mudman
Established Member
- Joined
- 11 Feb 2004
- Messages
- 1,043
- Reaction score
- 145
Hello everyone.
Quite a while since I posted here. Due to one thing and another, but especially the fact that I have been working away from home for quite a while now, I haven't had the time for woodworking or turning and so it all sort of fell by the wayside.
Anyway, some of you may recall my trials and tribulations with my Axminster M950. I finally came to the conclusion that it just wasn't up to scratch with its various faults and it sort of took the joy out of woodturning for me. Finances meant that I had no chance of replacing it and this meant that it has sat in the workshop for quite some time now unused and definitely unloved.
Life seems to be dealing me a better hand recently and I'm starting a new job next week that will bring me back home, also I've come into an inheritance that means that I can now afford to replace the aforementioned hunk of junk with something much better. This time I want to buy a lathe that will last me for a very long time and as I want to remember the loved one that made this possible whilst I use it, it has to be the best that I can afford. So, I now have a strong aversion to buying anything manufactured in China and if possible I will avoid the results of their poor quality control and my luck that seems to divert the ones that slip through after being dropped straight to my workshop.
I'm leaning towards buying the Hegner HDB which is in my price range of up to approx. £3,000 but I wanted to ask if there are any limitations to the machine. I would always trust decent German engineering but I want to be sure that it will provide me with the facility to undertake a wide range of turning and allow me to go off into various woodturning directions as the whim takes me.
Also, are any other lathes I should be considering that are not sourced from China that are decent machines that will give me many years of trouble-free enjoyable turning?
Or, to put it simply. If you have a budget up to £3,000, what non-chinese lathe would you buy?
Many thanks in advance and hopefully I'll soon be participating in next years challenges.
Quite a while since I posted here. Due to one thing and another, but especially the fact that I have been working away from home for quite a while now, I haven't had the time for woodworking or turning and so it all sort of fell by the wayside.
Anyway, some of you may recall my trials and tribulations with my Axminster M950. I finally came to the conclusion that it just wasn't up to scratch with its various faults and it sort of took the joy out of woodturning for me. Finances meant that I had no chance of replacing it and this meant that it has sat in the workshop for quite some time now unused and definitely unloved.
Life seems to be dealing me a better hand recently and I'm starting a new job next week that will bring me back home, also I've come into an inheritance that means that I can now afford to replace the aforementioned hunk of junk with something much better. This time I want to buy a lathe that will last me for a very long time and as I want to remember the loved one that made this possible whilst I use it, it has to be the best that I can afford. So, I now have a strong aversion to buying anything manufactured in China and if possible I will avoid the results of their poor quality control and my luck that seems to divert the ones that slip through after being dropped straight to my workshop.
I'm leaning towards buying the Hegner HDB which is in my price range of up to approx. £3,000 but I wanted to ask if there are any limitations to the machine. I would always trust decent German engineering but I want to be sure that it will provide me with the facility to undertake a wide range of turning and allow me to go off into various woodturning directions as the whim takes me.
Also, are any other lathes I should be considering that are not sourced from China that are decent machines that will give me many years of trouble-free enjoyable turning?
Or, to put it simply. If you have a budget up to £3,000, what non-chinese lathe would you buy?
Many thanks in advance and hopefully I'll soon be participating in next years challenges.