ALDI Workzone Lathe - Dangerous.

[NazNomad]

My friend bought one of these a couple of years ago.

First thing he did was broke the faceplate - which seems to be constructed from something akin to Kendal Mint Cake.

Second thing he did was broke the replacement faceplate they sent him.

Every thing he turned was catching and flying apart.

Long story short, he really wanted to pursue the hobby so shelved the ALDI lathe and bought a nice one.

He's given me the ALDI lathe to repurpose into a buffing station.

Here's the 'fun' part...

The spindle had 3mm end-to-end play in it. Solved by stripping it down and putting a simple washer against the poorly machined part of the shaft where the bearing fitted.

The bearings ... Well, they say the Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth. I beg to differ. Eased the seals from the bearing, blew out the dust and packed them with grease.

The pulleys were about 1/2'' out of line, so kudos to whoever makes the belt, it was still in one piece.

Putting the whole thing back together was fun too.

Note: Always be wary of something that is manufactured by 27 people that never met. Now I realise why every hole was slotted.

It now runs true (well, truer) and quiet (ish). Should be fine for a buffer if I can get a M18 x 2.5mm fitting for it.

So, the moral... If you want to get into woodturning, DO NOT buy this Workzone lathe from ALDI. You will very likely end up in A&E with pieces of Kendal Mint Cake Faceplate sticking out of your face.

 

[adidat]

I learnt to turn on this model of lathe. Belive it was a clarke one?? I remember snapping the casting the tailstock bolts into. Also probably mint cake, my teacher was very impressed as i managed to get the company to send a new one!

Adidat

 

[NazNomad]

Yes, I believe the Clarke one is the same animal. I just couldn't believe how badly it was assembled and how poor the materials quality was...

 

[DTR]

Doris had the Clarke equivalent...... when you wound the tailstock centre up against the work, the whole lathe would bow under the pressure :shock:

 

[NazNomad]

Doris had the Clarke equivalent...... when you wound the tailstock centre up against the work, the whole lathe would bow under the pressure :shock:

Great for making chair legs then? :-D

 

[timber]

Never mind ------the scrap parts go back to China to be melted down and come back in another form

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Hand tools.

 

[NazNomad]

Never mind ------the scrap parts go back to China to be melted down and come back in another form

I think they are mixed with sawdust and come back as Kendal Mint Cake faceplates.

 

[Water-Mark]

I very much doubt something close to kendal mint cake ever broke.

 

[JimB]

We've been seeing these generic 'lathes' for a few decades now. Since they first appeared they've been getting more and more flimsy. They never were great but were much more solid than is the case today. A timely warning Naz which hopefully will take pressure off the emergency department of hospitals.

 

[paulrockliffe]

I had the Clarke one briefly, it seemed to be made of decent metal and was a good few years old, so may well have been. But it flexed horrendously if you used the tailstock at all. Problem is that the rails attach to the outside of the box with the motor etc in it, but that box has no rigidity, the face that the rails are welded to is pretty much the only thing creating a rigid connection between the rails and the spindle mounts.

I did wonder whether bolting it down wold help as the flexing causes the bolt spacing to increase so stopping that should cause the rest of the box to be engaged in resisting flex. But I sold it and waited for a proper lathe to turn up on Gumtree instead of finding out.

I'd certainly not judge the flex cart-blanche without seeing how it was bolted down, but it's really not worth finding out when there are decent alternatives out there for not much more. It's not like you can turn anything of a decent size on it anyway.