Another lathe option question...

[Mkorish]

So I'm trying to talk the wife into letting me upgrade my old central machinery lathe. I would like a 12"swing and speed control. I like doing pens and I'm getting into bowls. Now this is just a hobby so I don't want to spend 1200 on one but want a better one then there harbor freight brand.
I'm sure this has been best down in the past, but I did do a quick search.

 

[bsshog40]

Have you checked Craigslist or maybe your local facebook market for a good used one?

 

[sorcerertd]

I guess that leaves out a powermatic.

All I can suggest is look around and pick out a few that meet your needs, then watch for sales. I bought a Jet 1221VS for $850 on sale a few months back. I haven't heard anything bad about them, but haven't had time to really torture it with a large project. I'm sure others will share their experiences.

 

[Hippie3180]

Jet 12/21 vs owner and love it.

 

[d_bondi]

I also have a JET 1221VS and love it.

I just got another email from Rockler today noting 15% off on all JET Woodworking Tools and Accessories + Free Shipping, offer ends 12/17/23. That would be the $850 price that Todd notes above, and it weighs in at over 100 lbs so free shipping if you don't have a local Rockler store is a great deal.

 

[jrista]

Hard to beat Jet. Most of my machines are Jet. Big lathe is Powermatic, same parent company. Love their equipment!

FWIW, I have owned a Wen 1424 variable speed lathe (model 34034, replaced by the 34035 which apparently has an improved clamp for the tailstock, which was needed) for years now, since late 2020. It is the lathe I do all my small turning on, including pens. Its been a solid workhorse lathe. Aside from some damage an improperly machined MT2 on a mandrel caused to my spindle, which was partly my fault for not checking the fit properly, the lathe has been rock solid. I know Wen doesn't generally come to mind as a good quality lathe, but I've owned a few Wen machines over the years now, and I haven't really had any problems with any of them.

This particular lathe cost me about $500 when I first bought it. I think its still around $600 or so brand new, and you should be able to find it under $600 on sale. Its 14" swing, and plenty capable of turning some bowls and the like.

I would still recommend the Jet 1221 as the first option, but, if that is just too expensive, then the Wen is IMO a solid option.

 

[TonyL]

I own 3 Jets and 2 Rikons..no complaints and 5 year warranties (which they have generously honored). I am not saying they are inexpensive or that there are not better lathes out there - just sharing my experience. I think PayPal will let one make 4 interest free payments on a purchase. It won't change the cost of the purchase, but ease the burden on cashflow. Good to have a budget. I also made pens using the CM equipment and didn't have a problem. Never made bowls though though.

 

[Lew]

Like David said above about Rockler, Woodcraft has the same sale going on now during the holidays

 

[leehljp]

$1200. Something to keep in mind as you do this - buying a higher end pen lathe with some bowl turning can be a lot of money spent for a lathe that is limited with bowls. How much more does it cost to get a lathe with 14 inch diameter? A 14 in lathe will basically limit you to a 12" bowl at the largest. A 12" lathe will limit you to 10" diameter max. And that is being very careful in your initial turning of a bowl.

Variable Speed is great, but this next suggestion will be way out of your price range: VS down to 50 or 100 rpm is extremely helpful with larger bowl turning. 700 rpm is a little high for rough turning of 12" bowls, but is doable with caution.

If you find you like turning bowls and have access to small trees with base roots, and like turning those, a heavier lathe with 14" or more will be greatly appreciated. The question for me would be: will $300 or $500 more greatly increase my productivity on the lathe than what I can get with the lesser amount.

This is somewhat like the old adage of "Buy your last saw first".

 

[howsitwork]

Why buy new ? you can get a second hand lathe without variable speed then get a 3 phase motor and inverter drive at a later date .
Fit these and you've got variable speed when you want to do bigger stuff as Lee says .

Dont know what us market is like but heavy solid lathes come up fairly often here often here but you need space for them

 

[redfishsc]

Whatever you do, don't sell off your current lathe unless you are utterly strapped for space. I have my old Delta midi which is my favorite little pen lathe. Its not a vs but I don't really care since I turn my pens at full rpm anyhow. I turn speed down when it comes time for sanding but the belt movement is quick and easy

Having that extra lathe is superb. Set it up for blank drilling or buffing wheels, for example.

