Looking for advice for purchasing a wood lathe and tools

Yikes ... yea ... I can imagine that would be scary

BTW ... I did find

... which discusses the 2 models in question ... and there are of course pro's and cons to each ... I was hoping for more choices within the price range ... but it seems there really arent any ... even Grizzly doenst have something comparable until about $1300

Most of the points have been already covered. I am not familiar with either lathe, but something not mentioned: The low speed is good for drilling. I sometimes use a large forstner bit mounted in a chuck on the tailstock and low speed is a must. Also, on my Nova (different model) the tailstock spindle protrudes through the tailstock so I can use a draw bar to anchor the jacobs chuck and still advance the drill with the turn wheel. On my previous lathe, a Delta, that was not possible since the spindle stopped inside the tailstock.

I have never had to rotate the headstock for anything I turned, but reverse is good when sanding frazzy wood. I sand in one direction, then sand reversed.

This was my thinking as well

I am now leaning towards the Nova ... the only negatives/questions I have at this point are

• the wheel issue (do owners think it can take wheels without a mobile base)

• How hard is belt changing? vs the downsides of the outdated Reeves system for speed control?

You can put wheels on anything, but you sacrifice rigidity when you do. You are firm on the floor, the lathe not quite when on casters, and eighths count. You'd want to have fully retractable wheels so as not to introduce axle slop or partial rotation error. I did it on Ol' Blue by setting it up as a wheelbarrow of sorts, casters free of the floor when the opposite end was on the ground, contacting when the opposite end was lifted. Then I moved the thing perhaps twice in fifteen years.

Belt changes are 20-second jobs. Since you're changing radial velocity all the time as you go from the outside of a large piece toward the axis of rotation, it really doesn't make a lot of difference. I sometimes change speed once on a bowl if I haven't rounded it well on the bandsaw. From the

360 to the 680 as it gets into balance.

Thanks again George ...

I came to the conclusion that really wont me moving it often as well ... So I am thinking of leaving against a wall ... with enough space to allow for 16 inch centers

Has anyone every used the bed extension for the Nova?

I read somewhere that bed extensions often cause the tail stock to become unstable and thus not quite centered on the head stock ... Thoughts?

Correction ... 16 inch stock

I am also considering throwing in funds of my own to take the total up to $1500-$1700 ... if that gives me some more options

I know there are 2 more Jets in this range ... but I havent found another Nova ... or any other brand

I have used the bed extensions and it depends no HOW YOU mount the lathe and no WHAT stand. If care is taken with the original setup there is no problems BUT a rough installation on an inadequate stand WILL cause problems, Support the bed and extension in such a way that they can not move in relation to each other.

Unstable? Ludicrous - that's hyperbole written by someone in the pay of a lathe company that makes longer-bedded lathes. Slightly off center, perhaps, but it matters not a whit if you are turning anything long enough to be using the extension bed, if it's even true, which it's probably not with most decent quality (either of the units you are looking at) extensions. It's not a machine lathe with a rigidly mounted cutter traveling along the ways.

If the center is off by 1/8th of an inch and you're turning work between centers at 8 inches, that's a problem. The drive center walks, you can't center on a faceplate-mounted bowl blank while roughing, etc.

Move the centers out to 40 inches and you'll never know if one is out by

1/8 inch when doing normal woodturning, freehand. You turn reference points to specific diameters, and then turn to connect those points - you're never depending on a precise relationship of wood to bed, and the wobble at that distance is small enough to make no noticeable difference in the drive - you can get that much drive-spur wobble from "whip" on slender turnings in a perfectly aligned lathe.

Take away the drive spur by going back to something like a springpole lathe where the part is driven between dead centers by a rope wrapped around the part, and you can work with fairly large misalignments of the centers even on fairly short spindles. Some patternmaking and metalworking lathes which DO have a provision to rigidly mount a cutter and run it along the ways use this as a feature, with an offsettable tailstock to turn tapers - but you won't turn a taper freehand (even with the tailstock deliberately offset) unless you measure and cut reference diameters to make a taper, and then join them up.

You don't say where you are located and your $1,000 will not cover this, but I just received an advertisement from a fellow in Bodega Bay, California who is wanting to sell his entire shop for $3500. He has two lathes (one a Nova) several Nova chucks, turning tools, bandsaw, grinder, dust collector system, compressor, many calipers and a heavy duty drill press all for the $3,500. Sounds lika a good buy for someone wanting to get into turning. If you're interested, e-mail me and I'll send you his contact information.

Fred Holder

Here, here! I absolutely couldn't agree more. Yet... try as I might I cannot get other to understand that.

Well said! But a point lost on many I am afraid.

I have given up this whole line of discussion as I cannot seem to get that point across. I was even in Woodcraft (got a buddy that works there) about a year ago, and someone had brought back FIVE, yes five, Jet mini lathes because of "alignment problems".

So how did they check alignment? They put their spur center in the headstock and their live center in their tailstock and moved them together to see if the points lined up PERFECTLY. Not just touching, mind you.. but perfect point to point contact. And the guy there was really pissed off at Woodcraft because he said they were selling "seconds" and inferior merchandise!

