Lathe Choice....

[galwayworker]

Hi,
I hope I'm not going back over old ground by asking the following question....
I am new to woodturning (just finished off an evening course a little while ago) and I am considering buying a Record Lathe. Due to money being tight... my budget is limited so I was considering either the Record DML 36SH-CAM or the DML 305.

The school where I did the course had the DML 36SH-CAM lathes. I'm not sure if it was the way the instructor had the lathes set up (I think the lathe was always set at 950RPM) or the 1/3HP motor but when turning an 8" bowl the piece would stop turning when taking a heavy cut into the piece. Is the motor underpowered for turning, especially if you were to swivel the head and try to turn a 12" bowl?
The DML 305 is slightly more expensive but has got a 1/2HP motor and I am not too worried about the reduced distance between centres for spindle work. So my thinking is to go for the DML 305... any thoughts?

I have looked around for secondhand lathes but they are far and few between in Ireland plus they are advertised at what I would call high prices. I did check out shipping from Axminster but it would bring the cost of the Axminster AWVSL up to £224 .

Thanks for looking

 

[loz]

Hiya,

The DML only has a 1/3 HP motor, and will stall if heavy cutting, Or ( sanding ) a large bowl/platter blank. You can also say the same for the 2 HP VL 175 we have in the club though !!

But if your tools are sharp, and you approach correctly you should have no problems. I only stalled when i first got the lathe.

I have 12 inch platters, and bowls from mine, and even 6 x 8 hollow forms.

PS if i find my graduate for the right price - you can have my DML !

 

[chrisbaker42]

I would agree with loz, my axminster has a 1/3 hp motor and you really do need to make sure that tools are sharp etc. although as loz said you can make big items if you do things correctly but for lathe motors bigger is definitely better.

 

[galwayworker]

Sharp tools.... I don't think that the gouges were the sharpest tools in the box... 15 people in total over three nights using the tools and I don't think they saw the grinder very often

This is what we produced for the end of the course, is it a box, urn or just a bowl with a lid? It wouldn't be to my taste but it was fun to turn. The diameter is 8", the finial is too heavy but I do like the profile of the top section of the top bowl. The blank for the top bowl was cupped and had the DML hopping all over the workshop floor (the instructor was holding the lathe down while I tried to square off the face). That was the other question I had about the DML, is it better to build a heavy duty stand loaded with ballast or go for the legs that Record supply?

 

[loz]

I have mine on a wooden bench with breeze blocks in it.

Did your instructor not drop the speed to 400 on the unbalanced blank ?

 

[chrisbaker42]

I have mine on a good solid bench but even that bounces at times, but slower speeds certainly help a lot.

 

[galwayworker]

Loz, the lathe's were set at 950RPM for all the turning. The profile for the top of the bowl came about due to the amount of dig-in's I had. It made for an interesting turning experience but a frustrating one! The school actually had to get rid of all their older cast iron lathes due to a lack of CE labels and replace them with the Records.
So do you think my experience so far with the DML36 is more to do with it's set up and poor tool sharpness?

 

[SVB]

Loz, the lathe's were set at 950RPM for all the turning.

Whilst one is unwilling to be critical without being there, even if the lathe could cope and everything was safe, I would have thought going through the motions and establishing the discipline of starting roughing from a low speed even if a pre-prepared blank allows progression to a high speed quickly would be an important element of an introductory course?

Just my 2 cents!

Simon

 

[galwayworker]

Hi,
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to reply to my post. Loz, best of luck with the Graduate and thank you for your comments. It's great to get feedback from people who have more experience with the lathes than me. Anyway I'm going to have a look at the Records in the local shop and decide which one I like.... Thanks again guys.