I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but what lathe should I buy. I'm
pretty much stuck with a mini since I live in a townhouse and have 0 extra
space. As it is, I'm going to have to put a drop sheet under my bench to
keep as much off of the carpet as I can. The one that has caught my eye is a
Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects but......

The Jet Mini should give you good service for your purpose. I personally like
the Nova Mercury better, but they are no longer available in the United States.
There are hundreds of small things that you can turn on a Jet Mini and may make
you wish you had a larger lathe. If space is the limiting factor, a small lathe
is a good choice. Welcome to the turning world.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com

In article , russ498 says...

I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but what lathe should I buy. I'm
pretty much stuck with a mini since I live in a townhouse and have 0 extra
space. As it is, I'm going to have to put a drop sheet under my bench to
keep as much off of the carpet as I can. The one that has caught my eye is a
Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects but......

In article ,
"russ498" wrote:

The one that has caught my eye is a
Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects but......

Echoing what Fred said, the Jet Mini is a great small lathe - though I
have a 4-year old Delta Midi (almost identical lathe to the Jet mini).

Don't sell these small lathes short! You can do a LOT of turning on them
and the limitations aren't all that restrictive. Yes, you won't be able
to do turnings larger than about 9.5" in diameter, but an 8" or 9" bowl
is a great size for holding tomatoes, eggs, onions, garlic or whatnot on
the kitchen counter. With the extension bed, you could turn something as
long as a baseball bat. You can do any number of turnings as most items
aren't larger than 8" (d) x 12" (L) - I turned a beautiful Black Walnut
hollow vase on my mini -- no one would know it wasn't turned on a larger
lathe.

The limitations of these small lathes, in my view, are the too fast
slowest speed of 500 rpm and the non-reversing capability. The new Jet
variable speed is something I would seriously consider if I was again in
the market for one of these. Changing belts on the Jet is rather
cumbersome as the access door for the top pulley is on the backside of
the lathe; this has been a pet peeve of mine with the Jet all along. I
believe I heard there may be a user modification to the Jet VS to allow
it to reverse. Not sure if anyone has twiddled with the electronics to
slow it further. You might Google it to see.

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners,
Cascade Woodturners,
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Tips fer Turnin': Pour your end-grain sealer into a clean, wide-mouth
clothes detergent bottle. The lid makes a handy dipping container for
your brush and the leftovers will drain back into the bottle when you
recap the jug.

The jet mini is a good choice. There are a couple of cheaper mini
lathes if cost is a concern.

Be careful with dropcloths since you need to have a very stable
footing.

Thats what I have and I love it! If necessary, one can purchase a bed
extension for longer projects.
John

russ498 wrote:
I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but what lathe should I buy. I'm
pretty much stuck with a mini since I live in a townhouse and have 0 extra
space. As it is, I'm going to have to put a drop sheet under my bench to
keep as much off of the carpet as I can. The one that has caught my eye is a
Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects but......

Join your local woodturners group. I bet you'll find someone there
that either has a good lathe for sale, or even better knows a great
place to buy a used one.

I bought my Delta midi lathe from a member of my woodturners group here
in Cheney for $200. I saved $100 and got a fairly new lathe. It had
only been used about 20 hours before I bought it.

I have an old lathe someone gave me a while ago. I used it to learn
on. It's from 1981 and was killing my fingers. When I first tried my
delta I was amazed at how much easier it was to turn on and the end
product was so much better that my old WL-800 that I think was bought
at Harbor Freight.

So did you already buy the lathe, if so what did you get? How do you
like it?

John Patrick
www.birdoasis.com

Thanks all!!! Does anyone have a list of Woodturning clubs? I live in the
Baltimore, MD, Washington DC Suburbs. Thanks





"russ498" wrote in message
news:5KWdnSOVB9diNR3enZ2dnUVZ_smdnZ2d@cablespeedmd .com...
I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but what lathe should I buy.
I'm pretty much stuck with a mini since I live in a townhouse and have 0
extra space. As it is, I'm going to have to put a drop sheet under my
bench to keep as much off of the carpet as I can. The one that has caught
my eye is a Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects
but......

For what its worth, I have a friend who has the Jet mini and he built a
table that has a hole in the table under the middle part of the lathe.
75% of chips fall through that hole into a bucket he keeps under the
hole. A wood shield around the back of the lathe keeps another 25% of
the chips confined to the table that can be pushed into the hole into
the bucket. He turns mostly smaller things so the system works great to
keep the mess down.
Earl

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 11:49:03 -0500, "russ498" wrote:

I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but what lathe should I buy. I'm
pretty much stuck with a mini since I live in a townhouse and have 0 extra
space. As it is, I'm going to have to put a drop sheet under my bench to
keep as much off of the carpet as I can. The one that has caught my eye is a
Jet Mini. I realize I will be limited to small projects but......

IMHO, you just can't go wrong with a Jet mini...
I've turned things as small as 1" tall goblets and big as 10" diameter bowl on
mine and it's a very nice machine...

I'll probably catch flack for this, but I'd recommend the regular model for
around $225 US over the variable speed model for about $325...

I also have the Jet 1442 with VS and as much as I like quick-change speed, I
don't think that it's worth 1/2 as much as the lathe, as in the case of the
pricing on the mini.. I find that with the mini, I don't change speeds much..
and when I do, it's easy enough to flip open 2 doors and move the belt... YMMV


mac

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