Need to discuss wood lathes

[Janderso]

My son’s girlfriend wants to buy him a wood lathe for Xmas.
I know nothing about the subject.
I love the idea!
Harbor Freight has the 12x33 with a 3/4 ho motor.
What do you think of that one for a beginner?
They are both teachers so the budget is tight.
I told her I would match her contribution. If there is something better for a few hundred more, please, let me know.

 

[matthewsx]

My son’s girlfriend wants to buy him a wood lathe for Xmas.
I know nothing about the subject.
I love the idea!
Harbor Freight has the 12x33 with a 3/4 ho motor.
What do you think of that one for a beginner?
They are both teachers so the budget is tight.
I told her I would match her contribution. If there is something better for a few hundred more, please, let me know.

I see tons of older wood lathes on Craigslist for short money. With your experience why not get a classic and fix it up for him?

Check over on OWWM for info on what's nice, but the Rockwell units always looked good to me.

John

 

[rabler]

I don’t know anything about that make/model in particular but I like that it has the reversible headstock. That is a worthwhile woodlathe feature, allows turning large bowls, plates, or round tabletops by turning the headstock so the spindle isn’t hanging over the bed. I’d probably throw a bag of sand over the leg frames on either side.

Throw in a set of lathe chisels if you can.

 

[WCraig]

You need to find out what kind of woodturning he wants to do. A bowl lathe will be quite different from a pen-turning lathe, etc.

Most older lathes are more suitable for spindle turning. Bowls require a big swing and good power at low speed.

BTW, a lot of turners end up investing more in their tools and accessories (chucks, etc) than in the machine itself. Just saying.

Craig

 

[woodchucker]

I'll second what @WCraig said, you need to know what he wants to turn.
Small things a good mini lathe would suffice, and there are many accessories (chucks of all types) out there. VFD's
I have a Grizzly, that I picked up at a garage sale, I wanted to be able to turn bases for tables, and spindled legs.
it's not fully up to the task because of weight. It doesn't have the heft when roughing.

My head can't turn because the motor is underneath and is a reeves drive. I like the reeves drive, but a top turner put me down for having it. Said it vibrates too much. Maybe for him, but I'm not doing the same work...

The HF will be a starter lathe. if he gets hooked, he will upgrade... Do I think it will hold him back... probably not. He can still make good things with it.

Depending on location, there are usually a lot of lathes on the market .. craigs list, for sale papers.
if you want the HF don't wait long, I doubt there's a lot of stock in the stores.
You can always return it I think within 90 days...
Then you can keep looking.

 

[davidpbest]

I own a OneWay 1640 - outstanding wood lathe that is truly something that will last a lifetime. With the optional bed extension for the opposite side of the head, it will swing up to 24" diameter material. I have seen users swing 48" material on the outboard side with a shop-built floor-standing tool rest. Variable speed (14 - 700 / 51 - 2585) constant torque, reversible 1.5 or 2HP motor, hardened ways, etc.

Oneway builds to order in Canada, has larger and smaller versions, and will create a custom configuration if required. These are the Hardinge equivalents in wood lathes IMO.

 

[Aaron_W]

Jeff did you see this one? It would be a few hours drive for you, but an English made Myford. Looks like a nice size, not real small, but not real big either. Only real drawback that I see is it uses a funky 1"-12 thread on the spindle, and 1"-8 seems to be the standard in the US. Since it has a fair bit of tooling probably not such a big deal.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tls/d/pleasanton-wood-lathe/7407000036.html?lang=en&cc=gb

Have to admit this one has attracted my eye, but it is far enough away and low enough on my interest to keep me from going down to have a look.


Really curious to see where this thread goes. I do some woodworking but have no experience with wood lathes past the 9th grade and that was a big WW2 era floor model.
At some point I'd like to add a small wood lathe but it is a low priority. I'd be very curious to know how the smaller lightweight vintage lathes (Craftsman, Rockwell/Delta, Powrkraft etc) compare to the modern Mini and Midi lathes.

I don't know if you have looked at any of the wood working vendors sites but there are a lot of options from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars. Rockler has a large selection so you have something to compare to the HF lathe. Woodcraft is another and of course there is Grizzly.

There are Rockler and Woodcraft stores in the Sacramento area so you could actually put hands on some of the machines if you wanted to.

https://www.rockler.com/power-tools/wood-turning/lathes

https://www.woodcraft.com/categories/lathes

 

[Larry$]

The Oneways are very nice and damn proud of themselves.
The old Rockwell/Delta lathes are OK. They have a common spindle and the head can be removed and turned 180* for outboard turning. What ever lathe, get good heavy turning tools.

 

[Winegrower]

I have a Powermatic with Reeves drive. No issues with vibration, and it’s fun to blast an amazing amount of chips fast. A surprising thing is the price that carbide insert wood lathe tooling goes for, so a good project that combines our metal and wood abilities is to make your own lathe tools. Glue up some interesting and big handles, make the brass ferrules, use 1/2” steel shanks machined to take a square, round and pointed insert…and no more constant sharpening steel chisels. It’s a good gift item, too.

Edit: I converted when I got it to VFD drive. I’m not convinced it’s necessary, the Reeves is pretty useful as is.

 

[Janderso]

I’m so glad you guys chimed in.
I’ll have a much better chance of finding something that will work for him.
Thank you.
I’ll check out your ideas in the next few days.
On the road. Fog is thick near Lodi, Ca.