New Lathe

[wedgtail]

I am considering buying a new Lathe. I am currently looking at the Record Power 510*350. Anyone own one.

[turnerted]

I don't own one , but as far as I know , all record lathes have a M33x3.5 spindle whereas most lathes in Australia have M30X3.5 which could be a problem .
Ted

[wedgtail]

I plan on buying a larger chuck as well I will make sure it comes with that adapter.

[Optimark]

That lathe has been sold under a number of guises. Timbecon in Melbourne had them in stock in 2017 when my Men's Shed bought one with a stand. I saw another different badged one last week in New Zealand.

They are excellent for what they are, but do have some fiddly bits as far as usage goes.

The knob one uses to lock the spindle and do indexing is almost underneath the hand wheel; quite fiddly to use.

The changing of the belts is also a bit fiddly. One requires an Allen key to undo the bolt of the top cover and the bolt of the bottom cover (bottom left side) to enable you to change belt speeds. This is a bit more of a nuisance than it should or could have been.

Apart from thos two things, it delivers exactly what it says it delivers. It is a very user friendly lathe. Out of the two lathes in the shed, this is the smallest by a long shot, but the one everyone, including myself, uses if if it is not being used.

I would like to give you an alternative to think about. Very recently another small or midi lathe started coming onto the market around the world, recently it reached Australia. It is slightly bigger in turning capacity and to my mind is certainly more user friendly in belt changing and the indexing system is better to use.

I haven't turned on one, but I have fiddled with one at Pop's Shed in Melbourne.

The bowl turning capacity is bigger, the rest of the machine is pretty much to the same standard of the Record Power unit.

The Record Power unit does have one major advantage, it is possible to buy a bed extension, which a very good thing in some ways. This will allow you to turn stool and/or table legs, or just longer spindle turning in general.

As for spindle thread size. While M30x3.5 is currently the Australian norm for almost all bigger lathes, the rest of the world is moving, or has moved to M33x3.5. The advantage is that you can order cheap(ish) stuff from the USA or elsewhere as they do run that size spindle thread. Almost nothing is available outside Australia for M30x3.5. Even Vicmarc, who manufacture chucks in Australia, do not sell one of their largest chucks in anything except M33x3.5.

So while second hand stuff could be a bit thin on the ground, increasingly, M33x3.5 stuff will probably gain in Australia over time.

Pop's Shed unit.

https://www.popsshed.com.au/Product_Main.aspx?cid=8&scid=56&pid=7550


This is the same unit, but under a different name in the USA. I post this so you can see various angles as Pop's Shed are quite stingy when it comes to pictures of equipment.

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-34034-14-Inch-Variable-Benchtop/dp/B07KKY81PW

As a matter ofinterest, my Men's Shed are purchasing one of those Pop's Shed midi lathes.

Mick.