Suggestions

DON'T BUY ANYTHING!!!!!! Go to

and locate a club near you and contact them.. If it is not near they can put you in contact with a local turner. After some experience then you will have a better idea of the tools you need.

Hi Jim, Welcome back. You are in a nice position. No Lathe to get rid of and the means to buy a new one. It's good to get informed opinions, study catalogs and manufacturer's sites, but don't spoil your opportunity by paying too much attention. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting thereof and IMHO the best way to buy a lathe that suits _you_ is by taking time to actually see & try several. Don't rush to judgement and buy a lathe that suits someone else.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

You might want to look at the Jet 1642. Like the DVR, it has electronic speed control and comes in 1 1/2 and 2 HP versions. Price is comparable to the DVR. It lots of cast iron and has a sliding headstock.

Barry

A lot of good info on the 1642 here:

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I bought a Grizzly lathe, and it works fine, but it took a lot of fine tuning to get it that way. Even had to send the motor back to them so they could fix a pulley. So much trouble that I avoid Grizzly tools now, even though they are cheaper than other brands. You might get one that works fine, who knows. But if you go with them, be prepared for some time fiddling around with stuff you probably didn't expect to have to deal with.

A few years ago, a friend of mine with a cabinet shop bought a 3 HP Grizzly shaper. He said he loved the saw, but hated having to replace every single adjusting bolt and screw on the fence assembly. He said the original equipment bolts and screws were very soft and the threads deformed and stripped very easily. One bolt even broke, I believe. Other than that annoyance, he got good service from the machine. He finally bought another shaper and a cabinet saw from Grizzly.

Barry