New Nova will be here tonight!

I'm jealous. Mine is only 120v. Today I roughed out a 15 inch Bradford Pear bowl on it. The hardest part was cutting the circle on my bandsaw--it must have weighed 50 pounds.

Congratulations. Did you get the cast Iron stand?

Nope... hassled with them for 2 weeks and gave in.. Woodcraft said that they could order the "universal" stand but that if I really wanted the cast iron legs, I'd have to order them factory direct...

If the stand really sucks, I'll order the leg set..

mac

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Enjoy !

Congrats Mac!

I'm sure you will turning the spindles off that thing in short order. Nothing like getting a new tool you are really looking forward to using.

Robert

You won't need to have both ends open for work with this one. The factory stand is double-splayed, though, and will have a pretty big footprint. Bernie made his tin stand more rigide by plywooding. Might want to take a look.

I built my stand to minimize footprint and maximize stability. Got your chuck adapters in the shipment?

If I had known or noticed how it catches shavings I would have set the base on the stand and marked where the cross-pieces are between the ways then cut out holes in the top of the stand so shavings could fall through. They really pile up and it's either scrap your knuckles digging them out or use the vacuum.

That's my biggest complaint. They didn't have the cast iron legs when I got mine.

It's still a thrill to turn that baby on and hear it hum.

Gerald Ross Cochran, GA

When you don't know what you're doing, do it neatly.

Thanks.. it seems like a really nice lathe.. very smooth and quiet.. I thought that I had my Jet 1442 tuned pretty well and had little or no vibration.. Then I turned the Nova on last night and realized how my Jet practically jumps around compared to the new one..

Just spent MORE money this morning, though.. I knew I'd need adapters for the larger spindle size, but thought that I'd be able to use my tool rest assortment from the Jet.. NOPE.. the posts are at least an inch too short..

mac

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The stand is HUGE.. I think they might have sent one for extended bed or something.. The stance is the same or less than the iron legs on the Jet, but it's 2 feet longer than the lathe... It does seem very stable, though.. something that I wasn't expecting..

I got the spindle adapter a week ago..lol

mac

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I'm thinking of shimming the lathe an inch or so higher on the stand, to get chip clearance and raise the spindle height a little... It's over an inch lower than the spindle of my 14" jet..

I know the better way would be to put 2x4's across the stand ends, but I'm thinking about the chips collecting..

BTW.. it still starts at a default 500 rpm, but the readout tells you that it will.. lol What a damn nag.. tells you to wear your face shield every time you turn it on...

mac

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The standard rest has to be one of the best I've used, and the offset post on the banjo is something you won't have to learn to love, it'll put a smile on your face every time you snug up to the turning.

I have the short rest, and it's nice when you're doing something less than

10" long. All I added was a longer 1" post for my iron curved rest. Ol'Blue had a taller banjo.

You may find yourself in a dilemma if you plan on using both lathes, because the grind angles for your JET won't be the optimum for the new rests. I shortened up my bevels to a more "Irish" grind within weeks of transitioning to the 3000 to take advantage of the flat top. Took some nose off of my forged gouges, too.

The Jet has an offset, also... It took me a while to figure out why the banjo was so LONG.. until I was hollowing out a little box this morning and realized that you can swivel the head to 45 degrees and still use the standard rest..

My only bitch so far is that the height lock for the tool rest can only be used from one position.. I took advantage of the jet's 3 threaded holes to move the locking lever to the side.. Not a big thing, but I find myself hitting the banjo lock when I'm adjusting the rest height..

I ordered several rests from Woodcraft this morning: 4" & 6" straight, small and large bowl curves and 2 posts.. Gotta be set up for bowls AND pens..

Most of the rests that I use/used on the jet were flat top.. a nice (Delta) French curve, a 4" flat top rest and a box scraper rest.. None of those fit the Nova, since they either came with shorter posts or I

*damn* cut an inch or so OFF the posts to make them fit..

Unless I have "turning company", I'm planning on using the Jet mostly for buffing.. I may do some spindle turning on it if the Nova won't handle it.. I don't think I've ever turned anything more than 24", though..

mac

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It starts at the second setting. I changed that setting to 450 and the lower setting to 200, because I found myself changing down for sanding. So far I have not had the mojo to turn anything at the highest speed but I have been turning some Christmas tree ornaments at

2500. To me that is really humming. I do not keep the set screw in the chuck. It stays in a baggie with the allen wrench hanging on a nail. I only put it in when I know I'm gonna do some reverse sanding. I forgot to loosen it enough and wound up filing the last thread where I munged it up.

I got the bed extension. It lets me slide the tailstock way down out of the way when it is not needed.

Congratulations Mac,

I've used Teknatool lathes and chucks for many years. When I got my Nova 3000 several years ago, I mounted on the stand that I was using for my Record CL-3 lathe. The mounting was a 2"x12" flat board. Cleaning out the chips under the bed was a pita. When I built the actual stand for the Nova 3000, I used two 2" x 6" boards for the top of the base. They were spaced apart about 2" so that the shavings could fall through the lathe bed and right on down below. I keep a box top under the opening to catch most of the shavings. My whole stand is built of 2" x 6" boards, making the legs approximately 5" square as they touch the floor. It has a box built in about a foot off the floor that I filled with railroad spikes that I had. The stand is solid and the lathe never even sways. When I got my DVR it simply replaced the Nova 3000, an extension was necessary because I also ordered a bed extension with the new lathe. I've never been sorry. That lets me get the tailstock out of the way when turning on a faceplate or a chuck.

Good luck with the new lathe. I think you will love it.

Fred Holder

I decided that 500 was ok, and if I wanted less speed at startup, I could go to #1 before starting.. The lathes that I'm used to had bottom speeds of 450 &

500..

I changed the last 3 presets to 750, 1,500 & 2,100 for pens and buffing..

The vacuum setup is very strange... a bearing on a tube that just slides into the handwheel and a hose slides onto that?? I'm sure used to way more exotic setups! lol

mac

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For the price of the bed extension, I'll work at 45 degrees or move it off the lathe..lol

I just got an email from Teknatool saying that the 220 conversion is the same jumper as on the 3000 dvr..

mac

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Well, I have a few hundred pictures so far, Darrell.. I just have to work on my damn gallery.. Turnings a lot more fun than web work and product photography,,lol

mac

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Thank you, Sir..

Yep.. that's how my Jet 1442 is.. falls through the rails instead of building up between them..

yep.lol My system is 2 banker's box lids on the top shelf, about 3" under the rails..

SO far, I've only bumped my arm on the tailstock once.. then I realized that the xp tool rest works well with the headstock at 45 degrees, so I don't think it will be a problem.. I really don't need a long bed..

mac

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It is made for a vacuum cleaner hookup. I took a male quick connect and ground off the threads enough that it would fit inside, then epoxied it in place. Very quick hookup to the vacuum pump. I mounted the switch for the vacuum pump in a metal box with a strong magnet glued to the back. This sits on the back of the headstock in easy reach. The vacuum gauge sticks on the front over the digital readout, again, with a magnet.