Sherline Lathe and HUT Carriage Control System....

[bgray]

I'm considering buying the Sherline lathe with Hut's carriage control system.

http://www.hutproducts.com/lathes9.html

I'm curious if anyone uses or has used the carriage control system that they sell with this this lathe.

It seems to me that the lever could give you a lot of leverage that you may not want. A little movement of that handle could transfer a lot of movement on the carriage that might make your final pass a little uneven or rough. I'm sure that could be sanded out with no problem. I'm just worried about how a twitchy hand could possibly cause a blank to blow out on the final pass.

Any experience with this setup?

By the way, I'm also finding the need more and more to do machining. As far as I can tell, tabletop machining is unrivaled by Sherline products...another reason for picking up this lathe.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[gerryr]

For the cost of this puppy, you can get a Rikon VS AND some really good high end tools and probably still have money left over.

 

[jscola]

I was just at the woodcraft store in sterling hgts. michigan & they have the jet mini lathe ( not the variable speed model) but the price is $269.99 and you also get a nova chuck with it & a $25.00 rebate from the factory. I dont know if all the woodcraft store are offering that deal or just the mi one. It's not a bad deal for that lathe.

 

[low_48]

You just can't get a quality finish with duplicators or this controller. The cut is too much like scraping. I have a Vega duplicator on a Jet mini. It is good for roughing down acrylics, but that is about it for pen turning. Any professional set up like this uses a shearing cut that is done with profiled cutters, or has a shaft that runs the equivalent to a shaper head counterrotating against the spindle.

I do know of a turner that uses a duplicator because of a musclar disease. For him it is a God send. I also use my duplicator to set diameters on repetative small spindle work, but I have it mounted on the backside (with the cutter mounted upside down) and follow up with handwork to set the fine detail and get good surface finish.