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Craftsman Lathes

I am REALLY sorry to ask this question, but....

I cannot find an archive of posts to search for my answer.

I would expect many to view the Craftsman lathes as less than great.

I however am planning at this point to use a lathe to make mid and high power rocket nose cones and body transitions mainly.

Mostly out of balsa, basswood, and pine; pretty soft stuff.

Some tinkering around naturally, but not for money making purposes.

Would the Craftsman 12 inch Variable Speed Lathe or the 15 inch Bench Top, Variable Speed Lathe be O.K. for what I need?

I would like to get by as inexpensively as possible.

Sure, I'd like to get a really nice lathe, but money is a strong factor.

I have posted a few fliers at fleet stores and grocery stores around a couple of towns, but nothing yet.

I live in north central/east Iowa if anyone near has something sitting around that they would like to part with.

Thanks a lot for your input and time,

Greg

Reply to
grB
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Greg I use the Craftsman 15" lathe and really like it. It does everything from pens to 15" bowls with no problems.

Reply to
Darrell Feltmate

How large an object do you need to turn? You may do better to get a smaller, higher quality lathe for the same price as the ones that you're looking at.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I also have the 15" Craftsman Lathe and so far I have not had any problems with it.

The one thing that I would stay away from is the bowl turning attatchment for this lathe. I have one and I have found that there is exessive vibration and chatter when using it.

Reply to
Steven Raphael

"grB" wrote: (clip) Mostly out of balsa, basswood, and pine; pretty soft stuff. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm surprised no one else has brought this up: your main problem is not going to be with the lathe itself. It's going to be a challenge to sharpen your tools well enough to cut these soft woods--especially balsa.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Thanks everybody. I know sometimes 'Tool People" frown on Craftsman as junk. Size of things may be pretty big; maybe upto 8 inches dia and 30 or more long for big nose cones. As for tools, people that turn the balsa tell me that as often as not they use files and sanding blocks instead of traditional lathe tools. I forgot to mention foam as a material, but that too, again with files and sanding blocks. Anyway, thanks again, I do actually feel better now about going with Craftsman. Everybody have a great Easter,

Greg

Reply to
grB

Not as bad as you may believe, Leo. We even turned foam for the bottle rocket event at Science Olympiad. It's skew work, mostly.

Reply to
George

George,

You are a good man (woodturner) indeed if you can turn Styrofoam with a skew chisel. You have my respect! Right on!

Barry

Reply to
Barry N. Turner

============================== Greg, In the size range you describe, you might want to see if you can find a used Sears monotube lathe. There are thousands of them out there, and many are sitting around not being used, or used very little. Many turners started with one of these and moved on to bigger, more convenient machines. They came with 4 speeds drives on early units and 5 speeds on later ones. Also, Harbor Freight, Canadian Tire, King Tools, and other vendors sell Chiwanese clones of this 12 X 36 inch model. HF also sells a pretty good clone of the Jet 1236 as well. Used Sears or new clone monotubes are available under $200.00. The HF clone of the Jet 1236 usually is priced about $270.00. The

15 inch Craftsman has a lot of bang for the buck, as Darryl previously said.

Ken Moon Weberville, TX

Reply to
Ken Moon

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