Advice Needed

[Eddie M]

Hi folks I am new to the forum and the world of woodturning. I have been toying with the idea of taking this up for some time as a stress buster. I have used metal lathes in the past but never wood. I managed to get a shot of a lathe at the weekend and turned down a wee mushroom. I am now hooked and looking for my first lathe. I have poured over the pages on here for a few days and I am dangerously close to buying an Axminster AWVSL1000 with the SK100 chuck. It appears to tick all the boxes for what I want to do and it will probably last me years before I am competent enough to be looking for something better. The chuck does not come with jaws and I would need to order them. For a beginner what kind of jaws would be best for me and give me the greatest range of use. I am already putting the boat out with the purchase and I need to keep the cost down somewhere so don't want to buy jaws I wont use for a year. Would also like to know your views on the lathe. I have found a few posts but they all appear to be several years old. Has anyone bought this lathe recently or is it the same model that has been about for a while?
Thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to being part of your community.

Regards
Eddie

 

[CHJ]

The Chuck Package deal with basic C jaws will accommodate 70% of what you will use your chuck for.

 

[procell]

Hi and welcome to the forum
Like you I am a novice but have benefited greatly from advice here. I am sure a lot of members will suggest leaving a chuck until later as it is possible to do almost anything with faceplate and drive centres. It is far better to spend the limited budget on a decent set of tools as these will pay you back in spades over the years. I will leave it to those with far more experience to advise you regarding lathe choice.

Look forward to seeing some of your work in future

 

[finneyb]

+1 for C jaws

Consider the AWVSL 900 it will save you £95 over the AWVSL 1000 as its currently on offer.
It has smaller motor, but at 550watts it will be adequate. 300mm over the bed v 380mm on the bigger model BUT if you need more than 300mm over the bed the headstock turns and you can turn outboard.

Personally, I'd be surprised if you needed more than 300mm dia over the bed because the wood gets to big to run at the 500rpm lowest speed - if you wanted bigger dia you would upgrade to a variable speed.

HTH

Brian

 

[andersonec]

Stress buster??? HA, you should come and see my pile of split, busted and otherwise useless pile of,, no wait a minute, I've got it,,, firewood and mulch!!!

Andy

 

[finneyb]

Stress buster??? HA, you should come and see my pile of split, busted and otherwise useless pile of,, no wait a minute, I've got it,,, firewood and mulch!!!

Andy

Andy,

Sorry to disappoint but you've only got a pile of firewood. I used to use shavings for mulch until a thread on here stated that it depleted the soil of nitrogen. :lol:

Brian

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You only have to pee on it.

 

[woodturnerEric]

I had what they now call the AWVSL1000,was called CCBVSL 1100 when I bought it,I had the lathe for seven years before I upgraded and was very happy with it,the only thing I changed was the live centre,but they put one of their own on it now which is of a better quality,I`d go for this lathe,as the extra power of it makes all the difference over the smaller version,they say these lathes eat drive belts,but I used 2 in seven years,but I maintained the shafts with Axminster`s grease oil stuff every 3-6 months,which makes a hell of a difference to the running of the machine(no forcing of the speed control lever),I was also told I`d never be able to do detailed or thin work on this cheap chinese import,well that was wrong to,I made 1mm thick goblet and vase bowls on it and lots of small detailing on projects over the years I had it,2 yrs ago I bought a Jet 3520B to replace it,gave the old one to soninlaw(he`s a chippy) and its still going strong,the only thing that lets it down generally is the flimsy stand,but I loved it,cheers,

Eric.

 

[Eddie M]

Folks thanks for the good advice. I have jumped off the deep end and bought the lathe. Must say that customer service at axminster was great. Spoke to a guy called Allan who couldn't be more helpful. Will post up my first offerings soon if I don't loose a hand.
Regards Eddie