Looking to take up wood turning.

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you stop motor, open lid, slacken motor (lever) move belt to smaller/ larger pulley, tighten motor (lever) replace lid, switch on.
i could have done it 3 times in the time its taken me to type that!
yep. swivelling headstock allows you to bring the workpiece toward you so you can get into the bowl without having to climb over the bed to get the tool at the correct angle.
 
Nev, from what I have read about the newer CL1 they are 4 speed, but still change the belt on the pullies. Mine is a 3 speed and I have fitted a 3ø motor and invertor which gives me variable speed, but as I said earlier, after a dozen years of the fixed 3 speed. It is perfectly adaquet, but even better now!

Occasionally I still change the belt on the pullies if I need a very low speed and more torque.

Adam, even if the headstock bearings are shot, which is very unlikely, it is still a VERY good bargain at that price. I changed the head stock bearings in mine earlier this year because they had taken some stick in the 12 years I've had it. The removal is dead easy, the bearings are stock items that cost me less than 20€ and all is sweetly running like new again.

Mine is a fairly early blue painted model. This one you are looking at is a later green model. as far as I know they are identical apart from the colour and the extra speed.

Mine is mounted on a 4 X 2" 'A' frame with a 2 X 6" horizontal beam. Before I cross braced it with tansioned catenery wires and 4 'L' plates to bolt it to my workshop floor I used to wander around the workshop to keep up with it if I had an unballanced piece in it. Now it as solid as a rock. It still vibrates with an unballanced load but what wouldn't?

Go for it. It's a bargain. You even get a couple of bowl blanks thrown in, but if I were you I would start to walk and do some spindle work first??
 
Thanks for the info everyone, you are a very helpful bunch :p

The machine is going to be living in my girlfriends house for a while as her dad has a workshop and has offered to let me use his work bench until I can set up a permanent space in my garage at home.

I am not sure if I have already mentioned but the timber side of this hobby should be at no cost to me as my dad owns a joinery business and I will be making use of their off cuts which are mainly oak, ash, sapele, iroko and red wood (however they do use some different woods from time to time). I first want to just get used to using the tools so will not be looking to turn anything for aesthetic reasons.

I spoke to the seller on the phone tonight and he seemed to be a very genuine and polite person and it seems as though the machine has had very little use which is a bit of a bonus :p

I cant wait to have a go now :)
 
I know nothing about turning Adam, but what I have picked up from the forum is to learn tool sharpening as a priority because using sharp tools is a must. It would be well worth looking through the threads on here (there are many) for views on different sharpening systems. It sounds like you could be surrounded by a few people at home that may be able to give you some lessons/pointers.
 
Congrats Adam. May be a bit early but what the hell?

Iroko, it may well be a good idea to use a good dust mask when turning it. It plays hell with me and unless tere is no alternative I don't turn it.

There's a thread at the top in 'Stickies' that gives loads of gen on different woods, but I'm sure that you Dad will be able to advise you..

Welcome to the slippery slope!
 
Just reporting to say that I have purchased the kit and got it all for a bargain of £200 including all of the tools and 13 wood turning magazines to help give me a bit of an idea of what to do when I start turning!

The machine was immaculate with hardly any marks on it and it runs like a dream!

I got back from picking it up at 11pm so haven't had a chance to set it up yet but I will get cracking on that tomorrow with a bit of luck!

I think my project next weekend will be to build a nice sturdy bench to mount it on! I can't wait to get going on this now :p


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.669129,-4.055957
 
Adam, regarding your question about variable speed drives, these people do a dedicated kit for your lathe for £309

http://www.haydockconverters.co.uk/variablespeeddrives.htm

But if you're at all mechanically/electrically minded, or know somebody who is, you could buy the bits (single to 3 phase inverter, 3 phase dual voltage motor and a couple of switches) for a little over £200 from ebay, and wire it up yourself, I did it years ago on an el cheapo Sealy lathe. I now have a haydock converters kit on my Woodfast lathe which was on it when I bought the machine which gives exactly the same result as my home assembled effort.

