New lathe. Am I being unrealistic ?

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Grahamshed

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Ok, So having just retired I want to take up woodturning as a hobby, and maybe do craft fairs etc if I am any good.

Getting on a bit so I want to get the 'right' lathe first time...... but I cannot find one.

I made myself a short list of desired/required features.

1... Swing head ( I will do mostly small stuff but want to do some big display pieces as well )
2... 3 phase inversion speed control.
3... Min 1hp motor.
4... Short bed. ( I have no interest in long spindles, plus I want to keep the width down to about 4 feet if poss. I want to do bowls, boxes, pens etc.... and maybe candlesticks but 18 - 24 inch bed would be plenty )

But I Cannot find a suitable lathe. Axminster 1416 looks nice but no swing head. Nova have the 1624 which sounds good but no variable control. The nova xp has it all but I don't like the touch screen control and I have seen many bad reviews about its reliability and banjo flexing etc.

Many others would be good but they are to long.

Fussy aint I ? :)

Can anyone think of any other powerful short bed lathes ?
 
Get yourself any of the more robust lathes with bar/tubular beds such as the Record CL3-4 series.

You could then reduce the bed length to whatever you desire, either by hand with a hacksaw or find a local member who has a metal cutting bandsaw to make life easier.
 
I would second Blister's recommendation of either the Killinger 1400SE or the Wivamac DB801/2.

Probably the two best lathes of their size on the market. The Killinger is virtually the same configuration as the Vicmarc VL175 but with a shorter bed and a fully swivelling head. Also a lot cheaper.

Both meet your requirements and are very well made.

They were the top two on my list when I was looking for a new lathe and I decided on the Killinger as it suited my purposes perfectly. With its swivelling head and an outboard rest I'm not bothered about the smaller swing over the bed. Almost everything I turn is with the head swivelled out anyway as it is so much easier on the back (unless it is spindle work between centres in which case a large swing is not normally needed).

Toolpost is not far from you so the first thing to do is go and have a look at the Wivamac. It has a greater swing over the bed than the Killinger and also the head slides along the bed offering additional flexibility. Its main drawback from my point of view is the design of the outboard rest which is fixed to the bed and doesn't swing out of the way which was one of the reasons I went for the Killinger.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I don't think I fancy taking a hacksaw to a new lathe except as a last resort.

The killinger looks ideal and just about fits into the 4 foot footprint I wanted. I had seen the site before and bookmarked it, but couldn't find out much more about it.

I also went to toolpost for their open day but it was to busy to actually see all that much ( I need to get close ) the thing that bothered me there was the price, which is similar ( or higher ) to Killinger and Nova but does not include VAT. That will be a heafty extra dollop :)

Fitting a speed genie to the 1624 sounds like an idea..... but I wonder if the flexing associated with the XP is here as well ? is the 1624 the same base machine as the XP ? .... the flexing is just something I read in a post on here, not sure how serious it is.
 
Grahamshed":11f2ensl said:
..I don't think I fancy taking a hacksaw to a new lathe except as a last resort.......


Does it have to be a new lathe ? there is a big price differential if you consider a pre-owned unit and as the supporting tooling and good personal safety equipment can be as much again as an initial new lathe purchase it could well be an option worth considering.
 
I have a Coronet major that I will be advertising shortly with many many extras, swing head. 33" bed but I could swap that for a 2ft bed if you really want, planer and sawtable, plus morticer, long hole boring attachment, sanding disc and spindle molder all in one PM me for photos and more details
 
Grahamshed":55vd3zs8 said:
The killinger looks ideal and just about fits into the 4 foot footprint I wanted. I had seen the site before and bookmarked it, but couldn't find out much more about it.
Give Phil Irons (the distributor) a call and pay him a visit, he's only 50ish miles from you. Or ask if there's anyone near you with one that you could have a look at. I'm in Herts which as a fair trek for you otherwise I'd be happy to show you mine.

Don't buy a lathe without at least seeing it. I had several on my list until I actually saw them and they were quickly eliminated for their disappointing manufacturing quality.
 
`Short bed graduate ? - theres loads of em on the 2nd hand market.
 
This is likely to be my one and only lathe purchase ( I hope ) and my natural instinct says to go new rather than second hand, if only because I wouldn't really know what I was looking at. :)

Myturn - you have said in other posts that you ordered your Killinger at ally pally and were awaiting its arrival.... It it usual to have to wait weeks for it to come. Do the retailers not carry them in stock ? I ask simply because that means you cannot get to see the actual lathe you are buying, if it turns out to have faults ( like the 1624s I have read about on here ) it would be more weeks to get it replaced.
 
Grahamshed":2yn415q0 said:
This is likely to be my one and only lathe purchase ( I hope ) and my natural instinct says to go new rather than second hand, if only because I wouldn't really know what I was looking at. :)

Myturn - you have said in other posts that you ordered your Killinger at ally pally and were awaiting its arrival.... It it usual to have to wait weeks for it to come. Do the retailers not carry them in stock ? I ask simply because that means you cannot get to see the actual lathe you are buying, if it turns out to have faults ( like the 1624s I have read about on here ) it would be more weeks to get it replaced.

If my memory is correct , Myturn saw the lathe at the Ally Pally show 17 months ago , just as Phil Irons was becoming a dealer for them

Have you phoned Phil Irons yet ? He probable has them in stock now

Also this is for sale on Preloved web site http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/ ... lathe.html

Maybe a tab over priced and he does say chucks available , so would be more money
 
Graham as far as i know Phil Irons is the only person i know selling the Killinger lathe in the UK.
Last time i spoke to him he did have the one Myturn mentions in his new workshop,and i'm sure if you give hime a ring he will let you go along and have a play with it before you order if you like it.
It is very similar to the Vicmarc VL175,cracking lathe :wink: which Phil also used to sell but stopped because of the Aussie dollar exchange rate.
 
Hi Graham.
I wouldn`t get too hung up on the lathe having a longer bed,as opposed to a short one, unless available space is decisive factor.
You say you are new to the hobby. I`d suggest you can`t be sure what you might want to turn as you gain experience. Even if you only wanted to turn a longer item occasionally, with a short bed lathe you`d be snookered. You are also limiting your available options quite a bit too, as you have discovered.

I think Chas`s suggestion is a good one. If you don`t fancy the idea of cutting the bed bars, you could have a short set made up for you, and then you`d have the original, longer ones available for that occasional, one-off job.

Ian
 
hi graham
as you say your instinct is to go for a new lathe - dont lose sight of the fact that there are numerous companys (newton tessla / haydock converters / drives direct etc ) supplying motor / inverter packages prewired and as it is very easy to change a motor you could satisfy your preferences for adding a 3 phase inverter speed control and your choice of increasing power for the motor.
best of luck
cheers
paul-c
 
paul-c":18tws7tw said:
hi graham
as you say your instinct is to go for a new lathe - dont lose sight of the fact that there are numerous companys (newton tessla / haydock converters / drives direct etc ) supplying motor / inverter packages prewired and as it is very easy to change a motor you could satisfy your preferences for adding a 3 phase inverter speed control and your choice of increasing power for the motor.
best of luck
cheers
paul-c

Yes, I said above that doing this to the Nova 1624 is an appealing idea but I am wondering what, if any, affect this would have on the guarantee. I am also concerned with possible quality control issues with the newer Nova lathes.

I am currently being tempted by the Wivamac 801. It is VAT dearer than others I am considering but has a definate advantage ( I think ) of the importer ( Toolpost ) being only 4 miles down the road from me.


Why can I never take up a hobby where equipment choice is easy ? :)
 
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