Feedback about KS Midi Pro

[adrspach]

Firstly Happy New Year to all of you here.
It is some time ago now when this lathe was mentioned and it does apear hat there is not much feedback about this lathes on the net. Those who chekded me already know that i ma on the marker for a lathe. Originally I thought KS Twister would be the one as I want to do some spindle work as well as bowls and most importantly also off balance work but not excessively heavy pieces. It has enough clearance over bed with additional diameter available for off board turning, VS, 1.5Hp and decent customer service. I tried it and it is nice lathe but with space which I have available it is too long by about 4" in its basic bed length. Looked at others such as Nova and Record lathes but from the feedback their quality and customer service is no longer what it used to be. Looked at Stratos as well as Axi 1628- again too long.
With all of that something has to give in and that is why I am looking at this lathe.. It is on 1hp and it is es it is lighter then the mentioned ones which I expect would not be great for off balance work as well as bearing distance would be shorter.
That said as I am setting up my woodturning experience from scratch money is a bit tight to buy it new and they do not come on the market often (Only one to my knowledge and I saw the advert too late as it was already gone).
Therefore I am trying to save for new one I do not want to get burnt.
Or did I miss any other options?

 

[DerekJohn]

I bought a KS Midi Pro lathe in December from Hope Woodturning and am very happy with it and Chris, Simon and his team.
It is VERY heavy but well worth getting the bed extension and the add on quick connectors. You will need two very strong chaps to help you get it mounted - mine is on my bench and works well for me but it can be supplied with legs.
The headstock twists easily and overall the machine is a joy to use - good for bowl turning which I am beginning to learn - not an easy task so far!.
My experience with lathes is two years with a very old Clarke lathe mainly used for spindle work but the Midi Pro is a huge move up in terms of flexibility and quality. A new one comes with a 5 year warranty.
OK back to learning how to use a bowl gauge properly - should get there sometime this year hopefully. Boy what a learning curve!