Any comments good bad or indifferent on this machine as a first lathe?

--
Mike Goodell

On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:41:36 -0500, Mike Goodell wrote:

Any comments good bad or indifferent on this machine as a first lathe?

It's hard to beat for the money. Where I worked there were 3 Rikons and
3 equivalent Jets in the classroom that have been in use for classes for
over 5 years. They are all still running. Either are a good buy. I
liked the Rikons better because they had a 12" swing vs a 10" swing on
the Jet and the Rikon was easier to change belts on.

But in fairness to Jet they have since come out with a slightly larger
version with a 12" swing and they can be purchased (at higher cost) with
an electronic variable speed control.

For a little more money, take a look at:

http://www.amazon.com/General-Intern...le-Maxi-Lathe/
dp/B002KHNLZC

That's what I bought and I'm more than satisfied. It'll delay the time
when you "just have to" have a full size lathe much more than either the
Rikon or the Jet. But if you don't know yet if you'll like turning, the
Rikon is the best bet.

Last time I looked I wasn't infallible so take the above as one man's
opinion :-).

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

In article ,
"Mike Goodell" wrote:

Any comments good bad or indifferent on this machine as a first lathe?

Well, it has the tailstock design I hate, but most of its friends (ie,
Jet mini, etc) copy the same piddle-poor design, so not a lot to choose
from there until you find one that does not. I haven't used one - I just
look at that tailstock (whoever happens to be cranking it out) and know
it's functionally poor (wrong angle for the stresses involved, mass in
the wrong places - designed for cheapness, in all the senses of
cheapness).

The general maxi-lathe mentioned in another reply has a better tailstock
design - not back-angled and with the mass on the outside of it. Any
lathe from the 1950's has a better tailstock design (well, excepting the
shopsmith, a sub-optimal design I've used a lot, and don't love for
that.)

Partly also depends what, even as a beginner, you want to turn - you can
do small stuff on a big lathe, but not vice versa.

I'm prone to advise looking long and hard for a good used lathe, but
people rarely seem to listen. They are simple tools with little to go
wrong if built correctly, which are far too prone to have had the design
cheapened in "shiny new from China" examples. There are thousands of
used units which used to be in high schools that are either already in
perfect shape, or that can be brought to perfect shape, literally better
than you can buy new, now, with new bearings and perhaps a variable
speed motor upgrade (or, if even cheaper because equipped with a 3 phase
motor, simply adding a variable frequency drive that takes 1 phase and
produces 3 phase.) Look for delta/rockwell, yates-american, powermatic
etc. - The good old names, lots of cast iron, annoying to move. Look for
estate sales. I've had lathes practically given to me when people wanted
them out of a house before a sale, with all the associated tooling.

Just as a feel for the shape of the not-new landscape:

I don't know where you are at, but looking at a craigslist "local" to my
area, there are a bunch of used wood lathes available for less money
that that goes for. Some are kinda bad, of course. Here's a nice-looking
old one with a good tailstock shape, and it includes tools (perhaps even
a chuck, though it does not say that) and a stand (no, it's not mine)
for $225
http://albany.craigslist.org/tls/2096138713.html
And a newfangled one with tools and pen stuff (and that sucky tailstock
shape) for $250 (also not mine, I haven't got any for sale):
http://albany.craigslist.org/tls/2060993269.html

I learned to turn on a shopsmith, so perfection is not required - but it
sure speeds the learning curve _not_ to have to work around the
deficiencies of a lathe. Ruth (haven't see her here in a while) learned
on a craftsman mono-tube (yes, actually worse than a shopsmith) if I
recall correctly, and several other folks have dredged the bottom of
Horrible Fright's barrel when looking for least investment to try it
out. They probably would have done better used, if avoiding HF used
(sometime for more than HF new prices...) If at all possible, try to
find someone (through here, though a woodworking club, through a local
class, put an ad up on craigslist or your local paper) that you could
actually visit and turn some stuff with before you delve too far into
shopping.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

On 12/16/2010 5:03 PM, Ecnerwal wrote:
In ,
"Mike wrote:

Any comments good bad or indifferent on this machine as a first lathe?


I learned to turn on a shopsmith, so perfection is not required - but it
sure speeds the learning curve _not_ to have to work around the
deficiencies of a lathe. Ruth (haven't see her here in a while) learned
on a craftsman mono-tube (yes, actually worse than a shopsmith) if I
recall correctly, and several other folks have dredged the bottom of
Horrible Fright's barrel when looking for least investment to try it
out. They probably would have done better used, if avoiding HF used
(sometime for more than HF new prices...) If at all possible, try to
find someone (through here, though a woodworking club, through a local
class, put an ad up on craigslist or your local paper) that you could
actually visit and turn some stuff with before you delve too far into
shopping.


agree with all of above - my first lathe was a monotube craftsman that I
paid $5 for. You can buy a decent used wood lathe for $25, you can make
one for not much more if you have any assembly skill - a pair of pillow
blocks, a piece of steel for a spindle, and a washing machine motor -
for bowl work you don't even need a tailstock

Mike Goodell wrote:

Any comments good bad or indifferent on this machine as a first lathe?


I've got the JET Mini VS (variable speed) that has a smaller swing (10
vs 12), less distance between centers (14 vs 16) and no indexing. On
the other hand, it has variable speed, a feature that's handy when
roughing out of balance chunks of wood. If you think you'll be trying
multi-center and eccentric turning, variable speed rather than fixed
speeds that require pulley changes is let's you dial up the speed 'til
the shaking and wobbling begin - then dialing back 'til it doesn't.
Because it's so easy to dial in speeds, I do. If it's a hassle to
change speeds - your probably won't. I do wish my JET had the indexing
feature, but given a choice of having VS and no indexing, or indexing
and no VS - I'd go with VS again.

the tail stock design
Mini lathes aren't intended for turning big heavy pieces - to begin with
- or end with. To give you a bit more between centers space, they slope
back - away from the headstock. Not the strongest arrangement, as
Ecnerwal pointed out, but most of us, especially who use a Mini lathe,
don't need the extra strength in the tail stock. What we need is more
between centers distance and the Slants Back tail stock gives you a
couple more inches between centers than a more robust tail stock
arrangement.

I'm normally in the Buy Once, Cry Once school - get the best you can
afford - and stretch that a bit on the higher side. You'll get over the
Sticker Shock thing pretty quickly. With most woodworking power tools,
the difference in price between an Entry Level and Full Size, Full
Features is usually only a factor of three to five times - a $500
contractors table saw vs a $2000 cabinet saw. With lathes the price
difference is more dramatic $400 for a good entry level lathe, vs $6K
for a Stubby, OneWay, Robust, etc.

There have been a few times I wish I had a bigger, beefier lathe. But
I've been able to do all sorts of turnings I didn't know could be done
on a lathe when I first got into turning. Some took a little longer
than if I had a bigger lathe and BIG things aren't possible at all (36"
diameter plates, pool cues, table legs, etc.) But there are a hell of a
lot of piece you can turn - on a mini - that'll keep you having fun for
a long while.

See if Rikon has a variable speed Mini - and seriously consider that
one,