Shop Fox Lathes

[weasel1219]

I am needing to upgrade my lathe to a larger one and have been shopping around, but the ones I have looked at are hovering around the $2000 and that is a bit too much for my pocket book. I currently have a Jet mini and am very happy with it, but it is time to upgrade.
I was shown a Shop Fox and was pretty impressed at the features it came with, such as Swivel Head, Variable speed with tachometer, nice tool rest and with its own stand. It is a 16"x42" lathe with a 2 horsepower motor.
The price was at around $900.
Has anyone had any expierence with Shop Fox and is it working for you?

Thanks for your responses in adavance...

 

[JohnGreco]

I have a Shop Fox mini lathe and although it gets the job done, I'm looking forward to the day I upgrade to a non-Shop Fox unit.

The handle for the quill travel on the tailstock flat-out sheared itself off in the first few months of using it. The larger of the 2 toolrests it came with snapped at the post when I was turning a bowl with my chisel at about the mid-point between the end and center. The 1/3 hp motor doesn't have a whole lot of torque, so although it's mostly fine once you get going, roughing anything larger than pen blanks slows it down on contact.

The variable speed on it is nice. No belts, but not a terribly dynamic range, iirc it goes from around 700-3,000rpm. I think the one you are looking at has some belts to change gears with each gear giving a range on the variable speed control which is definitely better.

Overall if I needed a lathe and didn't have the money for a bigger name brand you get what you can afford. But but you also get what you pay for.

 

[weasel1219]

Thanks, for your input. I really do appreciate it. I just am a little bit of anything new that I have not ever tried before.

 

[JamesB]

I have a Shop Fox mini lathe and although it gets the job done, I'm looking forward to the day I upgrade to a non-Shop Fox unit.

The handle for the quill travel on the tailstock flat-out sheared itself off in the first few months of using it. The larger of the 2 toolrests it came with snapped at the post when I was turning a bowl with my chisel at about the mid-point between the end and center. The 1/3 hp motor doesn't have a whole lot of torque, so although it's mostly fine once you get going, roughing anything larger than pen blanks slows it down on contact.

The variable speed on it is nice. No belts, but not a terribly dynamic range, iirc it goes from around 700-3,000rpm. I think the one you are looking at has some belts to change gears with each gear giving a range on the variable speed control which is definitely better.

Overall if I needed a lathe and didn't have the money for a bigger name brand you get what you can afford. But but you also get what you pay for.

Yep, that's been experience too with the Shop Fox mini. Maybe the big ones are better. Check Amazon for the lathe and read the reviews there, that's what I do and I google the name of the tool and "review"

 

[ashaw]

I would seriously look at the General Maxi-lathe. I have had it for 7 years now and no problems. This has been my work horse. Variable speed. You do have to change pulleys for slower speeds. I keep the belt at the highest rpm and control the speed from 1500 - 3700 rpm. Would get another one.