Well Shoot!! Now what?

[DSallee]

Hey all,

Well as of a few weeks ago I had my heart set on getting the Jet Mini Lathe in the next week or two.... (my very first lathe )

NOW! I get this Grizzly catalog in the mail and thumb to the lathes to see what they have... and wouldn't you know it, they have the Grizzly G0624 http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0624 for about the same price! So now I'm stuck!

Do I go with the Grizzly 10" cast iron or the Jet mini ????

I also noticed they have some cheaper ones from 149.00 to 169.00 but they have the MT #1 spindle.... is the MT #2 better??

Help me decide!!

Oh, BTW... I'm "thinking" I will be doing mostly pens and such.... not sure about the bowls and larger items.... but... who knows....

Dave

 

[BrentK]

Wow that grizly looks alot like my turncrafter pro vs from penn state ind.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The two bottom of the line Grizzly lathes do not look worth considering, IMHO. But, from there up, the new line of smaller lathes seem to be serious machines. I'm on my second Grizzly full-sized lathe, upgraded a couple months ago, and have nothing but good to say about them.
I know I'll get flak on this, always do. This forum often gives the appearance of being a worship and praise center for Jet minis.

 

[alamocdc]

Jet mini. If you want a 10" you may still be able to find some good deals on a 10" Jet. And get the variable speed. I love my Delta Midi (10") but it's older and the quality has slipped as I understand it, or I'd be recommending it.

 

[wdcav1952]

Definitely do not get the $149 Grizzly model. A friend of mine got one and has had nothing but trouble. That is the only one I have seen used, so I can't comment on the other one. I have a MT1 and a MT2 lathe. I would recommend the MT2 as it will use the same accessories as the larger lathe you will want in a year or two.

 

[ed4copies]

Originally posted by Rifleman1776

The two bottom of the line Grizzly lathes do not look worth considering, IMHO. But, from there up, the new line of smaller lathes seem to be serious machines. I'm on my second Grizzly full-sized lathe, upgraded a couple months ago, and have nothing but good to say about them.
I know I'll get flak on this, always do. This forum often gives the appearance of being a worship and praise center for Jet minis.

god is dead, the jet mini took over.

DIDN'T YOU GET THE MEMO, FRANK?????

(I have 2 Jet minis, like them both)

 

[gerryr]

MT1 accessories are much harder to find than MT2.

 

[LabTrnr]

Here's another vote for the Jet, I have the 1220 and it's been a great lathe. Remember, you get what you pay for.

 

[stevers]

Jet




Jet




Jet

 

[turned_for_good]

Nothing wrong with a good Grizley lathe but I LOVE my Jet mini VS.

 

[redfishsc]

Originally posted by ed4copies

god is dead, the jet mini took over.

DIDN'T YOU GET THE MEMO, FRANK?????

(I have 2 Jet minis, like them both)

Hmm, that's funny, we have studied God all semester in Systematic Theology and haven't even mentioned his funeral, and my Bible still says "In the beginning, God...." [)]

(for those who don't know Ed, he's big enough to take some abuse on the forum[}])





BTW, on the Grizzly, I'd spend the extra cash and get the 12" version-- it has an outboard turning option and comes with a 3/4 horse motor which will be handy if you do any bowl turning (assume that you will, not that you won't[]). Here is the link.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-20-Heavy-Duty-Bench-Top-Wood-Lathe/G0658

 

[MobilMan]

I'm new to this forum but my old g1495 is quite a machine. If you can afford a little more, look at the G0584. You may as well get a larger one cause I;ll bet you'll get into bowls, etc. & it has the swivel head and is just a few bucks moer than a mini. Also check out the H6266 chuck. They're 10 bucks higher now than when I got mine but they are ONE NICE chuck [with indexing]. I've also got a Jet mini & like it, but if you'll check out a few of these forums & the one in Australia, there seems to be a rash of problems with the Jet. If I were to buy a new lathe, Grizzly here I come. I think they are the largest mfgr of machinery in the world. What keeps their prices down is no inbetween profits. From them to you.

 

[DSallee]

Thanks everyone for their input...

After reading the posts mostly for the Jet... I'm gonna go with my first thought and get the Jet...

Thanks again
Dave

 

[RonInSpringTX]

Jet mini VS is the way to go!! trust me!!

 

[monkeynutz]

This is the kind of problem you want to have. Better to have two or more good choices than none, methinks.

 

[karlkuehn]

To throw a monkey wrench in the works and possibly start a holy war, I took my Jet mini back and got a Rikon after having serious problems with the head stock morse taper - is wasn't milled correctly, and the problem went across the other Jets that they had at Woodcraft. I loved everything about the Jet except for the fact that I couldn't use it. heh

If you can, when you're looking at lathes, make sure you get your hands on a long morse taper accessory, stick it in the headstock and spin the handwheel with the tool rest a paper's thickness away from the accessory, checking for wobble. If there's any play in there at all, it will be magnified at the tailstock end, resulting in everything being out of round. The short tapered stuff, like the spur drive that comes with it, didn't register much wobble at all, just the longer things. For me, it was the sweet adjustable mandrels that Bill at AS sells. They have pretty long tapers, and they reach back far enough in the hole to find the mistake. Actually, the taper wouldn't even seat in a couple of the machines. When I checked it against the Rikon mini at WC, the Rikon ran straight as an arrow. Aside from the easier belt changing on the Rikon, however, I liked the whole feel of the Jet better.

