The lathe finally arrive today! I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but my initial thoughts:
- The upper belt cover was busted. I'm no forensic scientist, but I'm betting the footprint on the box right over this part may have had something to do with it. Spent 5 minutes on the phone with Jet trying to get them to Stop telling me to contact Amazon for a replacement cover.
- Upgrading from a little VS ShopFox, this thing is a BEAST! I think it could eat my old lathe as a snack. It also sits higher, so the bench that I made to have my old lathe sit a little high now has this sitting higher yet. It might be OK, will have to see. My back surgeon may prefer it this way for me
- It makes NO sound until you hit about 200rpm, and then it is still pleasantly quiet. Will be interested to see how it is under load.
- Alignment is spot-on. Horizontally and vertically. Tailstock has almost no play whatsoever in the bed, and the spindle has none at all that I can see. This 'slop' was one of my biggest pet peeves with the old lathe (which is now a buffer).
I've been taking pics along the way and will give a more thorough report once it has been up and running for a bit, but so far I am Very happy