Thread: finally got my lathe.

Cheers paul, i have a foldaway set of imperial ones, i should have a set of metric somewhere, i was mainly looking for a dedicated single one to use at the lathe to keep with it, and i did in a fashion.

I'm right there with you about saving a buck, and vs the time spent and maintenance, as much as i appear to whine and whinge about it, it does keep me occupied and my mind active and i know in some instances i'm better off for it. i could of had the new boxed lathe and accsessories i wanted for about $590-600. What i have now is the same working lathe with the mods and acsessories i wanted and now i've been over it inside and out i know it better for about $470-500. Some money left to spare for other area's, perhaps a pen mandrel and some stock.

My live centre and chuck arrived from mcjings today, was at the door when i woke. Man i'm impressed, phoned it after lunch yesterday, dawdeled to the bank in the arvo yesterday, on the doorstop thismorning. Going to go down and check my allignment.

Neal.

1. Chuck and centre.
2. The old lathe head with ply face.
3. The sandpaperman magic. (ps: you can see the 8mm allen key mounted socket i got for the banjo in this one)

Good progress Neal. I hate nothing more than working around and tripping over stuff, moving something three times becasue you put it in front of something I now need etc. I totally agree it's worth getting to know your machines and other tools. When something needs to be fixed you can have a crack, learn as you go and sort something out. I got my second hand bandsaw home and realised the main al casting that holds the cast iron table was cracked and needed to be replaced. Did not pick it up before I parted with the $ so maybe it happened as we loaded it into the car. Ended up patching it and didn't have to wait nearly as long as a replacement part, or part with more $ (pics are up in the bandsaw forum if you're interested).

I've got the same lathe, I mounted it onto my very solid bench which stops all vibrations. I have made numerous pens, egg cups, a couple of bowls etc, and have had no trouble at all. I use a supa nova chuck.
Recently bought a Woodfast midi lathe, which is in some ways vastly superior to the above, but I don't see any reason not to keep the MC to keep on making pens and smaller things.
Enjoy your machine
Clarky