I currently have a Delta Steel Bed 16″ lathe, which works very well. My wife however, has decided that she wants larger pieces, so I am looking for a new lathe. I am fairly new to woodturning, so I would like some advice on which lathe would work well with turning pieces 24-36″. Of course, cost is a concern, but more important is the functionality and overall ease of use, ngine size, accessories, etc.
Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks.
– lee –
Replies
Lee -
From what little research I did before buying my current lathe (Powermatic 4224) there doesn't seem to be too much between the reasonably priced 'benchtop' midi lathes like you have and the 'big' ones. The price difference is rather dramatic.
I looked at the General which would have fit the bill for me except (1) there was no local dealer (I prefer to buy from someone whith whom I can make eye contact) and (2) at the time, General didn't have an electronically controlled variable speed machine. This latter feature was something I insisted on.
The Powermatic is not the most expensive lathe on the market but is one of the heaviest. Weight is an important matter when turning large unbalanced rough pieces. The tailstock quill has the longest travel of any I looked at, important to me for boring deep clearance holes when doing deep turned hollow pieces. It has three speed ranges with electronically controlled 3phase 3hp motor with digital speed readout. I have the fixed headstock rather than the rotating one; the first Delta lathe I had had a rotating headstock and was difficult to alighn the headstock spindle with the tailstock quill when/if I ever used the rotating head other than for between center turning.
Do you do mostly spindle turning or bowls/faceplate stuff?
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Dennis,
Sorry I did not explain. I have the new Delta Steel Bed. It is a floor model and weighs almost #400, and the price was certainly up there. I almost bought the powermatic, but couldn't see enough difference in functionallity to justify the extra $500. Mine is plenty heavy and I really like the 2 HP variable control motor. In looking for bigger lathe, the big motor, heavy weight and variable controls will be a must.
I turn mostly bowls/faceplate stuff and am looking for a lathe capable of turning 24-36" diameter bowls.
Thanks.
- lee -
Is your lathe capable of doing outboard turnings? That and some bags of sand should let you turn 36" bowls no problem. I'm not familiar with your lathe, but would it be possible to fabricate some risers for the headstock and tailstock to give you the extra swing. If you decide to do this make sure your lathe can handle the added stress of the bigger work pieces. A bowl lathe might also be the answer to your problems, although I don't know if you want to replace your lathe or add another one to your shop.
One final option is to look for a used turret lathe. They used to be used in production machining before CNC came along. From what I've heard they can go quite cheap, and some guys have converted them into woodworking lathes. They are very heavy (several tons), and some are huge (over 60" swing) which makes them ideal for large bowls, if you have the space and can move it into your shop.
Andrew
Andrew,
Yes, I can slide the headstock down and do outboard turnings, so that is one option. My only concern with this is keping the piece centered, as well as getting a toolrest for turning. Can you recommend an outboard tool rest company?
Can you give me more of an explanation on how to raise the headstock and tail stock? That sounds like a fairly cheap way to go that might work well.
Thanks.
- lee -
LT,
I have the same lathe and ther is no reason why you cannot turn some big@ss pieces if you weght the lathe down. Also did you know that you can reverse the headstock instead of moving it all the way to the tailstock end. The lathe as you know has a reversing motor so you can still turn in the direction you want to.. As to the toolrest just get your self some 2 inch black iron pipe, a couple of elbows and a couple of flange mounts and make up your own toorest. Then mount it to something solid like an old truck wheel or a couple of 6 x6''s and Viola you are ready to turn. The lathe has brackets on the base for placing a plank and then weighting it. About 5-6 hundred pounds of sandbags ought to do the trick. Good luck
mark
Mark,
When you say reversing the headstock, are you talking about taking the headstock off, and turning it around? That bad boy is heavy, so sliding it would be better for me. Do you have any pictures of the outboard toolrest you are talking about?
Thanks for the other advice.
- lee -
Hello All
I belive if you want the best lathe on the market, and big is your goal why not try the conover lathe. its heavy, you can go as long as you want (you use your wood for the bed) it has ample power.... its a great lathe!!!
you owe it to your self to check it out.
sincerly. C.A.G.
CAG,
Website?
- lee -
Curtis-- I believe that the Conover lathe is no longer in production. I was ready to buy one last year, but was informed by the manufacturer that they had stopped making them. I even called them to see if they had one left that I could buy --no such luck! I'm now again trying to decide what lathe to buy. My top choice right now is the new Jet 1642 lathe. It has an available 20" bed extension for us spindle turners!All I need to do is save my pennies again; I spent the money I had put aside for the Conover on other tools<G>
I have a smaller Delta lathe, but am not a turner. However, that said, I found interesting (in the catalogue only) the WoodTek lathe, introduced maybe a year ago. It looks to be well made and heavy and individually configurable. This is a Woodworkers Supply brand name, imported I am sure. I haven't ever seen a comment on this machine in this forum. Perhaps noone has one.
s4s-- Ive seen that machine also in their catalog. Just don't know enough about to make any judgement on it. I do turn, although its mostly spindle work. I'm more interested in a longer lathe than i am in the diameter it can handle.
