View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to rec.crafts.woodturning
LRod LRod is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 403
Default Jet Mini or Myford ML8...

On 14 Jul 2006 08:00:34 -0700, "me" wrote:

I'm a complete beginner looking to purchase a lathe. Mostly interested
in bowls, vases, vessels, etc, but will experiment with other things.
To learn on, I was planning on buying a Jet Mini VS. But a friend of a
friend recently said that he'd sell me his ML8. It is in good
condition and comes with several face plates. My first question is, is
one of the two lathes better than the other for a beginner (or just
better in general)? And the second is, if you wanted an ML8, what
would you pay for it? Searching the internet shows them selling for
anywhere from $150 to $1,800!


What little experience I have with the Myford (and that experience is
limited to drooling over it several times at Frog Tool Co in Chicago
20 years ago) is that they are not in the same class (I own a Jet

Mini, albeit not a VS).

With what little turning experience I had at the time, I thought the
ML8 was a pretty high end lathe. It has a "full length" (that is
something on the order of 36" or so between centers) bed and a swing
of 12"--that is, pretty much a standard size spindle lathe. I don't
remember the spindle size, either diameter/tpi or taper, but in any
event, I don't believe it was anything outrageously inconvenient.

Remember, this was in the days before Oneway, Stubby, Vega, Nova,
VicMark (maybe), Jet, etc. Frankly, at that point in my life I had
never seen a Delta or Powermatic tool of any kind, let alone one of
their lathes. So if I held it to a high standard, it was solely in
comparison to a Craftsman tube lathe.

The Jet, on the other hand, is a mini lathe with the attendant
compromises in both bed and swing, which is principally why I say they
are not in the same class. Having said that, there is nothing wrong
with the quality or capabilities of the Jet, keeping in mind its
capacity. And, since my experience with the Myford wasn't even hands
on, I don't know how much my view of it is suspect. I did have the
distinct impression that it was quite robust.

In my opinion, were the choice available to me today that you're
facing, I'd jump on the ML8 if the price is anywhere near right. For
comparison, I recall that in the late '70s the ML8 sold (at Frog, not
exactly a discount house) in the $900-1000 range--more with
accessories. That suggests it was right up where the Powermatic that
everyone loves (can't remember which model--35 something?) is today,
i.e. something under $3000. That puts your $1800 used price in the
right ballpark. A buck fifty would be stealing.

I hope someone with real Myford experience will weigh in here to
either confirm my impression or to tell me I'm full of ****--equally
valid possibilities.

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997

email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.