looking at a midi lathe

[Tiger]

I have a WL18 with between centres of 900 mm lathe but am considering getting a midi lathe. I generally turn pens, small spindle work, the odd bowl/platter. My current lathe takes up a lot of space and I don't really have the need for a lathe that big except for one-off turnings. I'm strongly considering getting a midi lathe with variable speed. I would need to be able to extend the bed every now and would need a swing of at least 12 inches so I can turn plates of 12 inches or less. My budget is around the $1000 mark and I think the contenders are the Jet 1220/1221, Teknatool Nova Comet II Midi Lathe and Gary Pye's midi lathe. I think the Jet is probably leading as it has a reverse and has a speed setting which goes from 200 to over 4000 rpm which would pretty much see me out for what I need to do. Are there any others I should look at and would I be disappointed with the Jet?

[brendan stemp]

I would suggest you look at a Woodfast, from Woodfast Australia. A good lathe, like the others you have suggested, but you will always have a really good back up service with them.

[Tiger]

G'day Brendan, the Woodfast equivalent is at least a couple of hundred dollars more than the others, less indexing detentes and possibly smaller motor. I'm favouring the Jet as it has the same spindle thread as my other lathe as well as one belt setting that will cover most of my turning projects. Still have an open mind as there's probably not a lot in it as far as the specs go but would the Woodfast be that much better than the others, if so how, is the construction or are we just paying more for some support which may never be needed?

[Paul39]

G'day Brendan, the Woodfast equivalent is at least a couple of hundred dollars more than the others, less indexing detentes and possibly smaller motor. I'm favouring the Jet as it has the same spindle thread as my other lathe as well as one belt setting that will cover most of my turning projects. Still have an open mind as there's probably not a lot in it as far as the specs go but would the Woodfast be that much better than the others, if so how, is the construction or are we just paying more for some support which may never be needed?

I think a person needs to at least look at and make all the adjustments and belt change on the various lathes in question before making a decision.

It would be best to actually turn something on each of them.

Using one lathe may make one person crazy, and another person fall in love with it.

My first "good" lathe is a made in Germany 350mm swing Hegner, the second is a 20 inch swing short bed Woodfast, both 15 to 20 years old. The Woodfast is so much more convenient to use because of the lever fixing banjo and better working lever fixing tailstock.

Belt change is about the same, with motor behind the lathe on the Hegner, and down low in the cabinet on the Woodfast.

[Mobyturns]

I think a person needs to at least look at and make all the adjustments and belt change on the various lathes in question before making a decision.

It would be best to actually turn something on each of them.

Using one lathe may make one person crazy, and another person fall in love with it.

My first "good" lathe is a made in Germany 350mm swing Hegner, the second is a 20 inch swing short bed Woodfast, both 15 to 20 years old. The Woodfast is so much more convenient to use because of the lever fixing banjo and better working lever fixing tailstock.

Belt change is about the same, with motor behind the lathe on the Hegner, and down low in the cabinet on the Woodfast.

Many of the new midi lathes have some nice features particularly EVS. Personally I would be more inclined to look for an older Vicmarc VL100 6 speed & then source an EVS for it. Hopefully Vicmarc will look at retrofit EVS for VL100's as there are a lot of very good lathes about that are more robust & far better quality than what is being sold now.

I agree, nice to test drive or at least see one going through its paces.

Sadly these days floor stock & showrooms are becoming a thing of the past, a test drive even rarer. Long live the wood shows for those who can get there. Few retailers would accept a 14 day no questions asked refund, freight return paid, on a wood lathe. Yet the customer is expected to make purchasing decisions involving considerable amounts of hard earned on a few photos online and whatever product/customer reviews they place any credibility in, then assemble, commission & debug whatever arrives and also to carry the risk of damage in transit.

[brendan stemp]

Tiger, my opinion on the Woodfast is based on what I have seen and heard. Perhaps I should've kept quiet given I haven't used one.

I think that many of these small lathes are very similar (many are made in the same factory and branded differently) and I know the Jet brand is generally good. What I like about the lathes that come out of Woodfast Australia is that they go over each lathe before they ship it out. They inspect it closely to make sure it is all operating well and, as said before, they will give you great after sales service if anything should go wrong.

If you are leaning towards the Jet and you think it specs-up better than some of the others then, based on brand alone I think you should be right. I would've thought there would be more on the forum who have used the various midis who would be better qualified than me so I hope they will contribute. Personally, I have the Vicmarc VL150 which would have to be the best midi lathe in the world (no exaggeration) but I know these are a bit beyond the reach of your budget.

[Tiger]

Thanks for the comments. Love the Vicmarcs but the VL100 has a b/w centres capability of only 350 mm, that would be a little restrictive and I'd be adding the extension bed often. A little out of my price range once you add the variable speed but they are great machines. The Woodfasts have contradictory opinions, spoken to people around the club and they say the old Woodfasts were great, the new ones not so. Gary Pye won't have any lathes for quite a few weeks yet. Jet also has opinion which is divided (totally contrary opinions mainly surrounding the electronics) and upon checking may not have a reverse option so back to square 1, learning to love my WL-18 a little more each day ........

