Thread: Anybody knows the Carbatec or Sherwood CT-25650 lathe?

My Men’s Shed has one of those Carbatec units, well the model before that one, it isn’t too bad, but to be honest, I don’t like it.

Do some checking as I think you will find it is running a three phase motor from a single phase (internal to the machine) source. It runs from a standard 10A 230V AC GPO in my Men’s Shed.

The motor is very smooth, really smooth. Takes a bit longer than what I am used to with my own lathe to get going, just a couple of seconds longer. Not an issue, just something I noted. It also takes forever to wind down; placing one’s left hand over the end protrusion on the left of the headstock, doesn’t slow it down appreciably. It must have a fair bit of mass there, is all I can say.

Probably the best feature is the magnetic moveable switch. You can place it pretty much wherever is best or safest for you to use.

It is quite a high machine, a bit too high for many of our members, including myself; I am 173cm. We made a 100mm high platform for members that need that little bit extra.

One issue I have with ours, is stability. It isn’t the most stable lathe I have used, the feet as I see it, are not wide enough to give great stability. On the two times I have put some not yet balanced wood to do a bowl on, it rocked rather a bit, even though I was running a very low speed. If you get one of these, I feel you should be bolting it to the floor. Ours isn’t bolted down.

Another member also had issues with imbalance, although I didn’t witness this, I only heard about it when we were talking about the lathe.

I own a Nova 1624 lathe, which has approximately the same power 1120W. It is a belt change for speed change unit; not the best thing these days, but it works well. Smaller in stature but with a longer bed than the Carbatec with the extension attached. It is a light weight in comparison, but feels sturdier in the main. Probably due to the spread of the legs. Nowhere near as smooth, but it handles big stuff pretty much as well as the Carbatec unit.

At my wood turning club I have access to Vicmarc 175 lathes, as well as some other lathes, which I think are Jet, or something very close to them. These lathes, along with the Carbatec unit have one thing in common, quite wide bed rails. Those wide, flat bed rails, are what seem to be a major difference between smaller units like my Nova 1624 and the Carbatec unit and most of the better stuff at the lower end of current offerings.

Lathes with wide flat bed rails, seem to me, to be extremely stable compared to other smaller rail beds on other lathes. I have been told by people with a lot of experience with wood turning, that having wide flat bed rails makes a lathe able to be more precise. My limited experience, concurs with their statements.

If you can make your way to Melbourne on a Tuesday, I can show you our Men’s Shed lathe.

I can also measure up the respective heights of important stuff, including the height of the lathe spindle. An approximate guide to spindle height usually given as about right, is for the spindle height to be approximately the height of your elbow.

Mick.

Mick,
Thanks very much for the thoughtful response. You raise some points that I will definitely follow.
Cheers,
Fryers