Wood Lathe MC900- Are they anygood????

[swiftden]

There is one of these lathes advertised for $450 in the paper. Ive been told that they have 900mm between centres, 3/4 hp , varible 580 - 3000rpm and that the head can swivel out to turn large bowls. also comes with 4 jaw chuck and chisels. is this a good price??? is it a good machine???

[DanP]

Yep.

[DanP]

Just to clarify, that's yep to both questions. IMO the best entry level lathe in the market. It will keep you going for years.

Dan

[Ian007]

I had a look at this machine on Sunday arvo at Ingle Farm while the machine did in fact spin up to around the 3000 rev mark the plate on the front of the machine said top speed was 2000 revs. Older style of machine a bit of rust over the bed ect which should clean up OK. there was a cheap set of chisels with it and a teknatool chuck the old style, a bit of rust on this also.

I asked him what his bottom dollar was and she said $425 (wonder who wears the pants there then?)

I know that a new MC900 is $395 as listed on the Leda website (which I could get cheaper than that anyways) so I figure an older style unit should be about half price so $200 plus a bit for the chisels and the chuck so I figure $250-$300 tops.

Hope that helps

Cheers Ian :)

[DanP]

Wasn't aware it was 2nd hand. In that case the answers respectively are no and yes.

[swiftden]

Ah sorry forgot to mention 2nd hand . I take it you saw it in the Advertiser too. I am looking for a basic lathe for home use thats all. thanks for the insight on price of a new one . guess il lkeep looking .

[hughie]

Hi Swiftden,
I have a MC900 or ML20 as it is called by the local distributor. It seems fine no vibration to speak of. Have fitted a Teknatool chuck to it and it goes well.A good buy at the price, go for it.

The only concern I have is the motor gets real hot after prolonged use, a bit to hot to touch. So I cut away the mesh end of the fan cowl as it was a bit restrictive on the air flow and fitted a further cowl around the top side of the motor to direct the cooling air across it. I have yet to give a good work out to see if this is effective.
Because of the custom foot mount and the extended shaft it would be difficult to replace the motor, probably more than the original purchase price of the Lathe. So It maybe better to get it rewound if it dies.
Failing that I may fit a 240v 150mm fan to the rear in place of the motor fan, have done this before and it is very effective.
hughie

[hooppine]

How long is prolonged use. I use my machine (a MC900) for everything and have yet to have it heat. On Monday and Tuesday I turned a heap of cutlery handles and pate bowls which is not much but Tuesday I was spinning 50cm lazy susan tops made from 82 X 19 h/wood flooring to true up the edge (the jigsaw does not go exactly were it is told to go) and thin the edges back for about 100mm to 10mm thick. They are very heavy. With two to do there was no heating and a lot of spinning

[Dean]

Using MC-900 here with Supernova chuck. Has worked fine so far. Motor does get rather warm at times but its still going :)

If anything, the tool rest assembly is a bit fiddly. In fact, i'm looking for a solid 1 piece base assembly to replace it with (for the majority of turning work). Other than that, its a pretty good entry level unit that will take all the accessories most other good lathes will.

[arose62]

I got the bigger model (MC1100) for $360 from Hare & Forbes in Parramatta. It was an ex-demo model (couple of hours use), but came with full warranty.

You'd have to find out a bit more about the chuck and chisels.

Chucks go from $39 for cheap-and-nasty to $300-ish for a good one (Vicmarc, Teknatool Nova)

Chisels are the same. $30 for a set of 6 or 8 cheapies up to coupla hunnert for a single really good big one.

Cheers,
Andrew

[lola]

HEY SWIFTDEN

mate it sounds a bit expensive unless it's fairly new and comes with lots of extras such as chucks,tools etc
just bought ourselves a mc1100 package (cheap chuck and tools) and are very happy with machine . it will get you going and can't see any faults for the novice . can give it a flogging (like we do)
great entry level choice

[dazzler]

Hi all


did anyone notice how much these were going for a the WWW show?

cheers

dazzler

[swiftden]

Hello

I purchased a Leda H-1000 (see other post) so this thread can end. thanks for all the comments

[reeves]

souns like good deal, grab it..will cost u more for decent chisels and chucks..
check the belt wear anf pully bearing wear...

cheeeers
john