ShopFox W1758 lathe?

[Randy Gazda]

Anyone using a Shopfox W1758 lathe? I have a lead on a used one and before I buy it I thought I would ask. Pros? Cons? Problems?

Thanks in advance for any info.

[Roger Chandler]

Anyone using a Shopfox W1758 lathe? I have a lead on a used one and before I buy it I thought I would ask. Pros? Cons? Problems?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Randy,

I looked at that model seriously for a while. The low speed is around 600 rpm for the lowest it will go..........and that is way too fast for a bowl blank that is not balanced, which most are not. you can work hard to get your blanks as balanced as possible before mounting on the lathe, and that will help, but it is a lot of extra work, but is a do-able thing.

It would be fine for spindle work. It is also fairly lightweight for a lathe that is 16" swing,. because of these factors I decided to go with a much more substantial lathe, the Grizzly G0698. Other good ones are the Jet 1642, the PM 3520b, Nova DVR, and if you want to stay in the price range of that shop fox, then the Nova 16/44 would be a way to go.

Hope this helps!

[Rich Aldrich]

Randy,

I agree with Roger. I have seen this lathe side by side of a Jet 1442 the bed of the 1442 is twice as wide as the Shopfox. The speed on both of these are an issue.

A true variable frequency drive is very important for turning anything out of rough blanks. I have had more than my share that would not run very well at 400 rpm without a lot more messing around with the chain saw to make them more round.

Depending on your cash situation, Delta 46 460 is a nice smaller lathe to get started on that is variable speed for the same money and is a much better lathe than the shopfox. If you wanted to sell it later for an upgrade, there would be no issues selling it.

I looked at a lot of lathes and narrowed my choices down to the Grizzly 0698 and the Jet 1642. I ended up with the Jet only because of delivery. However, there is a big price difference between the Shopfox and these two lathes.

[Jake Helmboldt]

As Roger mentioned the Nova 16-44 would be the best bet among full-size lathes (close to the price range of the Shop Fox). And the nice thing is that it can be converted to full variable speed without too much difficulty. You can also find used ones now and then.

The Shop Fox, as noted is simply not worth the money; you will be dissappointed, largely due to the (too fast) low speed. I have a SF bandsaw and jointer, so I'm not anti-SF, but their lathes (and their sister Grizzly lathes prior to their most recent variable speed models) are not suitable for faceplate turning.

[David Woodruff]

Very strong ditto, there are better lathes than the Shop Fox for similar $$ and when you upgrade saleability is much greater with the Nova, et.al. and you will upgrade if you continue to turn. It's a rule, can't be broken.

[Harry Robinette]

I'll ditto also Shop Fox lathes are imho junk,speed to high,point missaligning after a little use and bad vibration.A friend had one and man it drove him nuts,

[Randy Gazda]

Thanks for all the replies. I am pretty happy with my current lathe. It goes down to 400 rpms and that is a little fast on some blanks, so 600 would be a much bigger problem. The price on the used SF seemed good but I will pass and save my tool money.

Thanks again, Sawmillers!