Hello GUYS
I hope not!?. Ernie Conover gone belly up? Thats news to me.
I dont care what anyone says its the best on the market.the head can be turned for realy big bowls.I turned a 15' mast for a small sailboad,you just cant do that on big D. or GR.
I will also check out there web. to find out whats up!
the conoverlathe web site is http://www.conoverlathe.com at least thats what it was.
if not try a surchengen like Yahoo or excite.
Good luck. C.A.G.
UGG!!! IT LOOKS LIKE ITS TRUE!
Perhaps Ebay.
like I said it WAS the best.
The one trueism is that everything that lives must Die.
good luck in you quest for a good lathe.
sincerly. C.A.G.
Curtis,
FYI , Ernie sold his lathe business a long time ago to another company who manufactured and marketed it under the name of the Conover lathe. Ernie is still giving classes on a regular basis. Also while he has nine lathes in his shop he usually turns on a nova lathe. I personally belive the One-way lathe is the best on the market but it is also probably the most expensive. Ernie has made the statement that the only thing wrong with the One-way is that he (Ernie) didn't invent it. Nothing against the Conover lathe as I considered buying one myself.
Mark
Thank you Mark.
No need to reply to my last post; I read on in the discussion and got my answer. Too bad. I should have bught one long ago. Thanks.
Hello Curtis,
First time doing this so bear with me. I am looking for the conover lathe on-line but cannot find a site. Does anyone distribute this machine or do I buy direct? The Company is mentioned in a UK web site, but when you click the link you get a dead end.
Lt.
Yes I was talking about flipping the headstock around however you can slide it to the tailstock end and accomplish the same thing. I will try to get you some pictures of my toolrest in the next few days.
Mark
Lee, as long as you use a chuck, you shouldn't have a problem keeping the work centered.
As for the risers I've never seen your lathe in person so I can only guess on how to do this. On my lathe (General 160) you can buy cast iron riser blocks and to install them you simply slip them under the headstock and tailstock and bolt everything back together. Now for your lathe I'm guessing that some riser blocks could be fabricated from some heavy steel plate welded together and then have them milled so the top and bottom are parallel and fit on the lathe bed. You would also need to drill and tap some new bolt holes to hold everything together. If you do this be sure to add lots, and I mean lots of weight to the lathe (at least 1000 lbs, because you probably already know what happens when you start spinning an unbalanced chunk of wood. Especially with the size of bowls you want to turn, it could literally shake the lathe apart, or fly off and crush you.
Andrew
Thanks. Certainly something to give some thought to. I think if I can find a good outboard tool rest, or how to build one, this may be the best without re-engineer the lathe. And yes, I am working on the sand bags. This lathe actually has hollow legs to allow for sand filling. I will just have to figure out how much sand weight the legs will hold.
Another question. How about bolting the lathe to the floor? Wouldn't this give a huge amount of support, that might actually be more secure than sand bags. I don't see any comments about folks who do this anywhere. Is there a reason for this, other than making the lather somewhat permanent?
- lee -
I guess lots of home shop guys don't do this because they may want to move their lathe at some point in time, however, it's very common to see machines bolted to the floor in bigger shops when they want the machine to stay put and won't be moving it around. If you don't plan on moving the lathe in the near future, then bolt it down. It really makes a difference . I would also fill the legs with sand though, as that will absorb vibration as well.
Lee -
If you have the 'big' Delta, you should be able to do outboard turning off the back end of the headstock assuming the motor will run in reverse. While that's not a necessity, at least you wouldn't have to worry about the faceplate coming unscrewed without a setscrew in place to hold it on. That's also assuming the headstock spindle is threaded on the outboard side. (I don't know from nothing about what your lathe offers but on the Powermatic, the handwheel unscrews and you can thread a faceplate on in its place).
You'd need to rig up either a floor mounted toolrest or have a bed extension however for the size you're looking to turn, the bed extension off the back would be in the way same as the regular bed is.
The Powermatic weighs in at over 1,000lbs (shipping wt). It came all assembled (I bought a floor model at the last Seattle WW show) and had to build a hoist to unload it from my car trailer! Then using some 3" pipe and a couple strong kids we rolled it to where it sits. Had to use a car jack/hoist to lift it up off the packing skid.
