I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe? Thanks.

DD

You will get a lot of responses on this one. I've had a DVR since they came
out. No problems whatsoever. It was a marked improvement over the original
Nova3000.

As an attachment, I'd get the outboard tool rest attachment, it really lets
you get big, not deep, but big.

-Bruce
www.webpages.charter.net/brewster

"Doug Dubowski" wrote in message
ers.com...
I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova
DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe?
Thanks.

DD

I've had my DVR for a year now and use it in a production environment. Works flawlessly. Don't bother with the outrigger
attachment. Its a PITA to move around. The cast iron legs are a good thing, though. Nice and weighty.

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 18:16:24 GMT, "Doug Dubowski" wrote:

I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe? Thanks.

DD



Peter Teubel
Milford, MA
http://www.revolutionary-turners.com

Doug Dubowski wrote:
I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe? Thanks.

DD


Where are you located? If you have an AAW chapter nearby someone is
likely to have a DVR. If you have a Woodcraft nearby, go play with theirs.

I've had mine for about 6 months now, other than a few little problems
out of the box, (Which Woodcraft and Teknatool handled exceptionally),
it has been wonderful. The outrigger is a pain, but it is worthwhile if
you want to turn really big (18+ inch) stuff. I've done 16" Madrona and
Maple bowls so far, and they are plenty big for me. Switch it to 220
Volt operation if you are able, the increase in low rpm torque is nice.

Mike

The DVR has been my primary lathe for over two years now. It has served
me very well. I sometimes think of getting some "Super-lathe" but it's
hard for me to pull the trigger on such a purchase as in some way or
another, all the Superlathes lack something I really appreciate about my
DVR and don't want to give up.

I make hollow forms a lot, the pivoting headstock makes free hand
hollowing a pleasure, and the ability to extend the bed with a couple of
extra sections makes fitting torsionally restrained hollowing rigs to
make very deep forms quite convenient. The swivel head also makes doing
larger bowls both possible and practical.

The integral motor/headstock, is quite powerful. I find all the power I
need to core large bowls and take agressive roughing cuts. The DVR is
one of the smoothest drives you will find regardless of price. I really
appreciate that smoothness for finish cuts, particularly on smaller
boxes and spindle work.

The electronic motor control not only adjusts power to your needs, but
can recognize a catch and stop the motor briefly, restarting in a couple
of seconds if the load on the workpiece has become reasonable. This is a
great feature for novices, and is a good safety feature even for
experienced turners who may have something go wrong (say jamming a
coring tool, or having a large hollowing tip drop into a void).

Its not a perfect lathe, and can't handle the largest, deepest bowl and
hollow forms, nor is it ideal to deal with hugely heavy out of balance
work (be it an out of balance raw blank that needs to be roughed out, or
deliberate off-center turning), though the latter limitations can be
overcome to a very great extent by accessories like the Kelton Balancer.
Every lathe in this price range will have some limitations and
compromises, but I think Teknatool has made very wise decisions in what
to emphasize, and what to skimp on (for example, the color is a rather
drab gray, and the castings are far from polished).

There is much more to say, and indeed I wrote 30 or so pages of critical
analysis on the DVR when it first came out (someday I'll get the latest
electronics boards for my DVR and write an updated, extended use, review
for More Woodturning). But to close these commments out for now, the
only lathe I'm really interested in replacing my present DVR with, would
be an upsized "DVR on Steroids." If only we could all convince Teknatool
that such a lathe should become available.

Lyn

Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions


Doug Dubowski wrote:
I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe? Thanks.

DD

I think that when making a lathe-buying decision, there is no substitute for a test drive. I
also think that turners are a friendly lot and if you go about it right the chances of
getting a test drive are pretty good almost anywhere. For those lathes where there are
internet users' groups, the chances of getting a test drive are even better.

Clearly there is the potential of a legal problem if someone allows someone else to use his
machine and the someone else gets hurt. Most of us, though, refuse to run scared from the
too-many-lawyers syndrome in this country. I'll invite and watch. If I feel comfortable
with their skills, no problem. If not I'll teach, suggest, ...

