new lathe arrived today

[andy43]

Well Santa arrived a little late, but glad its here now

 

[SteveF]

look like a nice new toy

santa must have decided u was good last year

Steve

 

[Wildman]

You must have been very, very good. The legs are reminiscent of the early Drummond and Myford treadle lathes.

 

[andy43]

Hi Steve, I must have been lol
Hi Wildman, it's the jet jwl-1442, I ordered it when it was on offer for £769, it's now shot back up to £1200
cheers
Andy

 

[Richard Findley]

Andy

The Jet 1442 was the lathe that took me from keen hobbyist to a full time professional. A really solid lathe with a good speed range, allowing you to turn a huge variety of work. With the bed extension you can turn up to 5ft long too, which is really handy at times - it also allows you to slide the tailstock well out of the way when not in use.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did with mine!

Richard

 

[themackay]

Looks good Im sure you will enjoy many hours turning on it.

 

[andy43]

Hi Richard
Thanks for the info on the extension, had a little play on it today and it really is a solid piece of machinery, quite a difference from my jet 1014, being left handed the swiveling head stock really does help. One thing i will have to do is raise it up a few inches ( being 6ft 5") its just a bit too low at the moment.
Cheers
Andy.

 

[=Adam=]

It looks great! I have got the big brother to this, the jet 1642 and I can vouch for the quality if these! I went from a record power cl3 to my jet and it is like night and day. The power, the precision and the quality are outstanding. The only thing I would say about mine is that it doesn't have the swiveling headstock, this means that bowl work can get a little bit awkward, luckily I have got enough room to be able to slide the head stock all the way to the end and use it end on (if that makes sense)

Anyway.... Enjoy it!

 

[Richard Findley]

At 6ft 5" you'll need to lift it quite a way! They seem to make lathes for little people for some reason! I'm 6ft and had to lift it quite a bit so don't be shy. The centres should be around elbow/heart height. As a guide, at 6ft I like my centres at 4ft.

Good luck

Richard

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Out of curiosity Richard....what lathe do you have now you're a professional?

 

[Richard Findley]

I now run a 1950 Wadkin RS8.

My problem was that after 5 or 6 years of pretty hard daily work, the Jet was beginnig to have a few wobbles (mostly bearings and speed change issues) which were minor but I knew if I carried on as I was it was going to end badly, so it went into retirement and I upgraded. The problem was the Jet actualy has pretty good specs: 5ft between centres, 13" over the bed, good speed range. To upgrade to a new lathe with better specs it would have cost me £5000 +. I found my old Wadkin on Ebay and it cost me £1450, delivered to my door! I now have 3/4 of a ton of cast iron that can take almost 6ft between centres and up to 29" with the gap bed removed, 16" standard.

Cheers

Richard

 

[andy43]

I now run a 1950 Wadkin RS8.

My problem was that after 5 or 6 years of pretty hard daily work, the Jet was beginnig to have a few wobbles (mostly bearings and speed change issues) which were minor but I knew if I carried on as I was it was going to end badly, so it went into retirement and I upgraded. The problem was the Jet actualy has pretty good specs: 5ft between centres, 13" over the bed, good speed range. To upgrade to a new lathe with better specs it would have cost me £5000 +. I found my old Wadkin on Ebay and it cost me £1450, delivered to my door! I now have 3/4 of a ton of cast iron that can take almost 6ft between centres and up to 29" with the gap bed removed, 16" standard.

Cheers

Richard

Now that's a monster of a lathe :mrgreen: I have done a bit of measuring and I have got to lift mine up a whopping 7" to get the height right for me, out of interest how often did you have to change the drive belt on the 1442?
Cheers
Andy

 

[Richard Findley]

I never did change it! It was beginning to look a bit tatty though!

7" doesn't surprise me at all. As long as you keep the base nice and stable though it should be fine.

Cheers

Richard

 

[=Adam=]

Richard,

Have you just fixed your timber risers to the floor and then screwed/bolted the lathe to those?

thanks

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Adam

At the moment (for the last 3 1/3 years...) the Wadkin has just sat on those laminated plywood pads, which in turn just sit on the floor. The lathe has moved a little but I managed to get it back in place. Bolting it to the pads is on my 'To do..' list. The old jet was fixed to wooden blocks which were themselves fixed to the ground with rawl bolts.

Richard

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

thanks Richard...she's a beauty alright