Aldi lathe?

There's a lathe at aldi this week what use is it? I'm repairing an old house. would it be useful to me?

I've never used one so I dont know what it would do apart from make curved table legs.

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[george]
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george - dicegeorge
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george - dicegeorge scribbled...

Bloody good lathe if it can do the square bits on that baluster.

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Artic

Reply to
F Murtz

Almost useless. Making stair rails is virtually all it can do that might be useful and you can buy those.

You can also make fruit bowls, table lamps and ummmm?

They are largely a hobbyist toy for making unwanted Christmas gifts. Oh and a hell of a mess (wood chippings).

I know a couple of people have one. A short lived hobby. Then just clutter. I bet there's hundreds on Ebay. It's a problem finding suitable wood too.

Reply to
harryagain

You don't seem to think lathes have any use and make mess.

Could you list useful items made on a "proper lathe" that could not be made on this lathe (not a list of giant objects too big for it)

Reply to
F Murtz

Would seem an item bought that would end up gathering dust ... just how many item do you actually want to 'turn'

Reply to
Rick Hughes

Turning smaller things...

TBH its an "intro" lathe - I expect that if you are going to do much serious work you would very quickly want to upgrade to something better.

Not for that as a general rule... there might be the odd occasion you need to replace a broken spindle or something, and being able to turn your own will let you match the existing ones - but generally there is not much in most old houses that is turned.

On a machine of that size, legs, small bowels, knobs / finials, dishes, candle sticks etc.

Youtube will give you plenty of examples of turning and the kind of kit people go for.

Reply to
John Rumm

Reply to
Adrian

Yup could be a PITA ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

...

I found it simpler to remove an existing one, take it to a wood turner and get him to make up the three replacements I needed, plus a couple of spares.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Indeed, I would not buy one just to do a few spindles. However if I wanted to find out whether I liked wood turning as a hobby etc, then I suppose its a cheap way to dip a toe in the water.

Reply to
John Rumm

On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 12:00:26 AM UTC+1, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrot e:

As an experienced wood turner, this looks a load of c**p, and that's not ju st something-I-can't-think-of talking.

It will only be able to turn between centres which is basic spindle turning - in reality to turn any thing else you need a chuck and that would cost m ore than this machine.

It is the sort of "introduction" machine that would put any one off doing w ood turning as a hobby. If you are really interested see if you can find t he local club and get some introduction that way.

I did a major house renovation and had the benefit of metal turning knowled ge such that I bought a basic metal turning lathe when it came up locally ( "You spent what on that ?") and it paid for itself in a week when I had to turn an obscure old fashioned plumbing fitting.

My experience is that the metal turning lathe has far more use for repairs around the house. The wood lathe came when I retired and in some ways give s me an outlet for some sort of artistic production.

Rob

Reply to
robgraham

That's exactly the position I'm in with this. Tempted, for that very reason, but suspecting it'll get used as a prop for "stuff" after a month. Supply of wood's no problem.

The other question, though - what's something like this going to be like for very basic garage tasks like removing a lip from a brake drum? Don't think I'll need to do much more with metal. I suspect the answer is "utterly s**te"...

Reply to
Adrian

I would say that's a non starter... while turning small wood things in a metal turning lathe is doable, the reverse is verging on the impossible.

The fundamental difference is that it has no tool support carriage or cross slide, no lead screw or power feed etc. While wood turning all you need is a tool rest to support the end of the chisel - the positioning, holding, moving etc is all done directly by you. For metal turning you need a *rigid* mechanical mounting for the cutting tool, that can then me moved precisely and smoothly by way of crank handles etc.

Reply to
John Rumm

My father taught me to turn metal with hand held tools on a tee rest. It is much quicker (he used to be paid piece work) and particularly good if you need one-off parts with complex shapes. It does need quite a bit of skill and is really only suitable for small parts though.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

If you dont want or need a lathe why write about it

Reply to
macbrayne52

Very profound, but until you work out how usenet works, perhaps you might keep that to yourself.

You need to include at least some of the message to which you are responding, especially if you manage not to link to it.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Seconded.

The post he was responding to was a year old. Maybe if we wait another year he will come back to us and let us know if he has figured out how usenet works?

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y Subject: Aldi lathe? From: george - dicegeorge Date: 17 September 2013 00:00:26

There's a lathe at aldi this week what use is it? I'm repairing an old house. would it be useful to me?

I've never used one so I dont know what it would do apart from make curved table legs.

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[george]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reply to
Bill

James Harris did mention a lidaldi lathe offer last week ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

Google gropes at a guess, judging by the @gmail.com. This qroup has suffered less from this stuff than a fair few others.

Reply to
Sam Plusnet

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