DIYbanter - View Single Post

mac davis

On 30 May 2007 11:00:19 -0700, wrote:

I have looked at several sites for lathes, and have seen lathes that
say 12in. wood lathe, or 15in. wood lathe. is this the limit the the
wood length you can you?? I am looking for something that can make a
baseball bat (33in.). What should i look for?

In my experience, start with a mini and work up, or save yourself a lot of money
over the years and get the biggest lathe that you can fit in the house without
displacing important family members..

I'd recommend something at LEAST the size of my lathe, (jet 1442), if not
bigger...
The "42" sort of means what length of stock you can turn, as in 42" long...
Good reference, until you TRY something close to the max. length and realize
that the measurement is for the whole bed length and you need to subtract a bit
off that for the head stock, tail stock, etc....

I just went out and did a rough measurement and I'd be pushing it to turn over
about 32"...
I guess that unless you buy a really huge lathe, you're looking at 1 or more bed
extensions...