Jet Mini Lathe ?

[George]

If you want the best turning, you'll be firmly referenced to the toolrest. Keeping things steady there is what allows them to be round. Doesn't even have to be you holding the tool, really. 680 on squares from 5 to 15 diagonal works fine.

I use a pin chuck. Bore a 1" hole in where I want the center to be and draw the tailstock up tight. Makes for a nice stable relationship between the piece, the tool and the rest. Another non-player.

Well, I don't rest my roughing gouge on the banjo. It's too low. The rest should allow me to traverse a sufficient diadonal to reduce in diameter so I can move the whole into the space I've created underneath.

I've got three myself. The one that came with, a shorter one for stuff that's short, and a curved one for trimming inside. Don't really need the third, but it's great for tool control on a continuous peel, where I might have to move my rest a couple times.

Then listen to the voice of experience. You can't turn too slow - no motion is called carving, though. You can turn too fast, and that's dangerous. What makes you a turner is the shavings you make, and they're the same at any speed, as long as you can maintain control.

[George]

Ever look at what a sharp chisel can do? Even with the wood motionless?

[J T]

Fri, Nov 17, 2006, 5:24am (EST-1) [e-mail] (Prometheus) doth sayeth: Maybe so, JOAT- I'm the type that will stay up for 24 hours straight after a big tool purchase to unpack, set up, and use my new toy- so I haven't really tried just owning something that stays in the package. Though I'd agree- putzing with a big machine is funner. But you've got to know yor budget and level of interest before dropping all your savings on a single tool.

It was a time of chaos, a different lifetime, a different world.

Normally I'd agree with you. But the money was available, the lathe became possible, I could get it, and not be able to set it up; or I could pass. It wasn't saving, it didn't come out of the budget, It was disposable income that became available, and I'd lusted after a lathe for a long, long, time. I took the bird in the hand approach - which was good, because shortly after, the price on that model lathe pretty much doubled - I'd never have been able to get one.

It's been awhile, but I'm not in a position where I can get it set up and finally use it. Feels good. The way t hings were, even if I'd got it set up long ago, I'd still not have been able to use it until now. Basically life is good.

JOAT Democratic justice. One man, one rock.

[Prometheus]

Well, I can understand that- If I were to suddenly come into just enough money to get myself a good mill or engine lathe, and didn't have room for it or enough money for the inserts, cutters, or 3-phase power, I guess I'd get it and store it, too. You're in kind of a special case there- I was talking more about a guy who gets something like a contractor's saw, has the room for it, and just lets it sit unopened for 10 years. Never been able to wrap my head around that, but I've seen it a number of times.

Good deal- have fun!

[J T]

Sat, Nov 18, 2006, 11:22pm (EST-1) [e-mail] (Prometheus) doth sayeth: I was talking more about a guy who gets something like a contractor's saw, has the room for it, and just lets it sit unopened for

10 years. Never been able to wrap my head around that, but I've seen it a number of times.

I've heard of people doing that, but never ran across it myself. I couldn't do it, I'd have to set it up and use it, ASAP.

JOAT Democratic justice. One man, one rock.