New Lathe (Gloat)

[Ernie Nyvall]

Congratulations on the new lathe Kurt. Like Jim wrote, add some weight. Mine weighs about 300 lbs and with the first bowl, I had to follow it around the shop while turning. I added about 450 lbs to it and and can now stand in one place.

Ernie

[Ernie Nyvall]

Mike, it doesn't seem like it should do that on a 6" bowl, so I am wondering if it is possible if it is just the spindle coming to a stop because the belt is too loose. I have a lathe with the same system of pulleys and the belt doesn't squeel when it slips. I had the same problem as you and my first thought was "wow, I bogged the motor down" until I realized the motor was still running. I tightened the belt and everything clesred up.

Ernie

[Mike Ramsey]

Hi Ernie, yeah i did think of that and checked it but the motor is slowing. It's funny seeing your post about the walking lathe as mine did the same thing. :-) I have a friend that owns a motor rewind shop, i'm gonna send it down and let him see if he can Tim Taylor it!
I bought this wanting to get back in to turning, I haven't tried since the early seventies but everytime i look at my wifes buffet and see the bowl i turned in 1973 it has made me want to get back into it. You know, I don't think there is anything finer to look at than a beautiful turned piece of wood.
Mike

[Jim Becker]

Mike, I "started" this addiction with the 34706 lathe--which was fine for the money. I also experienced slow-down and stalling when I began to turn bowls. It was overcome somewhat, but not completely, by learning proper techniques and having sharp tools. But the reality is that the motor is not a strong performer in the torque department when things get large, even at the slowest speed which is where you should be for bowls, especially when your roughing them out. For that reason, many of my early turnings are 3" and less, including both bowls and hollow vessels. There was a lot of value in turning them, however, as I learned a lot in the process and confirmed my love of the spinny-thing!

[Mike Ramsey]

Hi Jim, I did think that the size of the lathe would be no problem for a 6x6 piece of
wood but I guess it might. After it was roughed it still was slowing even with sharp
tools that I did splurge for at woodcraft and with what I thought was a light touch.
But believe me i'm not giving up on it. I know that it has the potential to be a decent lathe. I do need to stabilize the base somewhat.


Mike

[Harry Thornton]

I am looking for a good entry unit. How much do you have invested at this point? PM me if you prefer.

[Mike Ramsey]

Harry, I have $179.00 invested in the lathe and $200.00 invested in a decent tool set from Woodcraft.

[Mike Ramsey]

Also i did buy a set of turning tools from HF but when i took a close look at them i decided to verify how much Life Insurance i had! Decided that i would be more comfortable with better set.

[Kurt Aebi]

Mike,

Make sure the pulleys line up with the Reeve's drive, mine were about 1/4" off when I got my lathe and I aligned them before I turned anything on it. Maybe that is why I haven't expreienced the motor shut down thing - except when I had a real bad catch.
It doesn't take much tangential force to create tremendous drag on the motor, especially with a Reeve's drive. I have had experience with metal lathes and drill presses with this drive before and 90% of the issues were with alignment, the other 10% with keeping the mechanism clean!

I have been using the real el-cheapo Harbor Freight turning tools that I got about 15 years ago along with the square tube - off ball headstock threaded spindle lathe that I used to have and as long as they are sharp, they work as well as the Sorby chisels that I presently also have. They require more frequent sharpening, but they are safe to use (unless you have a real nasty catch, then I don't think any brand is any safe!)

I hope this helps you. This lathe isn't a super heavy-duty machine, but should be able to handle a 6" bowl, since it is a 12" lathe. I had No Problems with the 8" poplar bowl I did on it, so keep checking it out, it may just be the setup.

[Kent Cori]

Kurt,

I have one too and have been pretty happy with it. I did add a 2x4 reinforced piece of MDF cut to fit below the horizontal struts and bolted it to the leges. I then put some sand bags on it for more weight. I also had to replace the cheap belt fairly quickly. You can get a replacement at about any auto parts place.

You'll like it as long as you don't want to do something huge. Mine has been well worth the $200 I paid for it. Just watch out for all those accessories.

[Mike Ramsey]

I have replaced the belt that was factory installed with a better belt and it's doing much
better, hasn't stalled once (today anyway) Went to woodcraft yesterday and bought a new grinder, it was 20% off. Anyone have any shop built shapening jigs for gouges
to share?