Recommendations for a lathe

[Radek Kowalski]

I am looking for a small Lathe. Possibly up to 20" or so. Looking to turn small vases, bowls. Rosettas and such. Whats good for the price? I was thinking of getting a drill press for the rosettas but at this time if I got a Lathe it would do both. So 3 overall questions

-Whats the best price for the quality out there?
-Whats the best under $300.00?
-Whats the best up to 20" or so for the $?

Thanks for your time.

[James G. Jones]

I was in your situation just a short while ago. I picked up an older used lathe off CL. It needed some work to clean off the rust and gunk, but I invested next to nothing and got two decent sets of tools in the deal as well. Now, I'm finding out exactly what my capabilities are by making large piles of shavings. I'm also figuring out what features are really important to me should I bite the bullet and upgrade.

Good luck and happy turning.

James

[Daniel Heine]

I have been looking at the Jet lathes lately, and their price would put them out of your market. I have been hearing good things about the Steel City mini lathe, and the variable speed model is sellig on ebay for $249. Another option would be the Rikon lathe from Woodcraft. I bought the Nova 1624-44 lathe this past June, and I could not be happier. If you can raise your budget to $1000, then you won't be looking to upgrade later.

Thanks,
Dan

[Jamie Cowan]

I bought that Steel City vs lathe last month, and I love it. Switch burned out after about a week, now I just unplug it to turn it off. Kind of a drag, but if you look around, you'll find that switch burns out on every single one of them. No big deal. Love everything else about the lathe. The switch is (I belive) under the 5 year warranty, so I'll just make them replace it over and over until they get it right. I had been looking at the Jet and the Rikon, and they both went up in price by at least a hundred bucks May 1st. That put the brakes on that idea for a while. Woodcraft had a pallet of Steel City lathes for $200 each. Bought one, and have been using it nonstop since. I can't believe I didn't buy one of these years ago. An extension bed is also available, but I haven't bought one yet. Great lathe to start out on, and I already know I want a bigger one eventually, but I'd keep this for smaller stuff, and still use it plenty. All day at work, all I do is think about playing with that lathe when I get home. In fact, that's what I'm doing right now.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the Rikon midi lathe. I bought it for the 12" swing and bought the bed extension for it. I used it for a long time till I figured out what I was doing and what I wanted to do. I still have it and use it a lot although I have the Nova DVR XP.

[Jason Whelehon]

I also have the SC VS and the only complaint is the motor. It's a bit underpowered on harder woods while making bowls. The other compliant may not be the motor but the VS controller. This motor has a lot of "up take" (IIRC). As you bog down the motor then release the pressure, the motor spins up faster than the VS setting. Which, can scare the crap out of you when you've got a bowl perilously perched on your cole chuck and it spins up over 1500RPM!

For the price, I can't find anything that competes with this tool.

[Jamie Cowan]

I also have the SC VS and the only complaint is the motor. It's a bit underpowered on harder woods while making bowls. The other compliant may not be the motor but the VS controller. This motor has a lot of "up take" (IIRC). As you bog down the motor then release the pressure, the motor spins up faster than the VS setting. Which, can scare the crap out of you when you've got a bowl perilously perched on your cole chuck and it spins up over 1500RPM!

For the price, I can't find anything that competes with this tool.

Yeah, that extra spin it picks up is something to think about. Helps me to be diligent about keeping the tools sharp, and not to force the tool into the work. I'm not very patient. Did you burn your switch yet?

[ron hossack]

> -Whats the best up to 20" or so for the $?

I went with this 10" x 18" VS lathe for $199. When I got it they offered a free 21" bed extension.

http://www.pioneersi.com/product.htm?pid=577277

[Radek Kowalski]

I was thinking about something like this http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=19446&filter=lathe

or like what Ron posted with the extension of course. Any tips on those 2 models?

[David Walser]

Radek,

The "problem" with the lathes from Rockler and Pioneer is the lowest speed available may be too fast for rounding out a bowl blank, for sanding, and for some other things you might want to do. I have a "full size" lathe from HF that has a minimum speed of 600 rpm. Sometimes that's just too fast. Both these lathes minimum speeds are even higher.

Having said that, for turning pens and for most spindle work, the high minimum speed of these lathes will not pose too much of a problem. There will be some times when you will want to the lathe to spin more slowly, but you should be able to work around the issue. For example, on my woodfast lathe, I have a five-step pulley combined with variable speed control that allows me to turn the lathe at any speed from 0 - just under 3,000 rpm. On that lathe, I can slow things way down for applying a lacquer finish. (I leave the lathe rotating very slowly while the lacquer dries. It prevents runs.) I just turned a long spindle on my HF lathe and tried applying the first coat of lacquer on the lathe. I then turned the lathe on at its slowest speed. At 600 rpm, the lacquer was sprayed everywhere! 600 rpm was also too fast for some of the sanding I needed to do. Not big problems. I just applied the finish off the lathe and sanded by hand.