Thread: Sher lathe

Welcome to the forum Morris.

If this is the lathe in question: It is a generic Chinese lathe sold in many colors and under many brand names. It is not a very good lathe because it will not accept Morse Taper accessories and is not very rigid. The tool rest and tail stock tend to break.

https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Hea...SABEgIDrfD_BwE

40" Wood Turning Lathe 4 Speed Spinning Machine 1/2HP Woodworking Shop Supply | eBay



You could have an engineer machine an adapter either from scratch or using a 3/4 X 10 long nut and used for coupling threaded rods and making a Jacobs taper on a screwed in bolt. That may cost a good portion of what a decent lathe would cost.

Some folks make disk sanders from them. I have two, one free, the other $10. They are worth having for the motors and pulleys. I also have several real lathes that I use.

You may want to use the lathe you have with its limitations to get some experience. If you decide to persue turning you will acquire something better with a cast iron bed and Morse Taper on head and tail stock.

WARNING: Do not screw the tailstock on too tight as this can bow the bed and cause trouble for a beginner. Especially if you have a decent dig-in with the tool. Also liable to weaken and crack the weld of head-stock to the bed If it is welded. If it's bolted then it will be even flimsier and will bow even easier then the welded one.

Cheap and nasty lathe but a good stepping stone to something better.

Twenty odd years ago when they first came out they were being sold in hardware shops for around $120 with a set of cheap and very nasty carbon tools thrown in. Had a number of students who purchased them used them for a little wile found their limitations and sold them for 2-3 times what they paid for them. Using the profit to help pay for a half decent lathe like Goldings and early Tecnatool.

Most who continued turning stepped up to much better, sturdier, reliable and safer lathes later on.

Don't spend too much money on it if any at all. Use it to find out if you like turning and if you do graduate to a much better lathe almost every other lathe is better.

On some of the earlier ones the castings of the tail stock and tool rest were a bit on the green side and would break easily in the hands of a newcomer.

Sorry to be so negative but I've seen the consequences of these lathes first hand and it's not always pretty.

Cheers - Neil

I agree with Neil's comments wholeheartedly. These damn things are everywhere and are still available new if you care to look. IMO they should never have reached the market on safety limitations and very poor build quality. As Neil says plenty of novices have had the sh*t scared out of them using one of these lathes to turn table legs or similar, but unfortunately some received a lot worse than dirty underpants.

As for the claim "Heavy Duty Industrial Table Top Electric Multi-use Wood Lathe Spin Machine Tool" in one of the links posted by Paul, well there are laws in Australia about making such false and misleading claims by retailers etc.

The below reinforces one of the problems associated with these lathes.

The following was posted this morning in Woodturning - General: Help Please ! Need to replace broken tool rest mount


Sorry about the above smiley but couldn't help myself.