Hello IAP!

[turner.curtis]

Hey guys! I have been lurking for a month or so now and finally decided to signup after spending many hours reading the forums and taking notes trying to learn some new tricks and generally wanted to say thanks for the wealth of information the group has posted.

A bit about me... I am currently in Western PA and am turning out of the garage portion of my basement. I was introduced to pen turning about 2 years ago, but had not gotten the chance to get myself a lathe and outfitted to start turning, that is until this November when my wife and I were discussing Christmas presents. In our discussion Pens came up and as it turns out, no pun intended, my present albeit a bit early was a lathe and the needed accessories from PennState to get me setup for turning Slimline Pens.

The variable speed lathe that we initially purchased was the Harbor Freight 8x12. This was my first purchase of anything of substance from HF and have learned my lesson there... The motor died on it a few days ago, and with the issues I had with it and the reading done here, I convinced my wife to let me take advantage of the 6 months no interest deal on the Jet 1014VSI for 349.00 off Amazon, with the $3.99 next day shipping offer from Amazon Prime.

All that said, I look forward to interacting with the community and graciously welcome any tips, tricks, suggestions, or plain out advice.

Curtis

 

[snyiper]

Welcome to the fray!!! Get that lathe fixed and get the wife involved it makes things easier when you need kits or blanks....LOL

 

[ctubbs]

Fix the old lathe! Fix it now! When the better half works beside you, any expendatures will be much easier to convience her that they are needed.
Congratulations on having a wife that understands to begin with.
Welcome to the IAP from West Kentucky.
Charles

 

[edman2]

Welcome Curtis. Glad you joined up with this group. You will learn a bunch of stuff. Prowl through the Library also as you have the chance. You will like the Jet!

 

[turner.curtis]

Hey guys appreciate the welcome. I was looking to fix the HF lathe and was hoping that they would initially to be honest, but their support is horrible at best; at least from my experience. Fortunately I was inside their 30day policy so after fighting a bit, I got them to refund the purchase. What sucks is that I had already bought MT1 accessories that I am going to have to pawn off on ebay or give away at some point.

Speaking of the MT1 accessories, I purchased the Mandrel Saver figuring that it would help with some bowing of the mandrel, but on the HF lathe I was severly depressed with it. I could never get enough "bite" in adjusting the tail stock, thus my blocks always spun on me so I only really used it when finishing. What are your opinions on the Mandrel Saver and do you *think* I may have better luck with one on the Jet?

 

[ctubbs]

I use my saver just about anytime my mandrel is on the lathe. This is my second one, the first one was bad style. It relieves the stress on the mandrel by placing the pressure against the MT and not on the mandrel. Some folks hate them so it is a love - hate thing. My $0.02 today.
Charles

 

[Two Hair]

Welcome!

My .02cents on the mandrel saver. Bought one and I like it. Lathe jet 12/20VS.

I have learned a lot from this site and asked a question or two and got great advice.

 

[CaptG]

Welcome to the madness from Michigan.

 

[Padre]

Welcome to the addiction from Connecticut!

 

[bitshird]

Welcome aboard Curtis, You'll love your Jet, and HF does make one good wood lathe, it's the 12x 33-1/2 . we use one for turning tool handles and it get's a lot of use. You should be able to sell the MT1 things here in the classifieds, there are several lathes that use MT1 accessories and someone is always looking for something in MT1

 

[markgum]

welcome to the fun

 

[Jim15]

Welcome Curtis.

 

[turner.curtis]

well, my Jet 1014VSI just showed up. I have unpacked it and looked it over. Did not realize from the limited description I read that it was a mixed variable... Still 3 belt positions. Which thinking about is probably a good thing for the lathe as the motor is run in a smaller range and is more likely to be run in it's sweet spot of RPM and Torque no matter the headstock speed... The down side is having to open that little port and move the darn belt, should have read more and gone for the 1220 I guess.

Now Grandma always said do not say anything bad if you can not say something nice... The quality and craftsmanship of the Jet is far far above that of the HF. The tailstock and tool rest holder are much easier moved, even with the packing grease on the bed.

Well I guess I should get back down to the basement and get the electronics box mounted, it mounted to my bench, and make some wood chips...

 

[turner.curtis]

Figured I would follow up. Love the new Lathe thus far! with out experiencing it I would have been skeptical, but unless I am letting my male joy of a new tool fool me this thing makes turning so much easier and I get so much nicer of a cut with it than the HF. Now I just need to learn how to actually turn something really nice.

Here are the few from today... From Left to Right, Cherry, Hickory, Maple, Cedar, Sassafras all finished with 4 coats CA, 2 thin, 2 thick.

Sorry for the bad pic and the use of Styrofoam for a mount, I guess I need to get one of the acrylic deals I have seen some of you guys use.

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Welcome to the addiction - I second getting the wife involved!! I love this hobby and I have one of most everything that he has

On the mandrel thing - Turn between centers!! Otherwise can't really help you but just a side note there :biggrin:

Linda

 

[randyrls]

What sucks is that I had already bought MT1 accessories that I am going to have to pawn off on ebay or give away at some point.

Curtis; Welcome!!! The Jet 1014 is a good lathe for pens. You can get an MT2 to MT1 adapter sleeve to tide you over until you can get MT2 tooling.

Like this: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1193&category=

This can be used in the head stock certainly. Not sure if I'd use it in the tail stock; it might come loose at an inopportune moment!:frown:

In some operations you would want to use a draw bar to hold the tooling and keep it from coming loose.

 

[turner.curtis]

@Linda thanks for the welcome and the tip about turning between centers. I have been reading a bit on it the last couple days and will more than likely start gathering the needed tools to do so.

 

[steeler fan1]

Hi Curtis,

Welcome to the money pit:biggrin:. As you've already discovered, this is a great hobby and you've joined a great forum!

An aside, are you a native of western PA? I was born and raised in western PA but have been stuck here in the flatlands for the past 50 years. As you could guess from my screen name I'm a diehard STEELER fan. Blitzburg rocks:wink:.

Enjoy the site.
Carl

 

[JoeScroller]

Welcome! Best wishes from SouthEastern PA. Enjoy your new hobby and the forum!:star: