Thread: Buying A Lathe "Pen Lathe"

Hi all

Well just to update all who replied to my post. I found a pen lathe & now I feel alot better. I found it,.....well FXST found it for me thx bro...in Vic I paid for it last night so it should be here soon yay "I'm a happy little vegemite, as happy as can"..........oops!! sorry all All Good here now thx again to all who offered advice tips etc "CRISIS AVERTED"

cool now we can see some new pens coming through. That always great
Toni

Originally Posted by Stuart.

Damn.....I feel my arm slowly twisting worse and worse.

GMC

JET Mini

Do it
Do it
Do it
Do it

Good on ya Rick - enjoy.

Guys - thanks for the advice, and arm twisting.....I'm hoping the Woodworking Warehouse might let me try one out - have to ask.

It's like not a good idea - like driving a 1982 Lada, then taking a 2006 BMW for a drive, then trying to go back to the Lada. If I get spoilt with the test drive, I'm sunk- at least at the moment I have no idea what I am missing.

Wonder if the analogy also applies to my Triton workbench and a new Jet cabinet saw.....?

Hi

I got my lathe from

"Advanced Woodmachine Technologies"

and it was a sweet deal "A latheing we will go.....A latheing we will go"

bye for now
Rick

a hearty lathing to ya Rickpz1

Originally Posted by Rickpz1

"A latheing we will go.....A latheing we will go"

So, how soon before we start seeing pix? Enjoy!

Originally Posted by Stuart

Wonder if the analogy also applies to my Triton workbench and a new Jet cabinet saw.....?

Not really.

That's more like comparing a base-model Commodore to a top o' the line BMW. One's far more enjoyable to use and better engineered, but they both get the job done.

O.K. Looking at all the nice pens on this site is really making me itch for a lathe. I've never used one before and would like to start out small. I'm considering a Turncrafter Pro from PennState Industries. For $75 more I can have the same lathe with variable speed. How important is this feature? Is it critical or just a nicety?

I make pens quite happily on my VL 300. I also bought a small second hand Carbatec which I use at demos etc.
I stiil turn them on the Vicmarc at home.
Remember you may want to expand your repertoire one day, and you can make small things on a big lathe but you can't turn big things on a small one! Always buy the biggest ,bestest lathe you can afford.
Or am I stating the bleeding obvious?

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

That's more like comparing a base-model Commodore to a top o' the line BMW. One's far more enjoyable to use and better engineered, but they both get the job done.

And reverting back to the Beemer after the pleasure Holden isn't as traumatic

Go Holden (but Rick should loose the championship - winning is fine, but win in a fair fight - not that crap - having a team member deliberately hold up your competition, then knock him off the road in the next race, destroying his car - not cool) :mad:

Originally Posted by ciscokid

O.K. Looking at all the nice pens on this site is really making me itch for a lathe. I've never used one before and would like to start out small. I'm considering a Turncrafter Pro from PennState Industries. For $75 more I can have the same lathe with variable speed. How important is this feature? Is it critical or just a nicety?

More than a nicety, but not critical.

Ideally a pen is turned at high RPM, sanded at low RPM and finished at highish RPM. With variable speed this is just a flick of the wrist, while with the ol' pulley-change system I'd say most of us just leave it running flat out for all tasks.

Lowering the RPM for sanding means the paper will last longer, cut better and reduces the chance of the blank cracking/exploding from overheating. But given proper sanding techniques in the first place, they're only marginal improvements.

As I said above: more than a nicety, but not critical. I'd love to have var speed on my pen lathe but don't think the price hike merits it. [shrug] Mind you, I do have var speed on my large lathes and wouldn't do without it.

so SKew do you spen time going up and down through the speeds. I do all mine on the same cog? I don't up or down for nothing when making pens all done i think on the 1800 cog, the middle one I think
bye
Toni

Nup. I'm lazy... pens are done on 2nd highest speed from start to finish and Lace Bobbins at flat out.

If I'm drilling my blanks on the lathe, then I'll drop it to the slowest speed... 'cos drilling at high RPM is asking for trouble! That's why I prefer to prepare my blanks in batches of 50 or so. Drill 'em all out in one go at slow RPMs then reset the speed to "normal" and take my time turning 'em.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

If I'm drilling my blanks on the lathe, then I'll drop it to the slowest speed... 'cos drilling at high RPM is asking for trouble!

Hmm.. ok, that answers one question.

I need to remember that the bench press has pulleys I can move, too.

Sometimes when I'm drilling bloodwood or olive and I don't clear the chips fast enough (or often enough) I'll hear a 'pop' and things will fly from inside the blank. Then a little puff of white smoke .. and the smell of cooking ..
(bloodwood and olive both smell great when overheated .. )