Hi All, I am seeking advice on what the best option for a beginner is in respect of obtaining a lathe.

I am having my first woodturning lesson this weekend and can just imagine going nuts when I get home because I haven't got a lathe!!!

I imagine that I will mostly focus on turning bowls to start off with and I really want to turn pens as well. Can you turn pens on a nomal lathe?

I've checked out ebay for some second hand lathes but am not sure about sizes and mini lathe's etc. Am I better off starting out on a smaller lathe and working my way up to a bigger one once I get better?

Also do lathe's come with chucks? Is that even the right term? So much to learn...

Your assistance is appreciated!

It hard to reccomend a specific lathe for beginners because you dont have a real feel for what you want to do.

The Woodfast M305 is quite a good alround one as you can turn a 300mm bowl and a 400mm spindle.

From their they get bigger and dearer so depends on the depth of your pockets.

By going the midi way allow about 1k for the lathe a set of tools and a chuck, then the money pit deepens.

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Jim Carroll
One Good Turn Deserves Another. http://www.cws.au.com Vicmarc, Robert Sorby, Woodcut, Tormek
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Its fine to want to do bowls, but you should probably, and may even be told at your lessons, just do practice spindle turning for a while with scrap pine or any wood you didn't pay for. Recycled anything or pallet timber or something! Practicing spindle turning will set you up nicely for turning bowls, but for some reason bowl turning first doesn't help you spindle turning.

As for type of lathe. others might have more suggestions.

And no! Unfortunately new lathes don't come with a chuck or many other "accessories" It is one of the advantages of getting a second hand one. You will probably get quite a few other bits and pieces with it that cost an extra arm and leg otherwise.

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anne-maria.

Tea Lady
(White with none)

ceramics exhibition and blog I am part of.http://www.jacpromotion2011.com/

RMF78,

I agree with the previous comments, .

Also when you buy your TOOLS , DO NOT BUY CHEAP CARBON TOOLS, buy the best quality HSS tools you can afford.

An intermediate size lathe would suit best , but you will need a stand / bench to mount it on , remember that your toes need somewhere to go when standing at a bench, .

The Lathe will be the FIRST of several machine tools you will buy in this hobby, your next will most likely be a bandsaw, 350mm should be considered the minimum..


Jeff

Unfortunately there is no one lathe that fit's all jobs - though many manufacturers might like to claim that!

There are though many General purpose lathes, that will give you a reasonable throw (hight above the bed-bars) and/or a rotating headstock which will enable the turning of bowls and hollow-forms.

The length of the Bed-bars determine how long a spindle you can turn, should you want to.

So a lathe described as a 16-44 will give you 8" above the bed-bars and hence a 16" bowl capability with a 44" spindle capability. And to be honest unless you take to making turnings for stairs or baseball bats and the like most of that length is not needed.

What is more of a problem is speed. The thinner the item you are turning the higher the speed you need to achieve the same tools speed across the wood. Pens are very thin and small pen lathes can achieve up to 3600 rpm where as the larger lathes rarely go over 2500 rpm.

For big lumps of wood (bowls etc.) the main need is stability. Something big & heavy to stay still on the floor while you turn it into balance and again the wider the piece of wood the slower you need it to rotate.

so, my advice is to buy a reasonable second hand lathe (one that you can sell on without much loss) and learn the art of turning (it does not come overnight). Then once you've developed your own style and know in which direction you want to go, sell it on and buy the lathe that suits your need.

It may be that you end up with 2 lathes, a small one for your pens and something much bigger for bowls.

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Dragonfly
No-one suspects the dragonfly!

I would also buy a used one because it will cost you less and by the time you have leaned to turn you will have a better idea as to what will suit your needs. if you buy second hand, it wont lose much money if any and you can then purchase the lathe you want.

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I'm not fat, I'm just easy to see
Cheers John

i personally went second hand twice the first one was a hyco for 700 dollars it came with basic stuff, nova 3g chuck , cheap chisel set and face plate the second lathe was a Leady lathe that had not done much work! and the accessories it came with was mind blowing. i would go a second hand lathe long as you can check it all over bearings and motor etc! and have a good talk to lots or wood turners!

Stay clear of the light steel lathes that use square tubing for the bed. Go for cast iron bed if possible and make sure the headstock spindle has a morse taper inside, preferably No.2.
Remember you can turn small things on a big lathe, but you can't turn big things on a small lathe.

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Cheers,
Dallas

I third or forth a good used lathe. Many times they will come with a few tools and maybe a grinder. Carbon tools cut as well or better than high speed steel, just for much less time between sharpenings.

See: My thoughts on grinders.Long Post.

for grinder discussion.

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So much timber, so little time.

Paul