an can tell me some other issues that it has :)

[Wally Dickerman]

During the 70's and 80's the General 260 was top of the line. Didn't get any better. Turners like Ellsworth, Osolnik and other top furners used the 260. I bought one in the early 80's and was very happy with it for a lot of years. Lathes in those days swung only 12 inches and many had a gap to swing 16 inches. They had a reeves drive and it was a good one. Never had a problem with mine.

The General 160 is just a lighterweight version of the 260 and is a good machine.