"midi" Wood turning lathes ?

Hello Clive,

For your application, I recommend a Nova Mercury plus one bed extension. This would give you 20" between centers and variable speed. Adequate for turning candlesticks. It would set nicely on a WorkMate or a table. It does weigh 50 or

60 pounds. It should be available in Europe. I've had one for three years and use it quite a bit.

Fred Holder

If I were in your shoes I'd look at the new Vicmarc L100. It comes with its own table/bench top stand and it even has a drawer underneath for tools.

I hope it turns out for the best,

Ron

Hi there check the tool post or the woodcraft supply UK ED

is a page showing the Axminster mini lathes in England. The M330and M600 lathes are what you are looking for. For some reason Ithought Axminster has Jet make some/most of their products. But theselathes have different dimensions than the standard Jet mini lathe. Also look for anyone who sells Jet or Delta in France. They should beimporting the regular mini lathe from these two manufacturers. And do a search on this forum for information about mini lathes.

Clive,

The Jet Mini is now available in the UK. While you won't get 15 inches out of it w/o a bed extension, you can get over 13, if you're careful, and it has a 10" swing. It is a very robust and reliable lathe. I've had one for two years now, turning with it almost every day of that time with no problems at all, spinning a SuperNova Chuck and hunks of wood up to 25 or 30 pounds in weight.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

Hello Clive,

I would check out these folks. They are right up the road from you. I have had a RPML300 for 7-8 years. Have over worked the tail off of it and it still purrs right along. Check out their DML 24X. I have never used one of that model but if it is anything like its larger brother, it should serve you well.

Ron Robinson East Texas

Hi Fred, I know Nova had a couple mini's out. The Comet and Mercury, but can't remember what the differences were in size, power and capacity. But I agree, something in that size range should work, or if he wants a bit more size a Jet or Vicmarc mini. Although, after a past woodturning session last spring I would be hesitant to recommend using a Jet sized mini lathe atop a workmate type bench. One of the clubs I belong to has a couple of the Jet lathes and they are mounted on a box that contains the turning tools and chuck and other tools per that lathe... the box is mounted with wheels at one end for portability. In use, the whole system is lifted atop the workmate and secured. Well everyone was turning away at a hands on class, when all of a sudden a loud bang was heard and everyone's attention turned to where the sound came from. The turner in question was unharmed luckily, and surprisingly so was the lathe - his piece being turned though was not so lucky. What happened was the securing latch that holds the workmate together gave out and the bench fell to the ground folding up. Now I can't recall the exact type of bench, it was a workmate clone. But since then, I've been careful about loading up my own B&D workmate. --Jim