Never used a lathe, have a couple of questions

[Ryandotdee]

......

Thanks for the reply Simon, what you are saying certainly makes sense. I have taken on board all the comments from here and have done some more research, and I think I am fairly confident that as things stand I am looking at doing spindle turning, and that a chuck is not required for this. Whether this remains the case is another story all together but as things stand I think I am going to go without the chuck.

The next question was which lathe, and ultimately I think I am going to go for either the Axminster AC240WL or the Record equivalent. I am leaning towards the axminster one as I have a couple of axminster machines and I am really happy with them, The only record power kit I have is my dust filter, whilst I am happy with it, it is not a tool as such. + the free 3 hour intro with the axminster model is an added bonus.

(I was deliberating over buying the lathe you have for sale, but I am not sure if it will fit in my workshop, stay tuned on that though as I am going to get the tape measure out when I get home!)

Thanks again for the detailed response, There are a number of things that I consider myself to be very good at, but wood turning is not one, its great to have such a good resource to "borrow" wisdom from

 

[Ryandotdee]

So far, the equipment I know I need to pick up is :
A lathe (duh)
A pen mandrel
Barrel trimmer
Some turning tools ( probably start with a roughing gouge and a skew )

Don't forget a face mask and, if you might be making much dust in future (I guess rings and pens won't make much?), an extractor.

Cheers Chris, got all that covered I only have a 12x8 foot workshop so dust is a constant bone of contention!

 

[Ryandotdee]

A chuck definitely gives you a far greater scope of things to make as skills progress and will be used almost constantly. However if you are using a pen mandrel to make ..er pens, you do not require the chuck, the morse taper of the mandrel fits directly into the headstock and the other end is held by the tailstock. You will need a 'live' centre on the tailstock (live = it spins around) so if the lathe doesn't have a live centre you'll need one ( I would guess most new ones do but worth checking).

You can also make a simple pen from start to finish just using a roughing gouge or just using a skew chisel - a roughing gouge is a lot simpler to master.

Just remember all chucks/ live centres and mandrels need to be the same size / fitment to your specific lathe, thread size for chuck and morse taper (MT) for the rest.

Thanks Nev

I think I have decided on forgoing the chuck for now, I am going to start off with pens and smaller spindle related things to begin with, and then add the chuck later on if I want to take on a more varied number of projects. Funds are limited at the moment so I want to make sure I am spending the cash in areas where I will see some immediate benefit.

Point taken on the roughing gouge, will certainly be getting one of those, might pick up a decent one and a cheapo one to practice grinding.

 

[Simon_M]

The free 3 hour intro with the Axminster model is an added bonus

It's a start but you want to try to join a woodturning club too. They have demo evenings and you will get help along the way (for free) and not just at the start of your "journey". Don't forget the Store only wants to sell you new equipment but if you buy a lathe S/H then the price you pay is also approximately what you can sell it for too, so the "journey" doesn't need to be too costly. Just find a Record Power e.g. DML250, DML305, DML320 or similar lathes that you like and be on the lookout for the same one S/H.

I was deliberating over buying the lathe you have for sale

I would avoid a lathe like most of the Axminster Craft/Hobby lathes with a 1" x 8 spindle and find a Record Power (or similar) with M33 x 3.5 spindle (see at the above list). If you do decide 1" x 8 spindle is OK and you don't need a chuck "now", then a Record Power SC4 chuck "later", with a replaceable insert is "future proof".

My first lathe was a compromise because I wanted variable speed, rotating headstock, to push tailstock away and a stand. Between centres capacity wasn't relevant (used 18" capacity once) but headstock/motor can be moved/clamped to minimise working length too.