Thread: Lathe to accessories cost ratio?

I reckon I am currently at the 1:2 mark, but you don't need to do that right away. WHen I first started, I just did pens (still mostly do). I had a lathe, some cheap chisels, a pen mandrel, and a few hand tools. Pretty soon the grinder and a drill press got added. I didn't add things like the powered dust mask, chuck and jaws, better tools (still cheapish but better) and bandsaw until much later and I survived.

I realize this is being somewhat pedantic, but rather than "cost" I would suggest using the term value or worth, otherwise what happens when you acquire one or other for nothing.

I'm probably at 1:1 which surprises me as wood turning turning is some way from my major interest.
I got my MW lathe for nothing hence my comment above.

Thanks Peter.

Without having kept receipts or bothered to value my basic kit, my sense is that a beginner should allow for 1:1 at least.

BobL, I take your point but value is something you can only judge in retrospect; this is a predictive, prospective, exercise of sorts to offer to beginners.

Hi Rsser,

I'm surprised you left out the, essential to your health, dust extractor. I frequently turn for the whole day. I couldn't imagine operating beyond a few minutes without a dust extractor going. A PPE positive pressure mask IMO is an adjunct for a dust extractor not an alternative. If you just have the PPE the whole workshop will be covered with dust permanently, you wont be able to move without stirring it up and its a real fire hazard where one spark in a dry atmosphere can set a fire to propagate across the whole shop in seconds.

I don't think there is any real answer to your question there are so many variables plus the more spindle turning you do the less tools you need as your skill and confidence gets better you end up using only about 3 with rare use of a very few others.

Probably if you qualify the ratio of what you need on a lathe to tools basis when starting out it would be close to 1:1 if you buy a mid level lathe and have deep drilling gear for lamp bases and spindle boring gear as for pepper grinders plus a steady center rig plus one good chuck with a few sets of jaws if you don't mind changing jaws all the time but you very soon get sick of that palaver.

There's just lots and lots of gear including cutting tools that purport to replace skill or better the outcome or get things sharper or whatever than you can do by any other means. My advice would be to never buy anything like that. In a short period it will end up on your shelf unused with a thick coat of dust over it if you don't have a DE.

Cheers Old pete

Originally Posted by rsser

GJ and I were doing some mental arithmetic on this a while ago and agreed given our tastes for gear it was about 1:2

This was to arrive at a rule of thumb only.

A lot of newbies ask about the cost of getting into the game, and assume that once you've bought the lathe that's pretty much it. And of course we know it can just be the start of a long slippery slide.

Looking at your purchases, is anyone cracking a mere 1:1?

Of course there's lots of variables so this is just about a rough guide.

By essential accessories I mean things like:

• tools
• basic sharpening gear for the tools
• chuck, and a few additional jaws perhaps
• sanding and finishing stuff
• PPE
• measuring tools like verniers, calipers etc

Next level for those who want to source their own blanks would be chainsaw (min.) and bandsaw (pref. addition). Hotwax bath or endgrain-sealer. Cheap moisture meter as an option.

Apologies if this has been thrashed out before.

Old Pete,

Yes, I agree with you for the most part.

Lots of variables. We're just looking at a rule of thumb to guide newbies in their budget planning. We can make recommendations but it comes down to their choice of trade-offs in the end.

(FWIW, I'd reverse your order of protection, and reckon a quality filtered visor or equiv. would be the best of the PPE and as long as you wear it whenever fine particles are in the air, you don't need a box cleaner or dusty (neither of which by themselves are a solution to the problem of air-borne particles anyway). Ideally you'd have both. But this debate has been had elsewhere on the forum and there's no value in rerunning it here.)

I suppose the ratio will likely depend on whether your lathe cost $600 or $6000. But some would argue that if you spend $6000 on the lathe, you have deep enough pockets to spend big on accessories and maintain the ratio.

At a rough guess I'd be in the 1:1 range. My lathe cost me 2K, and I still use the $100 set of basic tools I started with. Over the years I've bought a couple of better tools, including one with carbide inserts. Plus a 3 pt steady and a decent scroll chuck. But I don't think I've spent 2K all up on tools / accessories / sharpening systems.

Yet.

Interesting question, but it depends on what you define as tools.

