New Mini-Mustard Lathe

I wonder what kind of market research they did before they pulled the trigger on this one. The picture may be deceiving, but there doesn't look like much room for a large bowl blank without the bed extension or outboard turning set up.
 
Ted, I was thinking the same thing. It's obviously limited to bowls (and bottle stoppers, lol), but it doesn't have the capacity of the Vicmarc VL300. And aside from a bit more swing, it doesn't seem to have much of an advantage over the Nova DVR XP, which is at a considerably lower price point. On the other hand, Powermatic didn't need to spend much money retooling or designing the new model, so it's probably worth a roll of the dice for them to see if the market will buy something like this.
 
Yeah, imho they missed the boat a little on this one. Unless you're really tight on space the price delta vs the 3520 (3,899.99 vs $3,999.99 at cpo today) isn't compelling at all (and I'd work pretty hard to find the space, its 15" of difference so re-arrange the shop! again! for the fifth time! this year!). Not saying that space can't be a problem it is (and there's a good reason why the 18" extension that came with my lathe is still sitting in a box behind it), but still.. They do try to sell the short bed as a feature for "projects where a short bed is convenient", but hey I can just slide up the headstock on my 3520 pretty easily so... yeah...

If it had more shortbed bowl lathe features like a larger swing (maybe a 2424? or 3030?) I could see it maybe being sufficiently differentiated to be interesting to some turners as it is I'm not really sure who the market is other than folks in really really small shops?
 
I had to check the calender and make sure it wasn't April 1st! This seems like an odd lathe to me...The 14" tool rest that comes with it almost seems unusable to me with a 20" bed. :huh::doh:
 
I agree that it is expensive, but I think this is a great addition to their line. Costs them very little to produce as only the bed itself is different than the 3520. 20" between centers is more than I've ever needed for anything except table legs. They make a couple of extensions if you need something longer down the road. I also agree that a 24x24 would have been much cooler, but it would probably be $7000.
 
Top