Lathes sold in Canada - King or Craftex opinions
 

Hi, I'm a pre-newbie as I haven't yet even turned a thing, but I am
definitely looking to get started. There are a couple of 3/4 to 1 HP lathes
I am thinking about here in Nova Scotia and I am wondering if anyone that
might read this has any experience with these lathes.
One is a King Canada model KWL-1443VS.
http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=29&ID=20771

The other is made by Craftex.Model #B2338
http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2338

Any thoughts? I would like to turn bowls/hollow vessels. Varying sizes, so
I was thinking a bigger model like these would be better than one with a 10"
swing and/or a 17" (or less) center.

Thanks to anybody who replies

Lathes sold in Canada - King or Craftex opinions
 

well, you may get specific advice from some folks in your area, but from my
perspective, neither of these will be suitable for what you want - the
minimum speed is way too fast. You would be much better served by a used
and larger/heavier lathe - even in Canada you could buy a used lathe, a used
3 phase 2 or 3 hp motor and a surplus variable frequency drive and spend
about the same amount of money but have a very much better lathe. I would
suggest that you start looking at "price is no object" lathes, not to buy,
but to understand what features really excite you. And join a turning club
and turn a few things, so you can find out something before you buy. If
you must buy first, I'd suggest starting with a mini-lathe, used if
possible - with the plan to upgrade in a year or two.

a quick review of the specs says that the lathes must be just about the same
thing, by the way, so if you had to choose between the two, choose either on
price, or the vendors reputation for service

"P Nick" wrote in message
news:SHVpn.10$Jw4.5@edtnps82...
Hi, I'm a pre-newbie as I haven't yet even turned a thing, but I am
definitely looking to get started. There are a couple of 3/4 to 1 HP
lathes I am thinking about here in Nova Scotia and I am wondering if
anyone that might read this has any experience with these lathes.
One is a King Canada model KWL-1443VS.
http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=29&ID=20771

The other is made by Craftex.Model #B2338
http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2338

Any thoughts? I would like to turn bowls/hollow vessels. Varying sizes,
so I was thinking a bigger model like these would be better than one with
a 10" swing and/or a 17" (or less) center.

Thanks to anybody who replies

Lathes sold in Canada - King or Craftex opinions
 

On Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:29:06 +0000, P Nick wrote:

Any thoughts? I would like to turn bowls/hollow vessels. Varying
sizes, so I was thinking a bigger model like these would be better than
one with a 10" swing and/or a 17" (or less) center.

I'm not familiar with those brands, but I have a General variable speed
mini-lathe that I'm quite happy with. General is a Canadian company, but
the lathe is imported as, according to other responses, are the ones you
mentioned. The Geveral will do an 18" bowl using the outboard tool
rest. Here's a link:

http://www.general.ca/site_general/g...he/25-200.html

One hint if you do buy it. I flipped the bed around so the outboard tool
rest is on the tailstock end. That way I can just slide the head down to
that end instead of rotating it 180 degrees. Less fuss with the cord.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

Lathes sold in Canada - King or Craftex opinions
 

"P Nick" wrote in message
news:SHVpn.10$Jw4.5@edtnps82...
Hi, I'm a pre-newbie as I haven't yet even turned a thing, but I am
definitely looking to get started. There are a couple of 3/4 to 1 HP
lathes I am thinking about here in Nova Scotia and I am wondering if
anyone that might read this has any experience with these lathes.
One is a King Canada model KWL-1443VS.
http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=29&ID=20771

The other is made by Craftex.Model #B2338
http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2338

Any thoughts? I would like to turn bowls/hollow vessels. Varying sizes,
so I was thinking a bigger model like these would be better than one with
a 10" swing and/or a 17" (or less) center.

Thanks to anybody who replies

My only direct experience with King products was a miter saw which was so
awful I returned it a week later. I had a look at some more King products in
my local KMS Tools including a bench grinder and a metal lathe. I rejected
them both. Shoddy and overpriced was my impression.

Craftex is the very low end of machinery. I bought their 4x6 metal band saw
on sale, There were a few minor issues with it but it cuts rather well. I am
in the process of assessing their 9x20 lathe. One of the issues I have
discovered is that the description on the web site is incomplete and the
manual (also on their web site) does not correspond exactly to the machine
they sell. Thus if you do decide to buy the Craftex make really sure that
you know what is included.

Then there is the Busy Bee customer service. The opinions vary. I have had
no problems dealing with minor stuff in the past but now I am entering a
process of dealing with some warranty issues and it is too early to tell how
that will turn out.

Grizzly (relative of Busy Bee) now ships to Canada, but only UPS (as per
their web site) and quite expensive. Their customer service is said to be
very good. Personally I do not buy from any US firm that ships only by UPS
to Canada.

FWIW I bought the Delta 46-460 from Busy Bee and so far it has performed
flawlessly.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC