New 1st Lathe

By the end of this coming weekend, I should own a new lathe.

I am hoping to find a Jet 1236.

Now, barring that. Can anyone talk me into either of the following?

Delta LA 200 with Bed Extension (this will save me initial money and leave me with some left to get some add ons.)

Delta 49-715? This is nearly equal to the Jet except a little bit bigger swing. Both will do outboard. both have same motor size. I forget about the tailstock. I think the Delta can do an extra inch travel.

WIth buying any of these, what are the first 1 or 2 items I want to have as add ons. I have plenty of chisels etc.

FOr the LA200, is this a big enough drop in power to hurt doing fat spindles or bowls?

If you can live with the 10" swing the LA200 is a good lathe for the money. I bought mine back during the summer and its handled quite a few chunks of wood that weighed in the 15 pound range. It only has a 1/2 HP motor so on bigger stuff you just have to make light cuts and be patient. The overall quality of the unit I got was pretty good, however there was one issue with the tool rest base which Delta's customer service/technical support remedied pretty quickly.

As far as accessories are concerned, go ahead and get a 4 jaw chuck right off the bat. You'll buy all sorts of other gadgets and gizmo's along the way, but the 4 jaw chuck is by far the most used accessory I have in my bag of tricks.

It won't take long before you will be wanting to turn bigger bowls. Go with the biggest lathe on your list. I started out with a 10" swing. Then went to a 16" swing pretty quickly and finally settled on a 30" swing (Stubby). I don't have any plans to go any larger.:D

I have had the LA 200 and it is a nice lathe. I gave it to my nephew to get him started. I then bought the Rikon and I see Woodcraft has them for $199 reg $250 till the end of this month. I really like this lathe and it does give you a bigger swing of 12". Another one to look at is the Jet 1220. For the money though either the LA 200 or the Rikon would be the way to go and leave some money for chucks, tools, etc.

Start with the mini and I also agree that checking out the new Jet 1220 is a good idea. The 1236 is a very, very old design (I actually think it's been discontinued) as is the Delta 715...they are better suited to spindle turning, although many folks, of course, use them for bowls and vessels. The mini/midi start gives you a nice machine to learn on and is often valuable to keep as a second lathe for travel or convenience when you upgrade later to a large machine.

Do you eyes and lungs a favor and buy safety equipment and then get a chuck.

I will second the opinion of the Jet 1220, 12 inch swing and fits nicely in a bench. Suiting me fine until I move up to Mustard!

I also agree with the 1220 idea. I had a 1236 and I was happy to move on fairly quickly. It seems to big enough to to make you want to do more than it can handle. If you that makes sense.
I think a mini/midi is a better long term bet.
The quality just seems to be there.

OK, I bought the LA200. I got it on a $199 deal at one of the online catalog shops.

My deal was I got the Oneway Talon and a set of step jaws with it. That was my splurge.. First thing I did was tossed a Tagua nut into it and snapped a chisel in half with the first poke. Cheapy Pittsburg stuff. Guess I will go look for some HSS turning chisels next. It was my own fault.. gotta little too excited with the new tool.

Do Tagua Nuts have the same Multi parts like other nts.. Peanut has 2 parts.. etc.. ?(2 sides or split nut)

I did eventually make a lot of little white chips though. and some wonderful long curly cues..