ShopFox W1704 lathe review

[Dario]

Anyone used or heard about this lathe? If you know any site with reviews...I'd love to see it.

It is VS and only $107.10 at timberline and I am thinking of getting one...not bad for a pen lathe I think.

Here are the specs

W1704 - Bench-Top Wood Lathe

Ideal for pen turning and small project turning, this Bench-top Wood Lathe with cast-iron construction and infinitely variable speed control offers the precision pen turners demand. Includes safety paddle switch, MT #1 spur center, MT #1 live center, 4-1/4" and 7" tool rests, 5-3/4" face plate and 3/4" x 16 TPI RH spindle.

SPECIFICATIONS:
Variable speed motor
1/3 HP, 2 Amp, 120V, 60HZ
700-3,200 RPM spindle speed
12" Distance between centers
8" Swing over bed
Weighs 45 lbs.

The biggest drawback for me is the MT1 driver [V]...that is why Jet mini is still very much in contention despite the price difference.

I appreciate any input.

 

[alamocdc]

Dario, it looks like a Wilton. It also looks like a TCplus.

 

[Paul in OKC]

Dario, I have not used one personally, but know a couple of friends that bought one. It is not very heavy duty, but it does good for pens. This one guy and his son had one and the son was pretty rough on it and it held up to him!!

 

[DWK5150]

Just about exactly the same as a wilton which I have. Pens and stoppers my wilton works perfectly.

 

[mrcook4570]

I may be wrong on this, but I believe ShopFox is associated with Grizzly.

Some of you may get mad at me for what I'm about to say, but, when compared to a Jet, the Wilton is a POS. I know, Wilton owns Jet. Last year, I was in the market for a second lathe for traveling, so I opted for the $99 Wilton from Amazon with free shipping. What a disappointment. Headstock/tailstock alignment was off by 1/4", banjo rarely would stay locked down, toolrest was very rough and range of adjustment was too high, no handwheel (so I used the 2" faceplate as a substitute). The overall quality of my Wilton was far below that of the Jet mini. So now, the Jet mini is my travel lathe with a Jet 1442 stationary in the shop.

Oh, and those tool rest specs look similar to the Wilton's. The 7" rest was too long for penturning and the 4-1/4" rest had to be adjusted laterally during turning.

I am very stubborn and it took a long time for me to learn this, but with most tools, you get what you pay for. I'm not saying the ShopFox is a bad deal...it may be a great machine. I don't know. But, in the economical range, my money will go to Jet. At least until I quit buying everything else and start saving for a Oneway [^]

 

[TomServo]

Dario: looks pretty okay. I've been eyeing the turncrafter pro midi myself - I want something with a bit more swing than I've got. It looks fairly hefty. What I'd really like is a 14x18 or something equally nonexistant.

Maybe we need a tool reviews forum? Somewhere to post impressions, specs, compare notes without getting into usage. I know there's members with the TCP lathe, probably someone has this shop fox you're looking at.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Hey guys---I bought a Shop Fox W1704 a few weeks back. Just started using it this week. I'm very happy with it thus far!! I think it is very similar to some of the other small lathes, but I also think it is finished much nicer than most (the threads for a chuck at the headstock are very nicely finished where the Grizzly's were a little rough). It does look to me very similar to the Wilton, the TCL Plus from PSI, the mini I think it's Micro Mini Tools has, and probably others. All my tooling is MT1, so this purchase made sense for me. Prior to the Shop Fox I've had a Mini Grizzly. It's lasted me a couple years and has been a faithful little machine but, I wasn't happy with some of it's features since the Grizzly had no through headstock or tailstock so removing tooling could be a problem. The Shop Fox does have a through headstock & tailstock which makes it very easy to remove tooling. I still have the Grizzly and will fix it when I have the funds (the variable speed electronics needs replacing now, although it does still work). It would seem logical to me that it may be related to Grizzly (anyone know this for sure?). It's actually a company called Woodstock International, Inc. in Bellingham, WA (where a Grizzly is located) that distributes the Shop Fox. They sell through dealers---and I was able to have my local hardware store order one for me, and I paid $129. The price of $107.10 sounds like a bargain. Oh, also the Shop Fox does have a 2 year warranty, which I thought was pretty good.

 

[Dario]

As a matter of fact...ShopFox and Grizzly are sister companies (as Powermatic is to Jet).

I think ShopFox is geared more towards the industrial end.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[low_48]

I don't know about that Dario. I thought Shop Fox was either on the lower end, or just a way for Grizzly to market some of their machinery to other retailers. Grizzly has introduced a tremendous line of industrial machinery. Only the small equipment is sold as Shop Fox.

 

[Tom McMillan]

I wouldn't classify Shop Fox as "the lower end". I have their drill press/oscillating sander also and it's a great tool. You may be right about using it as a way to sell some things to other retailers. Also, the little Shop Fox mini lathe I have now, is much better designed than the Grizzly mini lathe I've had for over 2 years now and the same as Grizzly still sells. I do think most of Grizzly's tools are very good though. And they carry a lot of larger tools too---you can see their things at: www.shopfox.biz

 

[Ron Mc]

I'm not trying to hijack this thread but I have a question. Do you think this lathe would work as a dedicated lathe for a Lathe Wizard?

 

[Tom McMillan]

I don't know Ron. Looks like the smaller lathe wizard says it is 20 inches---not sure if you need that long to attach it? My bed on my Shop Fox is 19 3/4" total length. Looks like the Lathe Wizard is no longer available---didn't see it at Beall's site. If you have one you can send it to me and I'll check it out for ya!![]