Club Lathe Recommendations?

[richardpeers]

My club may be looking to replace our aging and not very popular Poolewood Euro 500. This is our club night lathe for the demonstrator to use; we have Axminster M330s for our outside events.

We obviously need a lathe which can handle a lot of different projects, as we can never be sure what the demonstrator will want to show us. A swing of 9 inches diameter or more seems apt, and at least 2 ft between centres. Variable speed makes sense, as watching a turner who doesn't know the lathe struggling to swap the belts over is not exactly gripping stuff. I guess a 1HP motor or more would be right; a spindle size for which we can get new inserts for our chucks would save paying to replace these (we have 2 SuperNovas and an Axminster) - since the M330s are 1in x 8tpi, keeping this size would be a boon, but not essential. Budget: I'd like to keep it below the £2,000 mark if possible.

There must be experience out there of each and every lathe currently on the market - if you are able to offer suggestions that come near to the above spec, I would be grateful.

[Dave Atkinson]

Hi Richard

Our club uses an Axminster 1416VS.  I also have one of these and it ticks all the boxes.  I made a simple stand for mine and the club built on to a similar style.  I have given all sorts of demos on it including coring out a 7 inch bowl..  You can turn a bowl almost 14in diameter.

It is easily transportable and at 45kg can be lifted by one person and two with ease.

Good luck

Dave

[davidbrac]

SAW has a wivamarc 1000 (l think) it works well for demos and with some decent castors on it can be moved around very easily by one person.
However if we were havig a discussion about a new lathe l would be suggesting we look at the killingers
http://www.philirons.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=119
there is a review of then at
http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=2249

[richardpeers]

Thanks - some good suggestions there already. We have already considered both the Wivamac and the Killinger, both of which sound like very good lathes, but once the stand and the chuck insert/exert change is costed in, we're over budget (significantly so for the Wivamac). We could stretch, but we have other competing ideas for the same money.

The Axminster suggestion is however a good one; we haven't been looking at lathes this small, but I agree that there is no logical reason not to. Very few demonstrations are outside the 14" swing/16" between centres capacity; we could consider getting the bed extension if we feel that is required. The reviews are all very good for this one, too.

Any other ideas out there?

[Philip Greenwood]

Hi Richard

I have used the Record DVR-XP a lot at clubs that I have demonstrated at. This is I have found to be a very good lathe to use and demo on. I also have the Record DML305 which I take to shows and use most days in my workshop and is used to teach on as well. Would i buy this again yes without a doubt, but for a clubs demo lathe I would say you would need to go for the variable speed model.

Hope this is of use to you.

Philip

[john taylor]

When we get around to it we will be getting an Axminster AWVSWL1200D http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-awvswl1200d-woodturning-lathe-prod875881/ as our clubs main lathe apart from 1 person who has a problem with a whine from the motor all I have heard has been good reviews and it is only £1,139.95.   It is Axminsters copy of the jet 3520B and now has the same electrics as the jet.

It is a M33 x 3.5 spindle thread which most demonstrators will have their own accessories which will fit it, and for your club fittings you can get a spindle thread adaptor for £23.10 http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-spindle-thread-adaptors-prod20851/

john