Thread: Advice on a Record Power DML320 Lathe

Chris, I think this is the exact same lathe as this one.
https://www.timbecon.com.au/woodturn...20mm-woodlathe

I did a lot of research for a mid-sized lathe for my Men’s Shed, this one seemed to fit the bill with regard to what it could do, the physical size, power output and the capability to use our existing accessories from our other large lathe.

By that I mean a number 2 Morse taper, same size spindle thread and pitch as our other lathe (current Australian standard) ability to take some of our exotic tool rests. It has a 25.4mm post, same as our other lathe.

Ours is 550W and so far has been able to easily do what has been asked of it, which hasn’t been anything arduous, I ran a deep bowl of about 300mm; had to trim some of the edges off the rough timber before it would fit. After that it worked a treat using the lower ratios for roughing then middle ratios for the rest.

The highest speed certainly gets going; speaking of speeds, ours goes faster, according to the read-out, than specified in all three belt settings. Low speed is 250rpm but peaks out higher (cannot remember) mid speed starts at 500rpm but peaks out around 1822-1830. With a load on and turning with a gouge, top speed dropped by about 10rpm. I don’t know exactly but others watching told me during one of our test runs that was the speed drop. Top speed starts out at 1300 and tops out over 4000, I remember that much.

It is a compact but quite sturdy lathe, nothing flash, slightly rough in places. The banjo (what holds the tool rest) was a bit sticky, we pulled it off and cleaned up a very slight burr on the bolt mechanism, works a treat now. Just a couple of things like that, now it is purring along.

Vibration wise, virtually nothing when running empty, minimal to nothing turning between centres. There was a bit of rocking motion when doing the roughing on the large bowl, after that, just normal movement you get when turning on a smallish lathe; and some bigger lathes.

Nuisance points, the covers for the changing of the belts, top and bottom are with an Allen headed bolt, you would be smart if you picked up a T handled spanner; I think its 4mm. Real pain to do with the supplied Allen key. The indexing is at the left near the hand brake wheel and is a bit hard to get to, but it is alright. I use the index lock to wind on and off chucks and in this case, the supplied screw on face plate.

Speaking of the supplied faceplate, it has a grub screw that allows you to lock it very securely onto the spindle, this will allow you to run reverse safely for sanding; if you so desire.

We have the stand, it is adjustable for different heights and is better than I thought it would be. We do not have the extension bed, if I was purchasing one of these lathes for myself, I would certainly have the bed extension. The lathe is easily moved around by one person, but with an extension bed and extended stand, that could be a little more difficult.

So far this lathe has seen a queue of members lining up to use it, in preference to our big lathe. Nothing to do with size, this is just a user friendly lathe.
It has wide bed rails that are quite heavy, I believe these contribute to the way in which everything seems to work so easily and keeps things fairly rigid.

You are going down in physical lathe size, but this mid-sized lathe certainly punches well above its size.

Mick.