Lathe recommendation? Irl or online?

gomamochi1

Hi
I am looking to pick up a wood lathe for my da who has recently took up woodwork and interested for his manshed! I used to buy chippy tools online in the states from woodworking.com but it would be the same price ere when you take into acc shipping and vat! Any suggestions welcome - prob best with a bowl fitting also. Thanks

Collibosher

Have a read through this recent thread, some good advice there.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057162315

woodturner

There is a really nice Record lathe on Adverts.ie at the moment. It's one of the older ones that was manufactured in Sheffield and not made in China like the newer ones.

DeVore

I eventually settled on this one: https://www.whraitt.ie/p/rp_dml305_lathe_

and it seems like a great little lathe.

One word of warning, the costs mount up and are pretty unavoidable once you open this pandoras box

1. Lathe ~€400

2. Turning tools (and they need to be proper wood turning tools... you cant use hand carving tools for turning, the metal is not up to it). 100-200 euro

3. Safety gear. Absolutely essential. Do yourself a favour and get a full face plate (not just goggles) and a respirator (the 3M half face on I have seems fine). ~€80

4. Dust collection. I got this one... https://www.whraitt.ie/p/rp_dx1000_dust_extractor_ its a little noisy but its decent. €162

5. Various assorted tools chucks faceplates calipers chisels etc... not to mention wood blanks! These also mount up though you can get started without them. I find myself oggling various neat tools online at the moment but other than the wood, they are not Day 1 requirements.

Don't skip the faceplate or the respirator. Dust in your lungs is not something you want and lathes spin things at high speed and you DONT want that in your face, goggles or no goggles.


As a beginner turner, that lathe does me just fine right now. The two drawbacks of it are that it doesnt have a knob for varying the speed, thats done by stopping the machine, opening a panel and changing a belt. Easier than it sounds to be honest. And it has a 30cm clearance for pieces, which while fine for now will ultimately be the reason I switch it at some stage because it limits the size of piece I can turn.
But really, for 400 notes, its a fine machine.

blue5000

I see a few coronet major lathes on ebay.co.uk at present, some starting at 99p . I don't know what the shipping would be like though. Good solid lathe, record bought them out later and their machines are based on these. Here is one, but there are more.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coronet-Major-Woodworking-Lathe-/321391077848?pt=UK_Home_Power_Tools&hash=item4ad466a9d8

recipio

If it does what you want it to do, then no worries. A four jaw chuck is probably the most expensive purchase after a set of tools but its so useful. Various jaws ( dovetail/cylinder/spigot ) can be added as necessary.
In a few years you might want to upgrade and by then you will have the experience that using the Record has given you.