How much do you use your lathe?

[graduate_owner]

Hi everyone,
I was browsing through my Axminster catalogue (as you do - I am going to miss the good old Axi catalogue, browsing online is just not the same) and I noticed their specifications for their various grades of machinery. The spec for hobby equipment is 100 hours per year Maximum. This works out at about 2 hours per week. I think 2 hours per week might be fine if you were making say a coffee table because you might use a planer thicknesser for a short while, then table saw etc but with a lathe you would do the entire job on the one machine. I suspect you would soon eat into those 100 hours..

So I was wondering how much a typical (?) hobby woodturner uses a lathe, and whether a hobby lathe would be suitable for the average turner. I suppose you could make the same argument for scroll saw users.

Personally I have so many things to do that my turning time always seems limited, but when I do get the urge to have a bash at the lathe I usually spend several hours. I would like to spend a lot more time, and I think an Axminster hobby lathe would be unsuitable for me.

Any comments?

K

 

[SVB]

I guess the glib answer is not enough!

But seriously, I guess the 2 hrs is continuous use, it may surprise you that amount of 'lathe on' time in any turning project but the time the blank is prepared, mounted, actually turned involving marking out, thinking time, a couple of visits to the grinder, chucking time, finding dropped screws in the shavings, sanding / finishing, making tea and other faffing about that we all do. I suspect 2 hrs of hobby lathe use would be an afternoon's turning project so the tipping point for "needing" a better lathe is probably > 1 day in the workshop per week. That for me is only a faint aspiration at the moment!

Interested to hear other views though.

Simon

 

[Spindle]

Hi

The cynic in me says this is Axminster trying to limit their liability / push buyers toward more expensive items.

I would class two hours a week as occasional use.

How many years do Axi garantee their hobby lathes?

Regards Mick

 

[marcros]

I wonder whether the machine classifications work quite well, but fail slightly on lathes. But rather than have a separate classification for it, they have stuck with what they have throughout the catalogue.

For true hobby use, a couple of hours per week for a bandsaw, planer, table saw etc is probably a reasonable assessment of what it needs to do. For a lathe, i would be more interested in whether the motor is designed for continuous running or not, rather than the expected hours per week.

I have little spare time, but try to get into my workshop and have a play an evening a week if possible. In this time, if I am turning something, I would clock up a couple of hours of lathe use without much effort. Even just turning a simple pen, with drilling, turning, sanding, finishing etc that could be 40 minutes or more. Not quite continuous running in that time, but not many minutes of downtime.

 

[DTR]

The spec for hobby equipment is 100 hours per year Maximum.

So what happens after a year? Does the clock restart and all wear resets back to zero?

 

[Stiggy]

100 hours? I've only been going since beginning of November and I've done well over that already.

It's an interesting question though!

 

[marcros]

I have not looked, but surely it is only the motors that are different? I can't think that a trade lathe is going to have a higher specced bed etc? Perhaps more features, but under the warranty it is going to be the motor or nothing that you would have to claim for.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I read about 25 years ago that a bottom end B&D drill had a life expectancy of 3 hours. Someone said that was ridiculous and someone else came back to explain it. He said that the average use for that type of tool in a domestic environment was 5 minutes a month - to put up a shelf, or something like that. If it lasted for its designed life expectancy (and it should easily last for more) it would last for three years, by which time the purchaser would think they'd had reasonable value and would happily buy the same thing again.
Makes you think.

 

[JimB]

A more honest approach would be to publish details of the motor and the bearings. How long can you expect to use it continually and how long can you expect the bearings to last. As DTR said, does it all reset after a year? :wink:

 

[graduate_owner]

What I was wondering is whether typical hobby use would easily exceed the recommended MAXIMUM usage and what the effect would be on the lathe. Also Axminster say - few, if any, continuous periods of use. I'm not sure how long you would need to use a lathe for to class it as continuous use, but as I said in the original post, a lathe is likely to be used for a lot longer (and continuously) than say a circular saw. Personally a 2 hour continuous session at the lathe is common enough - when I get time to have a session.

Overall I consider myself lucky I don't have an Axminster hobby lathe. I have just added to my collection of ML8 and Graduate bowl lathes by getting a Viceroy. Solid piece of kit. I'm thinking I might let my old Myford go now, although after 35 years I would really miss the old girl, but I really do not need 3 wood lathes (and 2 metal lathes). It's so hard to resist temptation.

K