Axminster AW305WL lathe

[Richard Evans]

I have quite a lot of experience on a metal lathe, thinking of moving into wood turning. The Axminster AW305WL looks good in terms of budget and available space in the workshop. Does anyone have any comments or opinions on this lathe? I'll be looking for a budget chuck- possibly the Record Power SC2? I have Sorby 6 and 13 mm gouges, and a 13mm skew chisel. Apart from a parting tool, is anything else absolutely essential? Thank you for any opinions!

 

[Richard_C]

The SC2 is a nice little chuck, I have one as well as larger ones. I happily turn bowls up to 9 inches with the SC2. There are 2 families of gouges, bowl gouges and spindle gouges of which spindle roughing gouges are a subset they are very different so check what you have. Horses for courses as they say. If you've not discovered already, spindle work is where the grain runs parallel to the bed, boxes, candlesticks and suchlike; cross grain is where the grain runs at right angles to the bed, bowls, platters and so on. Bowl gouges are much stronger to cope with the changes in the grain arriving at the cutting edge, spindle gouges are lighter and better for shaping and precision work. I would add a domed/round headed scraper to your set and you will need a means to sharpen I know nothing of that lathe, the RP 305 sounds like it might be similar and they sometimes do package deals with a discounted chuck. I had one and it did me fine for a few years.

 

[Richard Evans]

Thank you Richard. I already have a half inch scraper, forgot when I wrote the previous post. I think the gouges are bowl gouges, I'll check. They cut pretty well messing about with a piece of pear wood in the metal lathe. I have a Scheppach wet sharpener as well as an ordinary bench grinder. It's really just the decision about the lathe...

 

[alex robinson]

I have quite a lot of experience on a metal lathe, thinking of moving into wood turning. The Axminster AW305WL looks good in terms of budget and available space in the workshop. Does anyone have any comments or opinions on this lathe? I'll be looking for a budget chuck- possibly the Record Power SC2? I have Sorby 6 and 13 mm gouges, and a 13mm skew chisel. Apart from a parting tool, is anything else absolutely essential? Thank you for any opinions!

It depends on what you are wanting to make. The chuck might struggle to cope with the maximum sized bowl you could make on that lathe. At least you already have tools and sharpening sorted as that is an expensive bit that people frequently forget.

As for the lathe, it again depends on what you want to prioritise. The electronic variable speed is nice, and buying from new means you get a warranty. If you think you will want to make biggish bowls I would suggest looking at second hand as you can get a lot more for your money. Forced to choose I would go for capacity over the convenience of variable speed. I have had a swivel head on both the lathes I have owned and found it really useful.

Another option if length is limited in the workshop would be an old bowl lathe eg a Denford Viceroy or Union Graduate (though Graduates tend to go for a lot more than your budget). You could always add variable speed in the future if you wanted. This would allow much bigger bowls, and weight is your friend when it comes to out of balance pieces! Equally if you want to make pens or other spindle turning, the greater weight and swing would be irrelevant.

A quick eBay search throws up this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196573333130? which is a lot of lathe for the money, but 3 phase so probably no use. No idea if the cheap inverters you see on Amazon are any good.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

There are used lathes that are sold by members here from time to time. Look in the for sale section.

 

[Richard Evans]

It depends on what you are wanting to make. The chuck might struggle to cope with the maximum sized bowl you could make on that lathe. At least you already have tools and sharpening sorted as that is an expensive bit that people frequently forget.

As for the lathe, it again depends on what you want to prioritise. The electronic variable speed is nice, and buying from new means you get a warranty. If you think you will want to make biggish bowls I would suggest looking at second hand as you can get a lot more for your money. Forced to choose I would go for capacity over the convenience of variable speed. I have had a swivel head on both the lathes I have owned and found it really useful.

Another option if length is limited in the workshop would be an old bowl lathe eg a Denford Viceroy or Union Graduate (though Graduates tend to go for a lot more than your budget). You could always add variable speed in the future if you wanted. This would allow much bigger bowls, and weight is your friend when it comes to out of balance pieces! Equally if you want to make pens or other spindle turning, the greater weight and swing would be irrelevant.

A quick eBay search throws up this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196573333130? which is a lot of lathe for the money, but 3 phase so probably no use. No idea if the cheap inverters you see on Amazon are any good.

It's probably mostly spindle work with some smaller bowls. That Denford lathe is a mighty beast, not really suitable but thanks for looking. I have a Denford CNC milling machine and it is a superb bit of kit. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Go for a large one if you've the space. You can turn miniature stuff on a huge lathe but not the converse.

 

[Richard Evans]

Go for a large one if you've the space. You can turn miniature stuff on a huge lathe but not the converse.

Unfortunately, space is very tight- the Axminster is a nice fit, but nothing bigger.

 

[alex robinson]

It's probably mostly spindle work with some smaller bowls. That Denford lathe is a mighty beast, not really suitable but thanks for looking. I have a Denford CNC milling machine and it is a superb bit of kit. Thanks for the thoughts.

Fair enough. I am fundamentally childish so find making big stuff entertaining!

If you are mostly keen on spindle stuff, the Axminster looks as good a compromise as anything. Very compact yet with a 12 inch swing. I find most lathes are pointlessly long - I have never come close to using the full length, yet have frequently wanted more height.

 

[Richard Evans]

Fair enough. I am fundamentally childish so find making big stuff entertaining!

If you are mostly keen on spindle stuff, the Axminster looks as good a compromise as anything. Very compact yet with a 12 inch swing. I find most lathes are pointlessly long - I have never come close to using the full length, yet have frequently wanted more height.

Thanks for that. I think the Axminster will be the one.