Nichols lathe

[Kevin Jenness]

I am looking at this beast online and wondering if anyone here has turned on one. I currently turn on a 20" swing General 260 which is a pretty decent lathe within its capabilities. I would like to do some larger work but smaller pieces as well and wonder if this would be cumbersome for the smaller stuff given the apparent minimum gap and heavy-looking banjo. I have room for only one lathe.00K0K_ifyOAV6IU6gz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

[Jason Edwards]

I am looking at this beast online and wondering if anyone here has turned on one. I currently turn on a 20" swing General 260 which is a pretty decent lathe within its capabilities. I would like to do some larger work but smaller pieces as well and wonder if this would be cumbersome for the smaller stuff given the apparent minimum gap and heavy-looking banjo. I have room for only one lathe.00K0K_ifyOAV6IU6gz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

I have stood by several Nichol's lathes but never turned on one. The owners told me they are great for very large work. They all had "normal" sized lathes like your General for regular turning. I don't think you'd be happy with it for small stuff. I'm told Nichols made about 115 of these big lathes, and while still alive the last I heard, he will not answer the phone and talk about the lathes any longer. So you're on your own in regards to customer support.

[David Walser]

I don't have any insight into these lathes, but I don't see why the minimum gap would be a problem for turning smaller things. It appears with where the banjo is mounted in the photo that the tool rest could be placed right up against the spindle. No matter how small an item you might want to turn, it appears that the lathe would give you good tool support and good access to the work.

[Reed Gray]

I actually ran into him the last time the AAW Symposium was in Portland, OR. I did look at one in town here, and it was a good solid machine. They were made before the phase converters became popular, so, I think it has a DC motor. They were not a work of art, but they were beasts, able to turn just about anything you wanted. He did comment that he went out of the business when Oneway started up. I ended up getting a 3520A instead.

robo hippy