Do you include the chainsaw you use to cut the tree, the slabbing rig to block it down, the bandsaw to make it into blanks, the battery drill to mount a blank, the angle grinder and dremmel for those odd jobs, the pressure pot and vacuum stuff for casting, the ............. etc. If so for me it would be at least 1:50

If it is just the chisels, the chucks and other stuff you mention, for me it would still be 1:4 or 5

Certainly never 1:1 Only perhaps if you were a beginner pen turner that only made timber slimelines

The trouble is, a good lathe will last for a very long time. Accessories just keep on growing.

Why, just today I was out at Trend Timbers and, well, you all understand....


If you include consumables in the equation, over a few years , they can really mount up.

My lathe is just a little Woodfast. I bought it used from a forum member a couple of years ago. It will last me quite a few more years. I think I paid about $400 for it with a few accessories, a bunch of pen kits (about 70 slimlines) , hundreds of blanks and a small drill press. I have easily spent twice that on chucks, jaws, tools, sandpaper, finishes etc. etc.

I used to figure it was 1 to 1. I think I am around 3 or 4 to one, but then I picked up another lathe..........

robo hippy

Hi Rsser,

You are correct of course about the relative effectiveness of PPE in the form of a pressure hood. I've got one but I can't spend a whole day under it. Usually only wear it when turning and sanding blackwood. For other species I wear a good quality cartridge mask most of the time.but I still have the DE going all the time.

I've got flourescent tubes in spray booth enclosures in my workshop ( I got them at a bankrupt sale) and about every two years I vacuum off the horizontal top of the enclosures, that's a surface about 200 mm by 1300mm ea. enclosure. The average depth of accumulated dust in that period is about 10 mm over the lathes and the two CMS and about half of that elsewhere. That's scary.

I do however in my travels see novice turners setting off on their journey without any form of dust management system and that can only be a portent of very bad things to come down the track when exposure over the years takes hold.

Cheers Old Pete

Originally Posted by rsser

Old Pete,

Yes, I agree with you for the most part.

Lots of variables. We're just looking at a rule of thumb to guide newbies in their budget planning. We can make recommendations but it comes down to their choice of trade-offs in the end.

(FWIW, I'd reverse your order of protection, and reckon a quality filtered visor or equiv. would be the best of the PPE and as long as you wear it whenever fine particles are in the air, you don't need a box cleaner or dusty (neither of which by themselves are a solution to the problem of air-borne particles anyway). Ideally you'd have both. But this debate has been had elsewhere on the forum and there's no value in rerunning it here.)

[The trouble is, a good lathe will last for a very long time. Accessories just keep on growing

.

Ho Ho and dont I know it

[I used to figure it was 1 to 1. I think I am around 3 or 4 to one, but then I picked up another lathe..........

Yep I reckon thats conservative to boot. Looking around my lot, if I bought it retail etc 4+ maybe 5:1

But the real beauty is that LOML has little idea of what I have or its worth/cost.

Yep I bought a big lathe, but then I needed a big chainsaw to satisfy the thirst that the lathe had for wood. No point have a big chainsaw and no trailer, so I bought a trailer. No point have a trailer without a decent vehicle to pull it, and of course, trees don't grow on asphalt, so I need a big 4WD to get there.
Where does it end?

What I do is save up the proceeds of woodturning, and then buy something directly with it, I have bought bandsaw, dust extractor, pushbike, tools etc this way, sort of justifies the time and other expenses. Mind you, I am going to have to turn hundreds of burl platters to pay for the new Vicmarc VL500/600 that I didn't know I needed until some fool posted images of one!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Willy
Jarrahland

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Interesting question, but it depends on what you define as tools.

Do you include the chainsaw you use to cut the tree, the slabbing rig to block it down, the bandsaw to make it into blanks, the battery drill to mount a blank, the angle grinder and dremmel for those odd jobs, the pressure pot and vacuum stuff for casting, the ............. etc. If so for me it would be at least 1:50

If it is just the chisels, the chucks and other stuff you mention, for me it would still be 1:4 or 5

Certainly never 1:1 Only perhaps if you were a beginner pen turner that only made timber slimelines

I balance out the equation by buying or building another lathe.

Originally Posted by

I balance out the equation by buying or building another lathe.

But you still need to add accessories for each lathe