Sorry Larry but...

Tom Niemi

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this is advertised on Rocklers website and I am asking you turners if this is a good starter lathe http://www.rockler.com/excelsior-mini-lathe-with-3-piece-rockler-carbide-pen-turning-tool-set, yes tools are pen_bottle stopper tools, which I like, it can turn up to a 10" bowl, which is fine....for now, 17 3/4" spindles, 5 speed not verible speed (sp) but seems all the basic at a great price, is this worth it and is it a good lathe? I have been looking for one for a while now and seems to be a good one at a affordable price to get into turning, PLEASE FEED BACK as TLOMF has gave me permission to get it and need advise before purchase, don't want to buy badly:p slippery slope, here I come:D
 
Tom my friend i think that the issue with this lathe is the lowest speed it can run at with the pulley belt config.
My view would be to save your coin and try get to the level of one of the Penn State variable speed units.
Bill purchased one recently and to me with the benefit of hindsight from having jumped at a lathe with a cheap price, i would sooner go a few more months and save the extra coin to get a machine that would allow you to start turning at 150 rpm if needed.
I look at this now like a mattress. The extra coin of $220 over the use of this machine and the experience you have using it amortised over that time will be well worth it and if u decide the vortex aint for u then selling the variable speed will be way easier and get you a better second hand value return in my view.


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That one looks like the jet mini lathe that I started out with. I have its big brother, but I use the little guy from to time. Good to practice on until you can get a bigger one.
 
I have an old basic delta midi, and the Two things that I most want in my eventual upgrade lathe are variable speed and a tad more swing. 12-16" would be really nice. If I could only get a 10" swing, but still get VS, I'd jump on that before a larger swing, but still have to change a belt etc...


Ned
 
Tom,
The one at Rockler is priced at $279, I got the Harbor Freight version at $199. with a 20% off coupon.

The only difference I can see from the pictures is the color.

Now I am NOT a turner, I use my lathe rarely but the HF one has done everything I've needed at a price I can live with.

If you are going to do some serious turning I'd probably get something bigger.

Lathe.01.jpgLathe.02.jpg
 
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The spinning virus is claiming another victim, this time very close to Larry! Larry beware! You may be the next one to fall in the vortex!

Jokes apart, congrats for this twist Tom, I look forward to see your bowls, pens or whateveryou turn.
 
Tom, I've had the same lathe for about 4 years. It runs great, works great, is well built, and has plenty of power. It works fine for pens, bottle stoppers, pepper mills, and stuff like that.
It may not have all the bells and whistles as the more expensive but for a basic tool you can't go wrong.
 
If small stuff is all you want to do, then that is quite a good price, but be warned, if you get into it more, you will want more of a lathe.

Heck I have lathe chucks that cost more than that set up :D
 
tom if it were me knowing you ,, i would wait for a lather similar to jim bradleys setup,, another small foot print but much better options and capacities.. dont buy a screw driver with a cheap handle that will twist when you want the screw to move.. there may be better models out there that the turners can get you hooked up with.. but my vote would be to upgrade now rather than later.
 
Paging Bill Arnold.....he just bit the bullet and picked up a 12" Penn State lathe and likes it. Almost twice as much $$ but you get quite a bit more with it too. If I was just getting into the spinny world now, I don't think I'd by anything that wasn't variable speed.

edit: typo
 
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As Stu says . . . It seems the turning market took its queue from the razor blade and inkjet printer business model; its not the cost of admission that gets you, its everything else :D
 
Thanks all, you have made me rethink this. My wish in turning is bowl work and a larger swing and VS make total sense. I guess I will hold off a bit as I will need more available cash for that. Anyway I have PLENTY of flat work that I needs to do:) Larry, we are safe.........for now:p
 
It looks much like the little Jet I have, except for color and is a good little lathe for pens, bottle stoppers, etc....... but the bottom speed is waaaaaaaayy too fast for any kind of out of balance bowl blank... if you want to do bowls....
I use the higher speeds for pens, bottle stoppers, etc... My big lathe is a Jet 1442 with a bottom of 450 and that is pretty fast for some of the blanks I've put on it....
 
OK I may be late to the table but I will stick in my $.02 I had the small Rikon and it had a 12" max turning capacity. I did turn some 12" stuff but it was real tuff. Variable speed would be nice but I never had a problem with just moving the belts but that's just me for me I would want three things. 1. Biggest motor I could get. 2. Low speed 220 RPM would be minimum 150 would be perfect. that could be by changing the belts ratio. That also would leave me more $$$ for the third thing which is capacity. If I had a 14" I would say that is a minimum.
 
bad timing tom, I listed my lathe a couple of months ago, VSJet1220 and I would have brought it to you 2 weeks ago if you would have mentioned you were thinking about it.
I think I let it go for 4, but you could have had it for 350, and that's with the bed extender.
No tax, and delivered to your door for free.
 
Paging Bill Arnold.....he just bit the bullet and picked up a 12" Penn State lathe and likes it. Almost twice as much $$ but you get quite a bit more with it too. If I was just getting into the spinny world now, I don't think I'd by anything that wasn't variable speed.

Yo, I'm back in this world now!

I'm enjoying my PSI Turncrafter 12" VS more and more. I made the right decision for me and, I'm sure, it could be the right lathe for lots of other folks, too. It appears that it is out of stock until the end of October, but we're almost there anyway. I think it's a great bang for the buck. Yes, other brands might have a better fit and finish but there's nothing wrong with the way this lathe works. I got the package with the extension table but you can save a few bucks if you don't think you'll ever need it.

The only "issue" I had was the speeds it was running when I got it. The low speed on each range was higher than advertised. There is a two-stage pulley system to set which range to want to use. The "cure" turned out to be a quick tweak of an adjustment inside the speed control box. I had called PSI tech support and Joe told me to open the box and call him back. The pots for adjusting the low and high speed limits are clearly marked, so I had actually made the adjustment before calling him back.
 
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