Looking for a decent lathe to get started with, one that I won't soon "outgrow."

1. Is this Delta decent enough? I can probably get this one without too much trouble.
30 minute round trip; no sweat. Don't know if it has an indexing head. Don't know what that means
exactly, except I understand it allows you to make fluted cuts?

2. Rikon at Woodcraft. This'll be
more trouble to get -- we're talking half a day or so here. Is it better than the Delta? Way better?

3. Or would I be way way better off with a Jet mini or Jet 1220, relative to the amount of money spent?

Naturally I'd rather spend as little as possible, but not spend so little that I end up disappointed.

What else do I need to get started other than cutting tools?

TIA,
-jon

Are you looking for a lather to do strictly pen work, or do you want something else?

You're asking about size here? The ability to eventually do projects larger than pens
might be a plus. But for now I can't imagine wanting to turn much of anything larger
than say 10-12" diameter and 14-16" long? But never having had a lathe I'm not sure.
-j

The Delta will do fine for starting off with pen work..... personally I would go for the Variable Speed Jet....
HOWEVER, neither really has the power to work on larger bowl stock in the 10-12" range well, they will do it, just not well ....
I have a Jet 1236 and it has stood me well for over 8 yrs, it handles bowl stock in the 12" range nicely.... and it is variable speed... a definite plus...
IF you are intending to eventually get into doing bowl work (and take my word for it you most likely will) I do not recommend anything smaller...
I can no longer do any real turning since my back has gotten worse and will most likely be selling my turning equipment some time in the future..

Hi Jon, I've got two Jets and I like both of them my 12-36 is set up for buffing and the 12-20 is for pens. The only thing Ive ever had to do was change the belts on them, but thats to be expected. I beleave the Rikon and the Jet are made in the same factory in china. I have a friend who has a Rikon and he loves it. I would get a drill chuck for the tailstock to drill the blanks and a four jaw chuck to hold the blank. There is also a small collet chuck woodcraft sells for about $90 that looks perfect for pens. You also want to think about sharpening the tools. I use a bench grinder and felt buffing wheel or small diamond file to keep the edge sharp while I'm turning. The cost of getting started to me was well worth the money spent. Watch out, it is addicting...

Good luck, Keith

Aha, I see what you were asking now, Clydesdave. It's about the motor output, not the
size of the machine.
Thanks, guys. To start I'll go look at Homey; they might also have something there besides
the Delta, just not shown on their website.
-j

Thanks, Keith. I was posting at the same time you were.
I'll keep woodcraft in mind, as they'll know what I need and what fits the
machines they sell.
Got the sharpening covered...

-j

I should have looked at the pictures before I said anything. I have spent a lot of years working metal, I've never touched a wood lathe. I want to, and someday I will, but as of yet.... never touched one.

I like working metal too; have a forge, anvil, o-a torch, welder, etc.
What I ultimately want to do is make sterling pens, but I want to learn turning too,
as another hobby, and to get the pen-making skills down first.
-j

EDIT: Hey, what about a steel pen from twisted barstock, colored with temper colors?

We had some chats about this elsewhere - check here among others.

One thing I definitely would go for is the variable speed - extremely handy.

Have fun,
Ruaidhrí

Ruaidhrí, thanks for the link (leading to many other links).

Looks like I have a lot more to think about, as the ability to
fabricate a metal gizmo now and then would be handy.

-j

EDIT: Do I maybe want to go with something like this?

That one is a bit small for my purposes (I did consider getting one myself), but it's a good size for pens and many model engineering requirements. It will not swing something of 12-14" as you said you wanted.

If you really want to go for that size of work, my lathe will do 12" (but only 8" over the saddle) and has a maximum 20" between centres ( http://www.warco.co.uk/shop.asp?catid=26&ProdId=137 I have the combined mill/lathe version, but the lathe bit is identical). I must warn you that a lathe of this size is big and heavy to move, and it probably isn't too sensible to machine anything over 30 kg due to flexibility in the lathe. Due to flex of the work, tool, toolpost, saddle & lathe, I have to limit my cuts in steel to 0.5mm for roughing and 0.05mm for finish cuts. That makes machining quite slow. Smaller/lighter machines have smaller cuts than mine.

Regards

Richard.

Jon,

If you go to ebay/business/industrial/woodworkign/equipment/lathes you will find a listing for a Steel City variable speed lathe for $249.99. I have not used the lathe myself, but Steel City's tool reputation is top notch. You can also get the same lathe without the electronic variable sped for 199.00 - you move the belts to change speed.

Dan

Richard has made a couple of good points.
You can check out a few of our workshops here

You'll need to have a good think on what you'll be using the lathe for - perhaps a reasonably priced small lathe for starters & move up when you are more focused on a direction?

