Anyone own a Rigid WL12000 lathe?

[samson]

I'm thinking of buying one for $150.00.

What are your thoughs?

S.

[BillB]

Had one for a couple of years. It's lightweight, OK for turning spindles and such, headstock bearings and shaft are too light to easily turn any serious chunks of wood, lots of vibration - I tried numerous times, usually with some success, occasionally with spectacular failure.

After getting a better lathe it is amazing how much easier and better my turnings are.

Good to learn with, can get your money out of it if you don't like turning or the bug bites bad and you buy a better lathe later.

Bill

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

So what do you have now?

[BillB]

Delta 1440. Not favored by many, but has worked very well for me. Someday a Oneway will replace it.

Bill

[samson]

As a followup, I did buy the Ridgid 12000 as an introductory lathe. I am very pleased with it. The person who owned it before me got it as a present and used it only three times, in part, I'm sure, because he mounted the tailstock backwards, making any actual work impossible.

I took a lot of time to balance the legs so it sits firmly on a concrete base. So far, it has turned a piece as large as 3 1/2" X 20" without much vibration at all. I haven't tried anything bigger than that yet. I'm just practicing the basic cuts right now and learning that I really do need a bench grinder.

I love the creativity of turning wood. It's just a lot of fun. I can imagine dropping 700 or 800 dollars on a good used Delta someday, but for now, this lathe will do.

S.

[nailshooter41]

Try this one. I think probably 50% of the turners out there own one of these, probably because they come with decent wheels, and about every three months they are on sale at Woodcraft for about $80.

I love the creativity of turning wood. It's just a lot of fun. I >can imagine dropping 700 or 800 dollars on a good used >Delta someday, but for now, this lathe will do.

A lot of folks started with that lathe and turned out some really good work. It is the same as the old Sears monotube, a design they have sold for probably 40+ years. It is a great machine to use to decide just how much you actually like to turn wood. As they say, the lathe is the cheap part.

Since you have made it over here on the newsgroup part of the internet, try the newsgroup tha specializes in round stuff over here: rec.crafts.woodturning

Lots of good webpages over there by some of the frequent contributors, tips to get started, technique and finsihing questions/answers, etc. And the archives are great.

Robert