Cheers
Aled
 
For what it is worth now, seeing everyone has given all the advice I could. I started turning about a year ago (before I found this forum) and made the mistake of buying one of the cheap chisel sets you see on the bay of evil. All I can say is, they're that cheap for a reason. I would go as far as to say dangerous in the wrong hands. (i.e. mine)
I actually managed to snap the roughing gouge because of my poor technique. Yes, my fault completely, but I would imagine the majority of folks buying these tools will be beginners to the sport.
The Keith Rowley book is a godsend. Practice, practice, practice. Collect as much free wood as you can store, even if it's as green as cabbage. Always wear protection, at the very least a face shield and disposable mask. Watch youtube videos, not just for technique, but also to see the best way to approach your projects.
I as yet don't have a "modern" chuck. I have had some fun finding inventive ways to hold work while I attack it with the tools. Don't be put off certain projects because you don't have a chuck. Work out another way to hold the piece. After all - the original turners didn't have the luxury of the equipment we can now get our hands on.

Most of all have fun.
 
=Adam=":2d9fssg3 said:
Just reporting to say that I have purchased the kit and got it all for a bargain of £200 including all of the tools and 13 wood turning magazines to help give me a bit of an idea of what to do when I start turning!

The machine was immaculate with hardly any marks on it and it runs like a dream!

I got back from picking it up at 11pm so haven't had a chance to set it up yet but I will get cracking on that tomorrow with a bit of luck!

I think my project next weekend will be to build a nice sturdy bench to mount it on! I can't wait to get going on this now :p


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.669129,-4.055957
Click to expand...

Nice kit

BUT you had better ask the seller to remove it from ebay , last time I looked the auction was still live :?
 
bargain! welcome to the club.
if you find you want some pointers around the basics at any time, I am not too far away from you (near leekes @ cross hands)
and youre welcome to come round and have a go. just pm me.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Nev! Thanks for the offer, I'm sure you will be getting some pm's in the coming months haha! Are you going to that show in the botanical gardens?

Also instead of starting a new thread (im lazy like that) I though I would ask a question about sharpening.

I have seen that it is recomended that I get a white stone, ate these the aluminium oxide wheels? And if so what grit is best for them?

Also I can have acess to a bench grinder, but it is a normal b&q job, I assume that this would be fine to use (providing I swap to a white wheel) or am I going to have issues because of lower power/torque?

One more thing.... Do the chisels need 'honing' on a wet/oil/diamond stone once sharpened on a wheel? And if so, how do I get the right angle on circular profiles without ruining the grind?

Sorry for asking, I am just full of questions :)


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.669187,-4.056037
 
Questions?

Adam, the only stupid questions are the ones that you don't ask, so ask away mate.

The only ones that I hone are mt skew chisels. All of the rest are sed straight off the white wheel. I have no recollection of what grit it is though. A senior memory!

I have a sharpening rig after doing it by eye for a lot of years and the difference is worth it. It's a Wolverine One way with the fingernail grind jig too. Not cheap, but for me worth it. It's fitted to a second hand B&D grinder I got from a govt surplus place. It's as good as I need and after switching it off yer tea could get cold waiting for it to stop :mrgreen:

The power shoud be OK because all you need is a light touch on the wheel.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Nev! Thanks for the offer, I'm sure you will be getting some pm's in the coming months haha! Are you going to that show in the botanical gardens?
i shall be popping along, not sure what day yet.
Also instead of starting a new thread (im lazy like that) I though I would ask a question about sharpening.

I have seen that it is recomended that I get a white stone, ate these the aluminium oxide wheels? And if so what grit is best for them?
all you need to know here... http://www.peterchild.co.uk/grind/grindinfo.htm
Also I can have acess to a bench grinder, but it is a normal b&q job, I assume that this would be fine to use (providing I swap to a white wheel) or am I going to have issues because of lower power/torque?
generally speaking the slower the better.
One more thing.... Do the chisels need 'honing' on a wet/oil/diamond stone once sharpened on a wheel? And if so, how do I get the right angle on circular profiles without ruining the grind?
conflicting views. see here ... sharpening-tools-using-a-grinder-t55164.html?hilit=sharpening
Sorry for asking, I am just full of questions :)
thats what the forum is for :)
 
That's a very similar grinder to the one I started off with nearly 10 years ago, and still use for grinding bench chisels. I actually used it for a couple of years with the standard grey wheels. White wheels are better, but I went for the ruby wheels when I upgraded, although I'm not sure if they're really worth the extra over white wheels (about £12 vs about £20+). I'd go for around 80 grit for general sharpening.

Don't bother with honing, as at the speed the wood passes a woodturning chisel, your honed edge will only last seconds, as opposed to 15 minutes plus say for a hand plane or chisel.

A DIY grinding jig is definitely the way forward, I struggled for years with grinding by hand before making a jig, and the difference was amazing!

Keep asking the questions!!

Cheers
Aled
 

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