Opinions about this lathe

[anonymous]

Anyone have an opinion about this lathe?

[Jim Behning]

I see you can turn computer monitors with the lathe. Not every lathe can do that.

[samson]

Those 8088s can really deliver the power.

[George Max]

You'll get responses here, but I'll bet you'll get more on rec.crafts.woodturning

[George]

Buck fifty. Not that you can't turn on it, but it's nothing recognizable as a name or clone, which means break is broke forever most likely. Strange-looking toolrest, that's for sure.

I've never had good experiences with bars for a bed, either.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Penn State is not a "high quality" lathe. Nothing wrong with them, I own a bit of stuff from Penn State, but "high quality" they are not.

[Prometheus]

picture.

I don't care for the ways being tubes instead of cast iron- it not only seems cheap, but it also makes that "banjo-type object" the toolrest is mounted in a lot less useful, as it doesn't appear to be capable of being set at an angle or parallel to the ways (there could be a lot I'm missing there from the picture.)

The tool rest is wierd. Who knows, it could be an excellent design, but it's definately an oddball.

I guess if it were me, I'd pass on it for $250. If he'd take $100, I might try something like that out for the heck of it- but it seems a tad expensive for an experiment to me. One would hope that Penn State has accessories for it, but you never really know.

$250 gets you close to a Jet Midi or a Delta Mini when they go on sale, and an extra $40-50 will put a bed extension on one if you need that extra length. $100-150 will get you a brand new off-brand like Wilton if you're just looking for something to mess around on, and they're a lot closer to standard design.