New Lathe... this one was a no brainer!

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sbwertz

sbwertz

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Joined
May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
My little excelsior lathe failed this week. I think a bearing went. Since I have a whole list of things to make for Christmas, it was a bit of a crisis. So I hied me off to HF and bought their green version of the Jet 1236.

The jet is available at Amazon on sale for $899 (reg $1049). I bought the green version, on sale and with a 20% off coupon for $223. No brainer! Variable speed, rotating head, cast iron bed. Who in their right mind would pay for the Jet? I looked at the manuals for both, and they are virtually identical.

Sharon
 

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This isn't uncommon. One factory turns out tools that look identical except for color. The differences are the specs. Company A may specify that the runout is to within .001 whereas company B specifies that to within .003

As they make the parts and test them. Company A gets the ones that match their specs and everything else goes to Co B.

Sometimes the difference is as little as one missing step. Company A may pay for them to clean the castings up whereas Company B doesn't.

And so on and so on.

Nice Lathe. I've heard good things on that one.
 
It was an easy assembly, except that I had to go get the neighbor's boy to help lift the lathe on to the stand (I'm 68 and my husband is 72 and it weighed too much for me to pick up one end!) You should have seen us unloading it :biggrin:. It weighed almost 200 lbs

I'm going to try it out after dinner.
 
That's the one I've been using for over a year. I've had a little out of round trouble, but it is pretty slight. I'm looking to upgrade as soon as I can afford it, but for now I'm still happy to go out to my garage and fire it up. Enjoy.

P.S. I can't understand who would pay for the Jet either.
 
Kids....

sbwertz said:
It was an easy assembly, except that I had to go get the neighbor's boy to help lift the lathe on to the stand (I'm 68 and my husband is 72 and it weighed too much for me to pick up one end!) You should have seen us unloading it :biggrin:. It weighed almost 200 lbs

I'm going to try it out after dinner.
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I don't know what this younger generation is coming too....you kids are all alike always complaining....:biggrin: Use it in good health Sharon.
 
Good on ya Sharon. When you look at the pictures you would think they were built in the same factory, one painted green and the other white.

Lin.
 
You are lucky Sharon having a neighbor kid to help you. My grandmother is a widow (2 years now), my brother and I do a lot for her, but it is hard with me being married, 2 kids and a house of my own. My brother is recently married and works second shift. My grandmother looked for some kids to do things like rake the leaves and stuff like that and could not find one. My grandparents raised me and if someone wanted me to push mow their 2 acres for 5 bucks; I didn't dare say no.
 
most folks dont look where the tools are made they just see China and that it.

Jet, HF, Grizzly, shop fox all come from the very same city in China something like Sheng.

It like lawn Tractors , MTD make Cub the green , red, orange ones and more. They will tell you it is all in the Specs funny how many parts will interchange

I have a shop full of green HF and Grizzly none have ever stopped working

Now with that let me warn you about the tool rest that tool as well as grizzly uses. it is or was Sand cast in the past. I had a guy think he needed to turn a 14 inch log on my new 2 hp grizz.

Well needless to say the log came lose but the tool got hung up in the tool rest and the rest blew apart.

Now this was abused as heck but this is why I like Grizz. I told them what had happened figured they would tell me what it cost to replace instead they overnight-ed a new one to me for free.

Im all for buying USA but the fact is I dont have lots of funds being retired now so I buy what I can afford.

You did good girl
 
The way I have unloaded my lathes have been to remove them from the box in the truck and work them to the end of the tail gate put on one set of legs than pull it out at an angle till i can get the 3rd leg bolted in place than it will hold enough with the last one slid under in place. I never have any kids around to help. My Daughter don't like tools nor her husband. lol
 
I have one sitting in my basement. and currently do not use it but am happy with it's operation. Two things, 1) make sure to align the tail stock and head stock when tightening down the head stock as it is not self centering. 2) item 13 is the drive belt and is not very high quality. It will distort if you get a catch that stops the work from turning. The drive pulley's (item 29 & 30) continue to spin and will make the belt narrow at that point. After that your lathe will have an uneven rotation. Here's the rub: that belt is a 1/4" wide. You will play havoc finding a replacement belt of that size. You can find a belt the same diameter, but 1/2" wide at your local auto parts store. The lathe will run fine but your speed will not be what the chart say's. Other than that it is a great lathe for the price.
Ron
 
Anthony is a gem. He is about 20 or so, and is always willing to help. We hired him to put the insulation in the attic when we converted the carport to a shop. He and his dad are tilers, and know not to abuse tools, so we are always willing to loan him a tool if he needs it. When they first moved in, I bartered some major computer work for a ceramic tile floor in my guest bath. We have been helping each other out ever since. Good neighbors are priceless.

edicehouse said:
You are lucky Sharon having a neighbor kid to help you. My grandmother is a widow (2 years now), my brother and I do a lot for her, but it is hard with me being married, 2 kids and a house of my own. My brother is recently married and works second shift. My grandmother looked for some kids to do things like rake the leaves and stuff like that and could not find one. My grandparents raised me and if someone wanted me to push mow their 2 acres for 5 bucks; I didn't dare say no.
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scotirish said:
I have one sitting in my basement. and currently do not use it but am happy with it's operation. Two things, 1) make sure to align the tail stock and head stock when tightening down the head stock as it is not self centering. 2) item 13 is the drive belt and is not very high quality. It will distort if you get a catch that stops the work from turning. The drive pulley's (item 29 & 30) continue to spin and will make the belt narrow at that point. After that your lathe will have an uneven rotation. Here's the rub: that belt is a 1/4" wide. You will play havoc finding a replacement belt of that size. You can find a belt the same diameter, but 1/2" wide at your local auto parts store. The lathe will run fine but your speed will not be what the chart say's. Other than that it is a great lathe for the price.
Ron
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Napa carries a replacement. It is item number 3L240W.
 