In my case my bowl lathe is that cheap 12" HF lathe which is sufficient for bowls at the hobby level I do, but isn't as true as the Delta b/c the headstock has a bit of slop in it if you put too much pressure with the tailstock on the pen mandrel

 

[egnald]

I started out with the small Harbor Freight lathe too. It served me quite well. After about a year I got really tired of changing the belts, so I upgraded it with a variable speed motor kit from PSI. It was a very nice improvement, then I started to get disappointed by the slop in the tailstock. My upgrade was to the JET 1221VS - a very significant improvement in overall quality. I really can't stand to leave things alone, so I have made some minor improvements to my JET over time as well.

The first improvement was to buy a square Banjo Clamp (tailstock clamp) from Rick Herrell (rherrel). It made my tailstock much "tighter" between the ways. I also put my HF tailstock crank handle on the JET as I liked the HF handle better - and the thread size was right, otherwise I would have probably bought a bolt and turned a custom handle for myself.

Other improvements included new tool rests from Rockler, but in hindsight, I wish I would have gone with the flat topped tool rests from Rick Herrell. I also added a dust collector hood (Rockler) and a jerry built LED lamp.

It is very reliable and continues to be one of the most used tools in my shop.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Mkorish]

Looking at this one from wen..

 

[jrista]

Looking at this one from wen..

That looks like the one I mentioned above, which is what I've been using since 2020. Its a pretty solid lathe. It's turned more than my big PowerMatic thus far, by a long shot (although, I didn't get the chance to manufacture all the bowls and platters I had planned to last year, hopefully in 2024 this will change.) Anyway, the Wen has helped me craft hundreds of pens, at this point a few dozen christmas ornaments and other christmas decorations, and a few vases and a number of small bowls.

If you do get the Wen, which IMO is a darn good value for the money, there are going to be a couple of things you'll want to do. The most important of which is to properly align the headstock. I actually just did a little bit more aligning of mine today, as I received a replacement mandrel for my Beall buffing system. The mandrel is over a foot long, and it helped me identify the fact that the headstock, despite a past attempt to align it, was still not pointing properly. I loosened the four allen screws that hold it in place just a bit, so it was till fairly tight but could be moved with some soft tunks on the headstock or chuck with a mallet, and aligned down to about 5-7 thousandths. I can't seem to get it better than that, and I suspect some of the discrepancy might actually be in the metal of the mandrel itself, not actual mispointing. So the headstock is now pointed pretty darn near perfect.

I had tried this before, but only had a much shorter distance to align over, and it clearly did not align well enough. I would say, this one tuneup in particular, will help deliver optimal turning results, especially for pens. The other tuneup I would do, is to pull the tailstock off, and adjust the nut below the locking plate so that you can sufficiently lock down the tailstock. Mine was not tight enough when I first received it, and needed some adjustment to get it to the point where I could actually lock the tailstock down. If the one you have listed is the 34035, then it has some improvements over my 34034 that resulted in tailstock slippage, which I've never been able to fully correct. I think the 34035 is issue free there, though.

Anyway, with these two key tuneups (which IME are generally required with any lathe, but its a little harder to do with the wen since the headstock is bolted in place and not movable) will help dial in the performance of the lathe and reduce things that might give you out of round or non-concentric turnings (which really only matter with pens.)

 

[SabertoothBunny]

Truthfully, in this price point the brand boils down to personal preference. You can get the Rikon, Jet or Laguna midi lathe and they will do pretty much the same things. There are other brands but it is safe to stick to these 3 as they tend to be the highest overall quality. My recommendation would be to get whatever brand is on sale at the time for the price you want to stay in. I would avoid the Powermatic and other "luxury car" brands in this price point as they are really not any better in the midi category than the others mentioned.


As for bowls, you can do them on these lathes. Understand though that they are under powered for that work and it will be a slower and more tedious process in making bowls. For bowls more HP the better to withstand the friction you are creating with cutting the wood, the bigger the bowl the more resistance. The key is tools being as sharp as possible, especially for dry blanks, to reduce the drag you create that can stop the bowl spinning (this has happened to me on my Rikon 70-220vsr).

Best of luck in your choice, don't get hung up on brand preference in this category. Keep an eye on forums, auction site (like govdeals.com), craigslist, facebook marketplace, etc for deals as well. You can get some steals for quality tools this way.

 

[Mkorish]

Thanks for all the replies,
I went ahead and ordered the 14x20 wen lathe. It even has reverse which I didn't even consider but will be nice.
Should be in this Thursday, I can't wait I have pens to get done for Christmas gifts....