Now, for a maybe more controversial idea...

Maybe it is worth getting a test drive on a lathe which might be out of your price range.
That will give you a point of comparison and you will have a much better idea of what you are
giving up by buying the less expensive and less capable machine.

A test drive is really worth doing, I think.

Bill

In article et,
says...
Doug Dubowski wrote:
I am in the market for new lathe and I am seriously considering a Nova DVR
3000 lathe. I haven't seen one personally and don't know anyone who owns
one. What does everyone who owns or has used this lathe think about it?
Are there any accessories that should be purchased with the lathe? Thanks.

DD


Where are you located? If you have an AAW chapter nearby someone is
likely to have a DVR. If you have a Woodcraft nearby, go play with theirs.

I've had mine for about 6 months now, other than a few little problems
out of the box, (Which Woodcraft and Teknatool handled exceptionally),
it has been wonderful. The outrigger is a pain, but it is worthwhile if
you want to turn really big (18+ inch) stuff. I've done 16" Madrona and
Maple bowls so far, and they are plenty big for me. Switch it to 220
Volt operation if you are able, the increase in low rpm torque is nice.

Mike

Bill Rubenstein wrote:
snip
Maybe it is worth getting a test drive on a lathe which might be out of your price range.
That will give you a point of comparison and you will have a much better idea of what you are
giving up by buying the less expensive and less capable machine.

snip

To the extent this is pratically feasible, I think this is an excellent
proposal, not only with lathes but many woodturning items (not to
mention nonwoodturning devices).

So often I read some folks dismiss a product that they have little or no
experience with (the Tormek being one prominent example), and thus
little pragmatic basis for comparison. It is one of the reasons I much
prefer doing comparative reviews, rather then single product focus
articles. Virtually every product design is a compromise, sometimes due
to price, sometimes size, sometimes complexity, sometimes realiability,
etc. etc. I believe one can best determine which constellation of
compromises is desirable for oneself if one is aware of what can be
accomplished without the particular compromise.

Chris Stott made an obervation that I have always found instructive.
Chris has long been associated closely with Poolewood. He has been able
to use and own the excellent lathes at the top of their line. Despite
greatly appreciating the outstanding capabilities of his high high end
lathe, he later obtained one of their smaller lathes as well. His
reasoning: Chris mostly makes small boxes. This involves lots of small
positionings of the tailstock and banjo. He simply found the massiveness
of the banjo and tailstock of his big lathe to be unnecessarily
fatiguing and more awkward to obtain fine changes in positioning, than a
quality lathe with smaller lighter components. To me this illustrates
that compromise is inherent in all products (granted more expensive
products often can have fewer compromises--except for price, of course)
and which set of compromises is best for a individual can be better
discerned by both experience with what is possible and understanding of
one's own needs.

Lyn

and I am going tommorow to my first day of paid work on a lathe. I may
only have a few days of work, but its a start.

I started hunting for a job involving woodturning after reading so many
of the posts on here.
thanks especially to those of you who replied to my incessant questions
and pestering, as well as those who helped me get started by sending me
tools to get started.

-Reyd
P.S. the reason I haven't been around to post dozens of odd questions is
because I have been hiking/climbing/canoeing/hiking for the last month.

--

Maybe I'm just a pessimist and am totally wrong; I could live quite
happily with that.
-SATAN
Sane people are just lunatics in denial.
_Delta Nine

Congratulations! Show them how good you are.

Peace ~ Sir Edgar
=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F 8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=
=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8=F8

Hi Reyd, welcome back and congrad's
wondered where you were
how's the hand all healed up an no problems I hope?

Have fun and TAKE CARE, (like don't get hurt).
Leo Van Der Loo

Reyd wrote:
and I am going tommorow to my first day of paid work on a lathe. I may
only have a few days of work, but its a start.

I started hunting for a job involving woodturning after reading so many
of the posts on here.
thanks especially to those of you who replied to my incessant questions
and pestering, as well as those who helped me get started by sending me
tools to get started.

-Reyd
P.S. the reason I haven't been around to post dozens of odd questions is
because I have been hiking/climbing/canoeing/hiking for the last month.