Went and finally pulled the trigger on the Jet variable speed
midi lathe - with extension bed - which, naturally, "will be
in in four or five days". Had a piece of 2x2 walnut to play
with and some semi-mini Sorbey turning chisels (?). Marked
the center of each end, put the spike in the spur on center
and cranked the tail stock live center into the center of the
other end of the walnut.

Plugged in the unit. It was shipped with the switch set to "ON".
The thing's so quiet I didn't hear it. Looked at the wood to be
turned and initially thought there'd been a miracle since it
looked round already. A whiskers scratch and a forehead slap
accompanied by - DUH! and it was rough out time. Set
the tool rest and got things round with lots of tentative
cuts.

Noticed that Jet has moved the access door to the pulleys
and belt to the back - previous reviews complaned that
the knock out bar stored in a hole in the front of the unit
had to be removed to open the door in the previous model.

OK - lets try the low speed pulley combination. Raise
the motor with the convenient locking lever and -
hmmm. Getting the belt on the top pulley is easy
through the door. Getting the belt onto the bottom
pulley is another matter. The only access to the
bottom pulleys is from the underside - meaning
the lathe has to be on an open bottomed stand or
a clamp to the bench piece of ply with a nice big
hole under the pulleys.

Am I missing something? JET Midi owners - help!

charlie b