Good idea to check your area for woodturning or model engineering societys/clubs.
There are also night courses in many areas that may be of interest - I teach one myself, but the commute would be horrendous

Have fun,
Ruaidhrí

I think I will throw something into this at this time:

When you are shopping for a lathe, beware the size of the lathe and what it means. They will say it will turn, or throw a 12 inch diameter, but what does that mean?

For the most part, it means that you could, theoretically put a piece that is 12 inches in diameter (all the way across the round part) into the lathe and spin it around. It would barely clear the ways (rails that the carriage moves on). However, the chuck probably won't allow this, and if it would, the chuck itself (the jaws holding the 12 inch piece on the OUTSIDE of the diameter) would be in the way.

Even if you could hold the piece, by arbor or some other means, the carriage (that's the thing that moves back and forth) usually has slides that will be underneath the chuck, long before the cutter is close to the face of the part. That limits that 12 inch lathe to something like 10 inches.

Oh, did I say something about the cutter? It is sitting on a crosslide (that's the part that moves across the carriage, perpendicular to the ways). That's a big item! If you want to turn something and use a cutter, the something you are turning will have to turn OVER the crosslide. That reduces that 12 inch lather to about 7 inches.

This is about a metal working lathe. (Woodworking lathes don't have this problem.) The real number you are looking for is what the lathe will turn OVER THE CROSSLIDE. The manufacturers tend to kind of bypass this little piece of information.

In my shop, I have a big, beautiful Monarch lathe that will turn 16 inches (The lathe weighs 6,300 pounds by the way.) but over the crosslide, it is just under 10 inches.

Thanks for that good info. I'll be on the lookout. However, at the price point I'll likely be able to afford for now,
options may be fairly limited.

Whatever I end up with will weigh well under 3 tons... I'm pretty sure of that!
-jon

That's not a lathe - it's a BEAST!

R

It's a beauty though, in my world. I doubt that I could turn a pen with it though, it won't turn fast enough (RPM) for that.

I went to Tractor Supply today and could have bought this mini lathe for $384.
But I didn't. They didn't have one new in box.
AFAIK it's the same one that's been sitting there for years. It was the only one they had.
The surface rust didn't bother me near as much as the plastic bag (with a hole in it) of gears
and other parts sitting there on the tray. I figured the likelihood that something was missing
was >90%.
So I left it sitting there.
Looked like a pretty cool little machine. The controls were smooth. No apparent rough
machining where I figured it would matter (but what do I know?). Probably close to
ideal for a newby like me to get started with. Less than 100 lbs. so I could move it in out of the rain... LOL

This one looks functionally identical.
I wonder who else sells them, and others of that size/power range?

If you look around a lot of people sell them re-badged & re-painted. They tend to be made by the same company in China and all have the same power unless it's customised specifically for a particular re-seller.

Don't get too hung up about machine power. In a small lathe the deflection caused by cutting forces on the work and lathe will limit the depth of cut much more than the motor power. When rough turning steel on my lathe the calculated power usage is 50W at the lathe tip, and maybe 25W losses in the drive train, while the motor is 550W rated, so has a massive reserve. The limiting factor is the stiffness of the lathe ensuring a good cut.

The little lathe you looked at is a nice one. There will be others, and mail order is a viable option on the smaller lathes. Possibly you could sign up to a forum like the Home Shop Machinist ( http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/ ) and ask for good places to look. Be aware, though, that the HSM board is visited by some very hard core machinists and occasionally their advice needs to be viewed skeptically - they occasionally recommend the hard way to do things because it's more fun. Another place to look is in the 'Home Shop Machinist' magazine itself. This will also show you what can be done with a small lathe - though that can be a very dangerous thing to learn, and you may turn into a machinist rather than a pen maker!

Regards

Richard.

Edited for tripe writing error.

Thanks, Richard; good advice. I'll be on the lookout.
I'm afraid I'm already hooked by metalworking.

Dan, I appreciate your well-thought-out answer. I've pretty much decided now
that I'll go with a small machinist lathe though (see above).

Keith, after looking at lathes on the net for a couple of days, I see what you mean
about the drill chuck tailstock. Appears indispensable. (Going from knowing basically
nothing about lathes to now being able to visualize somewhat how they work. Watching
Edison Pens' webcam the other night helped.)

Thanks, all, for the help. My way to my goal is much clearer now. I appreciate your
taking the time.


-jon

I have the little 7x12 and like it so much when it was on sale I bought a second one. I have it set up beside my South Bend and it does get a lot of use. You can do almost anything you want on it. I turn lots of pens on it and the pen's I am making I do not use any kits so lots of threading etc.

Lots of people have them. Just do a search 7x14 lathe and take your pick.

Cheers

Great! Thanks.
Veering a little off topic here:
Those metal bushings they sell as extras to go with pen kits.
Their function is just that of a thickness gauge, right? So that
your turned parts end up matching the diameter of your metal
pen parts? I'm guessing one can get by with a micrometer?
(Or, just make them with your metal lathe, if needed.)
Again, thanks.
-jon

That's all they are is a size guide.