WoodWrite Lathe-Anybody have One??

[Randy_]

WoodWrite makes the following claim in their catalog concerning their $965 KT-363 mini-lathe.

"...We routinely turn, sand, polish and assemble a SLIMLINE(TM) pen or pencil in about 3 minutes. You can expect to quickly increase your speed up to 8-12 pens or more per hour..."

Anybody have one of these lathes and is their claim reasonable or is there a bit of hyperbole involved here??

 

[Old Griz]

What they are not telling you is that the pens are being done with a duplicator.... not hand turned... as for the speed they claim.. UH... seems that no one there had the time to show me... UH!!!!
They are not all that far from where I live and I happened to be in the area one day and stopped in...
The finish they use is Turner's Magic, a lacquer based friction polish that I happen to like. It does not fade off like shellac based friction finishes... down side is the price $15/pint.... but it works...

 

[kghinsr]

Randy
Yes I do own a woodwrite lathe. It works very nicely when you turn a straight barrel pen such as a slimline. I don't try to match there times for turnings since it is a hobby and I go for quality not quanity. There directions have you making a cut so deep that I do not feel comfortable doing so. It not done with a duplicator (as tom sugested)but it will only make a straight cut so rounding a blank to move to another lathe for design change is very simple. Hope that answered you questions.
ken
slippery rock, pa

 

[wdcav1952]

Kenneth,
I'm a bit confused. If the cuts are not made by a duplicator, or whatever, why is it that only straight cuts can be made?

TIA,

 

[epson]

The lathe is similar to a Sherline, but has been adapted for woodworking. The lathe moves the cutter from the left to the right with a motor, and the cutter moves in and out by a hand wheel.

 

[kghinsr]

Jack
there is a duplicator made for this machine and I do own one however it brings new meaning to the term POS. You have how the machine works to a tee. The tooling is carbide tip and your cuts can be very small for rounding out of round acrylic and corian as well as misdrilled (off center)wood. It will also turn metal.
ken

 

[wdcav1952]

So let me see if I understand. For nearly $1000, (based on Randy's post) you get a lathe where you only control to a limited extent the depth of cut while the motor controls the left/right action of the cut? I think I'll pass.