# axminster m900



## mike s (16 Jan 2011)

what are the pros and cons of this lathe?
thanks


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## gus3049 (16 Jan 2011)

mike s":9iqehfkn said:


> what are the pros and cons of this lathe?
> thanks


Hi and welcome,

As I understand it, the M900 is the same as my Clarke CWL20RV.

It goes round - this is a definite Pro.
It has speed adjustment - another one
Its not the most solid - Con
Its not very powerful - Con. I can stop it doing anything but pretty fine cuts.
On mine at least the head and tail stocks do not line up - this can be adjusted with a bit of bodging but its not great.

For the price, the Axminster is probably good value as its considerably cheaper than the Clarke. However, I have had problems with spare parts as at some stage in its production run, the specs have been changed to the drive pulleys and I don't know if Axminster would be aware of it. My main concern is the lack of clearance between the drive pulleys and the casing. This makes changing a drive belt a bit tricky and its possible - as I did - to crack the front part of the split pulley when forcing -as you have to - the belt on.

My advice would be to try and spend more although I know about budgets clearly or I wouldn't be using one myself.

Having said all that, I have managed to do some reasonable stuff on mine and lets face it, some people create masterpieces on a foot lathe! I would try and find someone near to you on the forum who would be willing to let you try and see how it works.


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## CHJ (16 Jan 2011)

Hi Mike, I started with an even more budget version of the lathe from axminster with the Perform brand.

As said not the most sophisticated of construction or finesse of finish but capable of spinning a bit of wood quite adequately whilst you learn to turn, on the power front the limited power has advantages to a beginner, one it limits the damage you can do to yourself if you get the tooling wrong and more importantly it makes you perfect your tool control and working methods to achieve efficient cutting practices.

All the pieces shown *On this (page 10) and previous pages* was turned on such.

Keep the pulley system checked over for loose locking screws, cleaned and lubricated (motor shaft with grease, heastock with dry PTFE Lub.) at regular intervals, I did it about once a month but I did work it hard.


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## Pvt_Ryan (16 Jan 2011)

If the stand is similar to the 1000 then it's quite rubbish, put it on your own bench or bolt/weight the stand down. Other than that if the lathe itself is similar to the 1000 then its a pretty good bit of kit.


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## SVB (16 Jan 2011)

Hi,

This is the lathe I started with and I really enjoyed turning on it.

I am now lucky to have a vicmarc 300 but I still turn on a 900 when I visit friends and still think it is a great lathe. 

Contrary to the post above, I thought the stand was ok - pressed steel you bolt together but fit a shelf (I made a 'box' shelf and put bricks in the box and it was fine. Speed control fine, as Chas says, a bit of TLC keeps it reliable. 

Overall, you can't beat it for value + 2 MT and 1"x8tpi crucial measurements mean any kit you get may well still be fine if you upgrade in the future.

BRGds
S


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