1st Lathe

[rayf6604]

With £700 to spend I'd definitely go for jet or record power. The other thing to consider is the size of things you want to turn, so if you want to do bowls over 12in you might want to consider a lathe with a headstock that swivels. I do want to do that kind of thing myself but budget dictated I could get a lathe that did that. The best time to buy those jet lathes are at shows if you can wait that long. I saw one at the Newark show for £650 I think it was. Good luck in your search anyway

 

[cookie21]

With £700.00 to spend I would go for the Axminster 1416 as it uses an inverter for the variable speed the same as larger lathes, the jet 1221vs looks to be an excellent lathe but the electrics worry me, how the variable speed is achieved, it may be ok but they don't say much about it in their blag, the Record would be out because of the poor quality & poor after sales I've read about on other forums, the Record lathe is no relation at all to the original Woodfast, Woodfast now is a name bought up in the same way as MFI bought up the Hygena kitchen brand then ruined it
Barry

 

[Grump]

£700 My word, I would go to my local scrap yard and get a Big lump of H iron, rip a v8 engine from a car, weld a chuck to the flywheel and find the bits for a tailstock around the yard.
Build the mother of all lathes with a swivel head for turning tractor wheels.
Then get rat arsed with the £650 change and brag about being a master turner and fine engineer init?
Oh those halcyon days.:pray:

Can I wake up now dad?

 

[cookie21]

A bit mighty for turning a pen grump:wink:

 

[donwatson]

Hi Baldy,
Glad to see you are fixed with Grampian Woodturners.
The Scottish Woodworking show is at Ingliston and there are all the usual trade stands there if you can wait.

take care
Don W
Edit: A picture of the practice pawn I just turned. You have started me off on this project:wink:

 

[Buckeye]

Well done, it looks fine, now only 15 more to do

Peter

 

[Baldy]

Hi Baldy,
Glad to see you are fixed with Grampian Woodturners.
The Scottish Woodworking show is at Ingliston and there are all the usual trade stands there if you can wait.

take care
Don W
Edit: A picture of the practice pawn I just turned. You have started me off on this project:wink:
View attachment 7183

I am hoping to get down to the show but my work have a blanket ban on days off in October. . I think I will have to beg..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Baldy]

You will have to let us see the set as you go

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[donwatson]

I will have to rethink my method of turning these, as you will see with a close look at the picture.
My original idea of turning the base and first bulge in each of the pieces and boring an 8mm hole in the base to reverse the piece on a 10mm screw has gone awry
I did mount the screw in the chuck and screwed the pawn on, when I finished turning it, it wouldn't screw off. I had to use the gland pliers to get the thing free. :doh:
So it's back to the beginning in the morning.

take care
Don W
PS I suspect it will be a while before Iget this to work

 

[Jim]

I can only comment on the Axminster AT1416VS, which i had for a few months, great little lathe for what i used it for, but i wouldn't turn my nose up at the Jet taht Woody talks about ..

Good luck with whatever you choose my friend, it is a journey that you will find without an end ..

 

[cookie21]

I do like the Jet 1221vs but does anyone here understand how there variable speed works, its different to the normal inverter control that most variable speed lathes have

 

[PhillH]

I will have to rethink my method of turning these, as you will see with a close look at the picture.
My original idea of turning the base and first bulge in each of the pieces and boring an 8mm hole in the base to reverse the piece on a 10mm screw has gone awry
I did mount the screw in the chuck and screwed the pawn on, when I finished turning it, it wouldn't screw off. I had to use the gland pliers to get the thing free. :doh:

Hells teeth I don't even use a 10mm screw for turning bowls, you could get away with a lot smaller, then you will be able to grip it with your hand and take it off.

Just a thought.

 

[cookie21]

is this thread first lathe for Baldy or turning chess pieces some difference

 

[Grump]

I will have to rethink my method of turning these,

Don. When turning small pieces like that I make a long dowel of the wood I want to use. mount it in a chuck and bring up the tailstock.
Start at the tailstock end turning my pieces to a finish then part them off as I go, simply shortens the dowel toward the chuck and no holes in base init?
Or if I have loads of precut short pieces I make a suitable jam chuck to hold them in place while once again finishing before removing.

 

[donwatson]

Sorry about that Baldy. Will post a new thread when I have something. :imsorry:

take care
Don W