Would Jet 1221VS be good for small bowl turning?

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Charlie_W

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Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
5,918
Location
Sterling, VA USA
Small bowls yes.
Large bowls would be probably be slow going. My Jet Mini lathe is okay for Mini bowls but not the tool for 10" bowls.
Good luck!
 

KenV

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Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
4,720
Location
Juneau, Alaska.
A "Rule of thumb" is max lathe capacity less about 4 inches for max bowl for learning level skills.

Smaller is easier to make mistakes and not have as many bad things happen.

Small lathes do not handle out of balance bowl blanks unless very small.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
1,460
Location
Surprise, Arizona
I have a Rikon 12" which is similar to the Jet in terms of size and power and it handles bowls smaller than 6" pretty well. It struggles at 8" and the only 10" I've turned worked it way too hard imo. If you plan on 6" and smaller it should fit your needs.
 

duncsuss

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Joined
Jun 29, 2012
Messages
2,151
Location
Wilmington, MA
I spent the last two weekends demonstrating turning on a Jet 1221vs.

8" bowls are no problem at all using blanks that are nicely round and in balance.

For green (fresh cut, wet) wood blanks, or if you are making natural-edge (bark-edge, live-edge) bowls, 8" is about the limit, and use the Low speed setting for the drive belt so you get decent torque at low revs.
 
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