Grizzly wood lathe vs Jet vs General, etc

[charflem]

Any ideas concerning the purchase of a lath for an entry level wood turner?

The prices for the Grizzly sound "too good to be true"?

Any experienced turners willing to talk?

Thanks,

CW

[TeamCasa]

I like my Delta. try rec.crafts.woodturning Dave

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[George]

Conventional wisdom says get one of the "Mini" or "Midi" types from the brand-name guys. Realize that your investment will be about twice what you pay for the lathe itself to get turning, almost three times to turn anything you like with convenience.

Then realize how great a bargain old iron, which normally comes with the tools, at least, can be.

From what's being said out there, once you get about the 200 dollar or better range, the Grizz stuff will do. Not a big saving, but some take the funny threads and the rough finish in stride.

[J T]

Fri, Dec 9, 2005, 6:23am George@least (George) who doth publicly claim: Conventional wisdom says get one of the "Mini" or "Midi" types Not a big saving, but some take the funny threads and the rough finish in stride.

Conventional wisdom? I must be listening to "unconventional wisdom" then, because I figure anything you can do on a small lathe, you can do on a big lathe. But, you sure can't do big stuff on a small lathe.

MY HF lathe doesn't have any funny threads, and the finish isn't bad. The "quality" of it is at least at good as a lot of way higher priced lathes. Ran me around $150 tops, lathe, tools, and plywood to make the stand. Plus, it's now painted yellow.

JOAT A rolling stone gathers no moss...unless it's a hobby he does on the weekends.

[RonB]

I saw the Grizzly midi in their Springfield store and it looked pretty good - similar to the Jet. However, their 14" machine didn't quite stand up to the 14" Jets and Deltas in personal inspection or a couple of magazine reviews of a couple years ago. I went with the Jet 1442 but it has increased in price substantially since I bought mine.

RonB

[Joe_Stein]

I like my homebuilt, check it out...

Holidays.

[e-mail] wrote:

[John]

The Grizzly prices are most certainly true.

Although I own an older Delta that I inherited from my dad, a couple of neighbors have Grizzlys and they turn some very nice things with them. (There is no HF in my vicinity so I cannot speak about them.) IMO the skill of the craftsman counts more than the price of the tool he uses. But since you're just starting out I don't think you can go wrong with any 20th Century lathe that you can afford and which will fit in whatever nook of your shop that you have set aside for it. That said, go for the largest turning diameter that you can afford, and don't overlook the gap-bed lathe for this purpose, so that you can turn bowls -- because everybody turns bowls at some point -- and diameter is more important than length when it comes to bowls.

J.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Ralph E Lindberg]

I wouldn't purchase a Grizzly lathe for one reason. The 1x12TPI headstock they use. Rather then the more standard 1X8TPI or 1-1/4x8TPI. This makes face-plates and chucks harder to get

Other then that.... Grizzly is generally worth the price (and I do own other Grizzly tools)

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Closer to 3x

[DJ Delorie]

I have one of the 1x12 headstocks, and have no problem getting chucks and faceplates for it. *Sharing* chucks and headstocks is a different story, and it's always interesting to set up for the craft fairs and demos.

All else being equal, yeah, a 1x8 thread is preferred. That's also a common pipe fitting, so if you're into making your own faceplates and such, it's the way to go.

[Lowell Holmes]

Do you have one of their band saws?

If so, how do you rate it?

[Ralph E Lindberg]

..

yes, although it's not made any more... works and was (as with all their tools) took more time to setup and get rigged then my Delta/DeWalt/Maikita tools