Thread: Teknatool Nova Comet II Midi Lathe

If you want a proper midi lathe you cant go past the Woodfast Variable Speed Midi Lathe

The next best option is the Vicmarc VL150 Midi Lathe

I have owned and enjoyed using a Nova Mercury for about 10 years now. Overall a very good solid mini lathe that produced a lot of small items.

My only issue with Teknatool was their complete lack of interest in sourcing or supplying a replacement VS unit & motor when ours died. Their response was effectively - its a discontinued model - go away. We sourced a replacement from another generic lathe which runs fine and has kept the little beastie running well.

I would agree with Jim Carroll's recommendations. VL150 is the way to go if you have the money.

The two lathes posted don't meet the price requirement. That is a lot of money for a midi lathe although I have no doubt they are great lathes. I have not had the little Nova lathe, but I did have the Nova 1624-44 and it was a great lathe, although it does not have VS. I think Nova make a good product, with the exception of their sharpening system, mine went the scrap metal pile. The Nova midi, Jet, Rikon, Delta, etc. are all good midi lathes and in their price range it would come down to what was most convenient to purchase and at the best price. Just my opinion.

Boy, that Vicmarc is a beautiful lathe!

They have made the midi Nova lathe to suit the american market.

They put on a 1"x8 thread and then piled on a whole lot of useless gadgets.

Change the thread to M30 to suit our local market and dump the gadgets and it may be half a good lathe.

I have had a Teknatool Comet, Jet mini and a Woodfast midi. The Comet and Jet machines were too small for me, but I found them all good solid machines. After sales service can be a problem. I currently have and use a Woodfast midi and I am very happy with it. I bought the standard belt change version and fitted a after market variable speed motor. The belt model is listed at $419.00 and the variable speed model is closer to $1150.00. The after market variable speed kit was about $260.00 from memory. It is now a very , very good machine that certainly fills the bill. I do not have any commercial interest in any of the machines mentioned.
Jim

I have to agree with the Woodfast M305X as being a good lathe. Our club has one of them and it is a well made machine with plenty of grunt. The one we have is the yellow version. I have seen a couple of the new green ones recently and the quality of castings are very rough compared to the yellow ones. Price has gone up a bit in the last 12 months.

Ok
Well I think I will have to have a look at the woodfast one then too.
In the coming weeks
Thanks lots for the replies

Dai sensi
Pm you Neil not sure if you saw it.
Matt

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Dai sensi
Pm you Neil not sure if you saw it.
Matt

PM sent

I have one that I purchased for my daughter about a year ago. No problems so far.
It may be a useless gadget but the ginding wheel attached keeps my daughter from having to move something else when she moves the lathe to turn.
Power seems decent (3/4 hp) and origional problems (peeling labels and unaligned centers have been corrected) on current models.
Mike

Does anyone know how to take the left hand-wheel off the Nova Comet midi so I can put on the coupler for the other attachments ?

Originally Posted by Thunder54

Does anyone know how to take the left hand-wheel off the Nova Comet midi so I can put on the coupler for the other attachments ?

Left hand thread perhaps?

Thank you, problem solved. Too easy.