[Ironwood]

Tiger, I went through the research process on the various offerings of midi lathes about 2 months ago. I started a thread on here and got a lot of good input.
After quite a bit of to'ing and fro'ing, I ended up buying a GPW midi ( 6 speed ).

I have held off replying to your thread so far because I haven't even turned it on yet, let alone turned anything with it.
I am still building a bench for it, and fitting a 1hp 3 phase motor and VFD.
I will start a new thread on my build, soon when I get a bit more done, but until then I can't give much of a review of the lathe except to say it looks to be well built, the machining on the bed-ways looks good. the centres line up perfectly, the tolerances between the tailstock and the bed-ways is very good with little sideways movement. So far I am happy with my purchase.

[Tiger]

Hi Brad, saw your post, am strongly considering the GPW model bit small on the between centres but will be interested in your feedback. Spoke to GPW they won't have any in stock for a few weeks yet so will have to wait anyway.

[Ironwood]

Hi Tiger, I bought mine to be a dedicated pen lathe, probably will see a bit of larger work at times though.
I have a larger lathe with 48" between centres that I will continue to use for longer spindle work.


There are bolt holes in the end of the bed on my midi, I assume extentions can be fitted.
GPW has the Jet extensions, maybe they will fit. Might be worth asking them if you need to have a longer lathe.

[delbs]

Are you purchasing a gpw lathe when theyre in stock again tiger?

[Tiger]

Are you purchasing a gpw lathe when theyre in stock again tiger?

not sure, still doing research, yet to find a machine that does everything i want.

[powderpost]

As mentioned in a previous post, I have a Woodfast 305 lathe. I thought the Woodfast 305 EVS model was too dear, so bought the six speed manual change version. I do a lot of hand thread chasing that requires a lot of speed changing. That got me down so I bought an EVS generic kit and fitted it with minimum trouble. The cost of that conversion and the lathe was considerably cheaper than the Woodast EVS model. For "normal" turning, eg pens, spindle and bowls etc. the manual speed changing was not an issue, as I did not find it necessary to change speeds all that othen.

I have owned and used a Tecknatool Comet and a Jet mini and found them both to be too small for what I do. I emphasize "for what I do", the machines were turned over not because they defective, only because they did not suit me. The Woodfast machine is a robust machine that can be extended and suited me better than the others.

The final choice comes down probably to price, convenience and product support.
Good hunting...

Jim

[delbs]

Was there much involved in fitting the generic evs to the m305. I am really interested in the m305 but your right theres a huge price difference for the manual and evs version.. did you have to resize/machine down the size of arbor or anything?

[NCPaladin]

I can only respond to the Comet2 which I purchased for my daughter about 1.5 years ago. So far no problems. You do have to go slower with any mini.
Assuming the 100+ year old standard of 1 Hp = 746 watts. The Nova list in the manual 750 watts or .74 HP. The Jet at 6 amps producing 1 HP goes a long way in solving the worlds energy crisis; providing 108%+ effectiveness in converting electrical to require HP. (the Delta 46- is 8 amp, does to produce 1 hp in the 80-90 efficiency range of dc motors).
The Nova does have reverse. The Jet is heavier and has a longer bed.
I have read two reviews of the Jet 1221 torque. One stated it would almost break your arm if you tried to hold an item and start in the slowest setting. The other stated he could stop an item spinning using two fingers when on the lowest setting. So???
The Nova is only 16" where the Jet is 21". Even after adding $100 for the bed extension the Nova is
$200 less than the Jet. ($500 normal Comet vs $800 Jet).

[delbs]

Ive been reading up on the comet 2. It looks really good. The price and reverse spindle with variable speed. Huge amount of accessories available looks pretty good. Wonder where they are made?

[hiroller]

Made in China by Kiwi owned company.
About Teknatool International (http://www.teknatool.com/New_Zealand.htm)

[powderpost]

Was there much involved in fitting the generic evs to the m305. I am really interested in the m305 but your right theres a huge price difference for the manual and evs version.. did you have to resize/machine down the size of arbor or anything?
I am making an assumption that your questions were being asked of me.

I had to bore two new holes in the motor mount plate to suit the new motor, The drive pulley slipped off the old motor and fitted perfectly onto the new motor. You will need to build a bracket for the switch gear. That will depend on if you want the switch on the lathe or on the bench. The conversion was simple with a little bit of thought.

Jim

[delbs]

Woops yes sorry that was for you Jim. Thanks for the answer. Where did you buy your conversion kit?

[powderpost]

Woops yes sorry that was for you Jim. Thanks for the answer. Where did you buy your conversion kit?

David Drescher at South East Wood Turning Supplies. Have a look at Jim Carrolls' web site as well, he is a sponsor of this board.

Jim

[Ironwood]

If you are going to buy a VS lathe, make sure you look closely at the speed ranges to make sure the range is wide enough to suit what you want to do. Otherwise you will be changing belt speeds more often than you had hoped for.

While an AC motor with a VFD will give you a very wide useable speed range, at least one of the lathes I looked at with a VS DC motor had quite narrow speed ranges.