I've put some horrendously large pieces on the thing and while I *have* been able to generate some vibration, it's stayed pretty much where I put it!! (grin)
Like I say, I don't know much about the bigger Delta lathes other than what I've read on their web site. But it should offer the ability to turn larger pieces off the outboard side of the headstock.
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Lee,
I bought the big Grizzly lathe (the G1495, a 42", I believe and on sale for $695) for its weight and stability. Since I was making a large oak kitchen table, I also bought the Vega 36" Pro lathe duplicator (cost more then the lathe). I could not be happier with the lathe (and the Vega duplicator). The big Grizzly is heavy, stable and solid with a continuously variable 3/4 HP motor (I think). I did have to align it a little, but that I expected from Grizzly. I would highly recommend this route since the castings for this size lathe are all the same as the more expensive brand names. So far the 3/4 HP motor has been fine. I have turned a number of oak legs that are 8" diameter with no problem, but ytou can also put in a new motor if necessary and still come out well below other brands. Hope this helps.
Charles
Charles,
Thanks, but my wife has me way past this already. i am looking to do bowl/faceplate turning.
- lee -
The big Grizzly has a bowl attachment and tool holder off the end of the lathe. Using that you can turn quite large stuff. That end of the lathe also has a disk and table so it isd also an 8" disk sander. I use that quite a bit. The only problem for you may be the motor power.
Good luck,
Charles
Take a look at the VB36 lathe on the hegner website http://www.hegner.co.uk I was at the Worshipful Company of Turners 400th anniversary in London in 2004 and saw a 36 inch Wassail bowl that had been turned on it.Big enough for the grand master to sit in for the Lord Mayors parade. IMHO it is the ideal bowl lathe.Another way is build your own I saw one made with a truck drive shaft and a 3000 lb 5ft + burl on it .The gouges were 5-7 ft long
If you need a really powerfull lathe take a look at one of the back issues of finehome building (don't remember the issue) this guy wanted to turn some really big collum bases so he jacked up his truck and took the rear tire off and mounted a faceplate to the wheel hub and used set up a tool rest and turned his work that way. He was able to change the speeds by shifting the transmission also. Plenty of horse power. I'm not so sure about osha approval though.Troy
Lee, I don't know how I missed seeing this, but if you have not made your move up, I may be able to help you. I have a lot / most of the parts to build another monumental lathe, although one of my former students / friends called me yesterday about the same subject.
I think he will take my offer to help, but if he doesn't let me know, I have built what your wife thinks you need, X 2, and would like to see it used. Mine weighs 3000# and is solid as a rock. My experience of building my own and having extra parts would make the next one a little more refined from the benefit of hindsight. I also have a friend whom I consider a genius with a machine shop that can do anything that I can conceive without even consulting a reference source.
I can turn 7 ft. diameter if I could find suitable wood around here. Let me know if you are interested. K
Keith,
I did make the move up to a Oneway. However in 2-4 months I am moving into a new home with over 1500 ft for just my shop. I do want a heavier lathe which is capable of turning HUGE stuff. If your friend is not interested, let me know. Where are you located?
- lee -
I am in Little Rock Ar. I will let you know if Tony doesn't take it, and use your interest to try to speed him along. Later K
Lee,I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but I noticed you said you were going to "move up" from your Oneway. Can I ask which size/hp you have and what you are considering moving up to? I have a patron (my mother) who has offered to buy me a lathe for the upcoming holidays on the condition she can come and play on it. How could one go wrong with an offer like that?I am looking at the 2036, but am unsure what hp to go for. I see doing more bowl than spindle turning, and realistically can't see doing much larger than 30" bowls or platters, but then again who knows where the bug will take you. Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.Thanks,Andy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
Andy, If you think you will be going up that large, you will need all that you can get, and that won't be enough for that large. Just go with the largest that they offer.From my experience, with my old lathe, I could stall a 3 hp 3 ph motor with normal cutting speed on a 16" diameter, although I may have been getting belt-slip.
Andy and Keith,
What I find the most interesting about this chain is that I started it over a year ago!
So, to answer and comment. I had a Delta Steelbed 2HP. It had a 16" swing. I moved up to the Oneway 2436 3HP (24" swing) which has more than enough to do most. If the torque is set correctly, I have yet to stall it out. I most turn Aussie Burls which are very dense (translate to concrete blocks). I also purchased the outboard attachment which should givbe me a 48" swing. I haven't used this yet and it may be enough.
So, the new shop with all of its room will have the Oneway bolted to the floor, with lead in the lathe to further stabilize. I may not need another lathe, but since someone is offering.........I can never have too many tools.
- lee -
Lee Tree, the Oneway 2036 is a great unit, I agree. I filled mine with sand for even more weight and dampening....worked like a charm.
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