Best home-workshop lathe? For pens and larger stuff like bowls.

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Monolith

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I've never turned before, but i'd liketo give it a shot. Past experience has taught me to go with quality equipment ight off the bat and to not dick around with cheap tools if I can afford it. Hopefully the quality stuff will hold its value better if i end up selling it in the future, too.

So, that said, whats a good lathe to look for? Brands? Features? Accessories?
 
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Start by looking at the Delta midi 46-460 ... see the review by Rangertrek here ..
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58041

If you have more money to spend you can get a heavier duty lathe Like the Powermatic or a Nova DVR XP. If the Delta is more than you want to spend look at the Rikon or Jet mini. Or consider buying used through craigslist.

The Delta offers great features at a good price point and will handle small to medium sized bowls with ease. Good Luck!
 
Jon, I am not sure how many answers that you will get as this question has popped up a lot lately. Have you had a chance to read the ideas that have been offered? I myself have two Jet 1014's, one is almost 10 years old and my variable speed is 7 years old. You did not mention how big of a lathe that you wanted to start off with, if you want a variable speed lathe, there are a few questions that you need to decide for yourself to get a full picture of what is available for your needs. I hope that this helps some to get you started.
 
Lenny is the man.
I have a Delta 46-460 and it is great.
I also started with a cheap 100 dollar lathe and beat the snot out of it learning.
I still have it set up with a sanding mop.
 
Ok, I'll give my 2¢ worth.

Things I looked for when I bought mine.

Variable Speed
Morse Taper 2
1" X 8 Spindle thread
10" or better swing capacity
Relatively portable. Basically something I could move myself if I needed to. In other words, the full size units were out.

I ended up with a Delta 46-460. Probably more than I may ever need, but I won't outgrow it soon. If you look in the tools & equipment, there is a pretty good review of this lathe.

EDIT: WOW 4 other post before I got mine posted. But I did go get a glass of tea.:smile:
 
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If you havent already purchased one, let me throw in a dissenting vote. I have the Delta 46-460 with the variable speed and I love it, however if I could have afforded something like the PM3520 or a Jet1640 I would have gone with one of them. I often find myself wishing that I had more swing over the bed. Any of them will work great for pens and small things but I have turned several bowls where I wished I had more swing, power and also greater mass to counteract an out of balance blank. If you do much more than pens you will quickly outgrow any of the small lathes.
 
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