3 Grand to "burn" er... turn

[Dan Hintz]

The lathe prices appear to be the same for Thanksgiving, but the bandsaw prices appear to have dropped $200 (at least for the 18 incher)... figures I would wait on the lathe purchase until now, but jump on the bandsaw two months ago

[Reed Gray]

If you are concerned about making bowls over 16 inches, first choice would be the PM. I turned on one for 8 years. I now have the American Beauty. My second choice for a 16 inch lathe would be the Sweet 16, then the Jet 2 hp 220 volt lathe. I do prefer the sliding headstock. The Nova DVR is a good lathe, but not my choice. One thing I don't like is the minimum speed of around 100 rpm (I think, it used to be about 200 or so). I turn green to final thickness, and to sand out my warped bowls (I let them dry first as it is much easier to sand them out dry rather than wet) I have to have rpm speeds of 10 to 20 or else I can't keep the abrasives on the wood, and would have to use the spindle lock. The Jet and PM converters can be programmed down to those speeds, and the 3520 A used to come that way, but now they shut off at 50 rpm. A bit fast for my taste.

Best tool purchases I have made for my shop, are lathe, centralized dust collector (Oneida), and a big bandsaw (Laguna 16HD).

robo hippy

[Gary Conklin]

One of our members Dave Schell, bought a bare bones Vicmarc VL300 and did the wiring, motor, and VFD himself. I belive he came in just over your figure.

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=102818


$2300 - Barebones VL300 lathe from Craft Supplies
$250 - Leeson motor from Bearings Direct
$255 - Fuji motor drive from Drives Warehouse
$75 - Switches from Automation Direction
$100 - Wood and bolts from Home Depot (for cabinet)
$50 - Misc - hardware, wire, paint

Total: $3030
Price for complete VL300 from CS: $4500 - Savings $1575
Price of Oneway 2416 with 3HP: $6350 - Savings $3320

[David Woodruff]

Two lathes Grizzly G0694 @ $2500.00 or PM 3520B @ $3200.00 Maybe a little less. I would go for the PM. Grizzzly seems to have tiny detail problems that keep popping up. Likely the majority of owners never have a problem and we just hear from those that do. Life is not always fair.
Consider that if you go Grizz $600. - $700. will buy a lot of goodies, vacuum stuff, chucks, thompson chisels. I might go Grizz. It is indeed a difficult choice. Which one is the heavier?, there is a lot to be said for mass.

[Rick Markham]

David, mass is certainly a major consideration in all of this for me. I'm doing my best to take my time, so far the PM is in the lead. Unless I just decide to keep saving and get a Sweet 16, it's really tempting... by that time, it might be hard for me to give up that much cash LOL

[Glenn Weathington]

Since no one else has mentioned it, what about a Vicmark 300CS with a motor,controller, and stand added on? The price would be comparable to the PM 3520B. Of course it is more work to do in order to have a fully functional lathe.
Missed Gary Conklin's informative post.

[Pete Jordan]

Go Mustard!

[Rick Markham]

Glenn, I only briefly got a chance to look at the Vicmark, I will definitely consider it, I need to do more research on it though. It was just one that I had "come across" in a search for something else, so I didn't spend the time to research it like I should have

[Gary Conklin]

The Vic is a great lathe. Worth looking at as above!