They told me they had another fellow bring back his PM 3520 because he used one of those double headed morse tapers to line up the tailstock, and it wasn't perfect when he shoved the tailstock up the the headstock with the double taper in it. It was honestly less than

1/16" off...

Woodcraft took back the lathe, and refused to sell him another one. He as pissed off too, because he felt like he had found an honest to Pete fault with the machine.

Some people just don't understand and cannot comprehend the mechanics of the lathe at all.

Nicely said, Ecnerwal.

Robert

True for most turnings BUT if you want to accurately drill through the centre of a long spindle the centres MUST line up ACCURATELY or you end up going through the side and your hole is a much larger diameter than your drill.

In that case, the Nova wins. As you can keep extending the length. I've see a 5 ft bed on a Nova 3000 (basicly the earlier version of the one you are considering)

On the down side (For the Nova), it appears that there are more quality problems since they moved production from New Zealand to China. I expect this to get resolved (and it may already be). But this is solely based on an apparent uptick in reports on the Nova users group

Extension beds are available for the Jet. I don't know if you can add multiples theough :-)

From:

WMH708347 $493.12 "BE-57L, Full 57"" Bed Extension with Leg ---->>

ALL

Thanks much for the advice ... Hope you dont mind a few more questions / bits of info

INFO

• I did a good bit of turning back in the late 70-mid 80's ... so I am not a complete newbie ... but am just looking for what technology changes have occured that I can take advantage of ... now that I have a larger budget

• I tried craigslist (use it all the time here in Colorado Springs) ... most of the stuff were shopsmith (which I tend to avoid) ... there was one really old (1950ish) Powermatic that looked in sad shape ... I even tried the want adds ... which had none for sale

• Now that I am making enough to purchase decent quality tools ... I tend to purchase new (which isnt always better) ... but if used isnt available I have to resort to new

QUESTIONS:

• Why should I consider the Nova (
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  ) over the Jet (
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  ) ?

• With regard to "As mentioned, 90 is plenty. Anything else complicates things." can you elaborate on this? ... as it seems all units now have 360 ...

COMMENTS:

Kevin (my name as well) ... thanks for the 'kick the tires' primer on lathes ... it is always good to know what to look for when buying used

Ecnerwal - I live 1 block from a Harbor Freight ... and I use it often ... but never for power tools from past experiences with Chicago Machinery ... they just dont last ... wore out the bearings and fittings on my variable speed drill press ... replaced it with a Delta Industrial ... Wore out the slide mechanism on my 10 inch sliding chop saw ... replaced it with a Delta 12 inch ... I wont even mention 18V cordless drills

Darrell - thanks much for the primer and sharpening tips ... I used to do my own sharpening ... but have lost the skills ... hopefully this will help bring them back I was going to pull out the 3 grades of Smiths stones I use for all my blades :)

I don't have a Nova, which is a very good lathe, mine is a Woodfast Cobra, 6 speeds. I built its stand from 50 x 100 tube and used old lawnmower wheels which lift the headstock end about 15mm for travel. They are removed and the lathe stands on the legs when in position. I think I moved it about 4 times in 12 years when I got tired of the same piece of wall and the afternoon sun glare through the window in summer. At my replacement house the old shed has two clear plastic sheets in the roof and a window over the workbench so the lathe will be against the opposite wall, no glare, once I get all the metalworking stuff moved out to the new shed. It will be wonderful not to have to move tools to make working space, which is why everything I use except metal lathe & mill has wheels/casters. I still have to get proper power into both sheds instead of extension cables.

Alan

I would LOVE to have a speed lower than 450.. thinking of going with the Nova xp but that's a about $2,500 if you want the stand and stuff..

I've always thought that you want all the power you can get, but I've never had a power problem on the 1442 and I admit to abusing it frequently.. the extra 50% hp, assuming that they're both real figures and arrived at with the same math, sure can't hurt, except maybe on the electric bill..

Can't speak for Nova, though a lot of folks here like them.. besides the Shopsmith, both of my lathes are Jet.. I was so impressed with the Jet mini that it really swayed me towards the Jet brand on the next lathe..

IMHO, buying used is good because you usually save money and in some cases tools, jigs, etc. are included..

IMHO, buying used is bad because you might be buying someone else's problem, as in used cars..

In new and used, you have to kick the tires.. If you have a turners group in your area, attend a meeting or 3.. it's good experience and you might get some turning time on a few different lathes..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I'll try to substitute for George here: As he's said a few times here, it's easier to reverse your drill or whatever you're using for sanding than change the rotation/direction of the lathe..

George would have said it better, though..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Or he might have reminded you that what you picked up by reversing was compensated by laying down what you picked up in the other direction.

Since you can sand with or against the rotation with a disk sander, you are effectively sanding either direction unless your lathe speed and sander speed are in synch. Why you would want to do this when the most effective direction is closer to 90 degrees to the rotation is beyond me. Sand to 320 under power then cut along the grain by hand to hide the remaining scratches.