The Powermatic 4224 lathe has made it to my "short list" of possible new lathes. Has anyone used one (own one)? Can you offer comments/suggestions/criticisms of it? It appears to be positioned as competing head-to-head with the Oneway 2436 (3HP). Does anyone have experience with BOTH of these lathes?
I'm aware of the specs on these, what I'm hoping for is experience-based insights.
Thanks, Matt Heffron Inland Woodturners
Matt, my experience has been with the PM3520A lathe, so it is not quite what you asked for, but I feel it is instructive. I got the lathe and found the spindle threading was off. It took PM 2 months to finally send me one that was right. I have 4 bad spindles sent by them. Their customer service was pretty bad, and I would never recommend anyone buying a PM product. However, the lathe itself is a fine piece of machinery, and if I had not had such a bad time getting it right, I would highly recommend it. Bottom line, if the lathe you receive is built right, the PM4224 will be a dream lathe. If you have to deal with the company, good luck.
Roy Girolami Apex, NC
I know of two 4224 owners. One is enthusiastic about the lathe. The other is not.
Bad threads on the end of the spindle has been an issue with Powermatic since the first 3520 was first introduced in 1996. I chose a different lathe at that time because of that and many other obvious quality problems and with the 3520 that I had the chance to test-drive.
The threads can be easilly fixed by running a die-nut over the threads to trim them into proper shape. We shouldn't have to do this because one would think they would have solved this problem by now. It is the only lathe that I know of with this persistent thread problem.
If you get the lathe, and none of the attachments will screw onto the spindle, go to the nearest machinery supply and buy a die-nut for the threads.
There was a recent discussion of this problem on the woodturning forum at
Russ Fairfield Post Falls, Idaho http:/
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