There's a known problem with some of the Jet headstock tapers, and it only seems to have shown up on the newer machines with the indexing heads. I'm not sure how widespread it is, but two Woodcrafts on the east coast here saw it across multiple machines in the stores. Just a heads up.

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by redfishsc

Originally posted by ed4copies

god is dead, the jet mini took over.

DIDN'T YOU GET THE MEMO, FRANK?????

(I have 2 Jet minis, like them both)

Hmm, that's funny, we have studied God all semester in Systematic Theology and haven't even mentioned his funeral, and my Bible still says "In the beginning, God...." [)]

(for those who don't know Ed, he's big enough to take some abuse on the forum[}])





BTW, on the Grizzly, I'd spend the extra cash and get the 12" version-- it has an outboard turning option and comes with a 3/4 horse motor which will be handy if you do any bowl turning (assume that you will, not that you won't[]). Here is the link.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-20-Heavy-Duty-Bench-Top-Wood-Lathe/G0658

I'm confused Matt. What version of the Bible inserts the comma after the word beginning? Don't worry Ed, I've got your back!

 

[alamocdc]

Originally posted by karlkuehn

If you can, when you're looking at lathes, make sure you get your hands on a long morse taper accessory, stick it in the headstock and spin the handwheel with the tool rest a paper's thickness away from the accessory, checking for wobble. If there's any play in there at all, it will be magnified at the tailstock end, resulting in everything being out of round. The short tapered stuff, like the spur drive that comes with it, didn't register much wobble at all, just the longer things.

My Delta midi won't take the longer MT2 stock either. Like the Jet, it isn't that they were machined incorrectly, they just weren't machined to accept "all" MT2 adapters. I recently discovered this when I ordered a new 60 degree dead center for mine. It was the longer variety and wouldn't seat properly. The solution for me was easy. I ground about 1/8" off the back of the center and it now fits perfectly. Granted, it's nice to not have to worry about such modifications, but it beats throwing the baby out with the bath water.

 

[redfishsc]

I'm confused Matt. What version of the Bible inserts the comma after the word beginning? Don't worry Ed, I've got your back!

Glad to help with your confusion, there Cav. See the English Standard Version (ESV). A good translation, very literal (commas and all!).

Link to that version online if'n you need proof:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 1&version=47







In regards to longer MT2's not fitting properly, I had the EXACT same problem with my Delta. I replaced the spindle shaft a couple years ago and the new shaft apparently doesn't accept longer MT2's. No problem, however, it's nothing a fat drill bit in the headstock couldn't handle. I don't remember what size drill bit I used, but I remember that I did ream out the rear part of the spindle taper well enough that now that any MT2 fits well.

 

[nwcatman]

question: does a grizzly crap in the woods?
answer: yes, cause thats what they're made like

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by alamocdc
Like the Jet, it isn't that they were machined incorrectly, they just weren't machined to accept "all" MT2 adapters....

Actually, the 3 Jets that we looked at at WC weren't machined properly, not sure what the Delta's issues are. The hole was plenty deep, but wonky from front to back. Even the short tapers wobbled, but it was almost undetectable unless you moved the tool rest up and smooshed a piece of paper in there, then you could see it. The long tapers were horrible.

Looking in the end and spinning the hand wheel, you could see the through hole at the very end ran true, but the milled taper was wobbling around it. When I first noticed it, it was after I bought my drill chuck. It came with a long taper, and I thought it was the chuck's problem, so the first order of business was to grind down the back of the taper on the chuck, which almost fixed it, but it never ran quite true. After I got the mandrel from Bill is when I started looking at the lathe.

When I look in the end of all three of my lathes here, they all run true front to back, both the back of the taper and the through hole.

The tapers on the Jet weren't milled exactly perpendicular to the back of the spindle. Hopefully they've fixed it by now. There were 2 machines up north at a Woodcraft in Connecticut with the same problem. I think it was Mudder that told me about them.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by nwcatman

question: does a grizzly crap in the woods?
answer: yes, cause thats what they're made like

That claim is based on what first hand knowledge?

 

[donald19]

Jet VS Jet VS
Jet VS Jet VS
Jet VS Jet VS
Jet VS Jet VS

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=20138

And Free Shipping
That's where I got mine and you can use the Bill Me Later
Prior to that I had a delta and the Head and tail stock was out by an eighth on an inch. As a newby that didn't dawn on me until I figured out I was out of round (wabble on the end of the mandrel) turning pens NOT GOOD

Now Thinking of using Delta for polishing and buffing unit.(An expensive I might add)

Don