Sharon, I bought one for Andrew 2 years ago when he came to work in my shop, it's a fantastic lathe for the money, to me the only shortcoming is the way the motor is mounted, faceplate turning gets a little nerve wracking, but the little green bugger certainly is well worth the money and then some!!
Also I'm not sure if you have O'Riley Auto parts, but they do carry a 3/8ths wide belt, and as was mentioned the stock belts are pretty poor. our first on did last nearly a year with 4 to 5 hours a day use or like Ben said Napa, but they didn't have one, when we needed it, I think a normal person even the stock belt should last quite a while.
 
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Turned a letter opener handle on it tonight...worked fine.

HOWEVER...I am a bit embarrased. I took the excelsior apart and all that was the matter was that the set screw in the top set of pulleys had backed out, allowing the pulley to rotate. The noise I heard was the set screw rubbing on the shaft. Realigned the pulley, tightened the set screw, and it works fine. But if you think I am going to take the new one back you are crazy! I've been wanting a bigger lathe for a year! I can get a steady-rest for canes to fit this one, and I can now turn some bigger bowls.

I'll keep one set up for mandrel and turning between centers, and the other with a scroll chuck on it. My already crowded shop just got more crowded. My long-suffering husband gave up a few more feet of his woodworking area to my turning area. I now have about 70 percent of the shop :biggrin: (and I use the other 30 percent to cut up blanks!)
 
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Congratulations on the new lathe and the fixed backup. Your shop sounds about like mine but my wife still gets to park her car inside in the winter. All my tools are on wheels so that I can move what I need to use into the work area.
 
Old Lar said:
Congratulations on the new lathe and the fixed backup. Your shop sounds about like mine but my wife still gets to park her car inside in the winter. All my tools are on wheels so that I can move what I need to use into the work area.
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You would be hard put to park a bicycle in ours! We have to roll the jointer out on to the driveway to use it because it lives under the output side of the table saw.
 
I've owned both of those lathes in the past. The HF was my first lathe and wasn't bad for the money. When I brought it home the speed changer didn't work that good, so I found myself fixing my new lathe. Spent some time de-burring the reeves drive and shafts. Worked fine after that. Bought the Jet used mostly for the accessories, as it had a noisy bearing (plan: fix it and sell it to end up with some free accessories). I tore it apart to replace the bearing and then got the bright idea that I could sell the HF with a noisy bearing and keep the Jet for myself. The only problem was, that while they look the same, none of the parts are interchangeable. I did fix the Jet and sell the HF, but if I would have sold the HF to buy a new Jet I would have been disappointed because the difference in quality was not near as much as the difference in price. Take the money you saved, buy some supplies and enjoy your new lathe!!
 
I've been wanting a new/bigger lathe (mostly for variable speed control), but was afraid to buy one of the HF lathes ... just because I've had less than stellar results with some cheaper tools.

You put my mind to rest on this one. I'm going to start looking for my Christmas present to me! :biggrin:
 
New toys are always nice, as for taking over more of the shop ... just tell your hubby that he gets the old lathe and teach him to turn. : )

I am crouded in my shop space every winter due to the fact my wife wants to park the car inside for some reason. Something about snow and frost on the windows and the car being cold. I guess the heated seats don't compensate enough for her, meanwhile my van is outside and has no heat until the engine warms up which takes a while in the Canadian winters : (

New lathe means you need some new chunks of wood to turn on it ; )

Bruce
 
Looks like a great deal! Another diff in the manuals shows Jet with a 2 year warranty, while the HF gives 90 days on the motor and 1 year on the rest.

But you could buy three HFs for the price of the Jet, so it's hard to put up an argument for the Jet here! :rolleyes:
 
Hope it works out for you. I wouldn't count on things looking the same being the same. I own several pieces of Jet equipment and I own a lot of HF stuff... I mean a LOT of it. HF tools are not really very well made nor are they made of high quality materials. But they are dirt cheap. Sometimes, the differences are really not that important for light users. For heavy users, HF equipment is probably not going to stand the test of time. You get what you pay for. But if your requirements are not for high durability, longevity, precision, and accuracy, you may find that HF stuff is a great deal.

I use a corded HF right angle drill to do power sanding of my bowls. It cost me $25. I bought two and I blow out the motor after every use to keep it clean. It almost certainly won't last as long as a Milwaukee but then it cost me a fraction and I got two of them for less than 1/2 of what a Milwaukee would have cost. If one goes, then I have another! Might turn out that the HF was the winning move in this case. Only time will tell. So far so good.

You can get a couple of those things and still be ahead of the Jet model. So maybe it will be a winner for you too. Good luck!!
:wink::wink::wink:
 
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