Now, I guess by now that you are all sick of me and won't bother to read this, but I would like Technatool International to read it.
Anyway, here is the update:
The said Nova lathe was shipped back to Record Power, whereupon they examined it. They agreed that it was noisy and innacurate, although they did quote Technatool's blurb about a +/- 0.5mm tolerance on accuracy. But, this is only stated in the instructions. In the pre-sales blurb, they tell you about their high tech pricision laser alignment.
Stuart Pickering of Record agreed to exchange the lathe for a brand spanking new one and, they sent it out to me in just one week from me dispatching the old one. Impressive what? The same guy who picked up mine, delivered the new one. " don't chuck the box away" he grinned, "you will probably need it to send this one back."
Was he just pratting about? I dunno.
So, all excited, I assembled the new lathe. Now, I had no qualms about this replacement, because Record told me that they had assembled it and tested it, and it was spot on. So, alignment check, well spot on vertically but I had to adjust the horizontal plane slightly. No big deal and it is now aligned perfectly. I smiled smugly.
Look here it is:
I reached for the start button, suddenly, the smile dropped from my ugly face. It was noisy, it vibrated. It vibrated so much that the handle which locks the toolrest was jiggering about and rattling. I tried different speeds, little change. I checked all the bolts - tight.
Alan from Record rang up Mon morning to ask if all was alright. I told him, as much as it pained me to do so. He probably thinks that I am a moaning old git, which according to my wife, I am. Anyway, he couldn't understand it. I asked him if they had checked it running and he said they had and that they thought it was OK.
But, it is not OK. I put the Supernava chuck on, hit the button - YIKES! Even worse. The lathe has just sat there now for over a week, so tonight I had to use it - I put in a piece of ash, which is only 20mm square - hey look:
Should this be a problem for a lathe that is supposed to be able to turn 29 inch diameter table tops? Well it was. So much so that I had to shut the stupid bl**dy thing down. It can't handle it! Really, It cannot handle a small stick!
Well thank you Technacrap! You seduced me with your lying sales blurb, now I am stuck with a hunk of pure cast iron junk! If it is unusable, then it's junk.
I will tell you just how bad this piece of junk is: There is so much vibration I cannot hold the tool at a constant angle. It is so noisy that that it would drown out the sound of a Jumbo jet taking off. Exagerating? I just wish I were. I will tell you the truth:
If I was to start my bandsaw, grinder, sanding machine, put the radio on, bring my old diesel van into the garage as well, the Nova would drown out the lot! and that's the truth. I had to switch off the lathe whilst turning a twig because I honestly thought that it would disintegrate - the lathe that is, not the twig.
This thing is far worse than the first lathe. At least I could use that thing. This I cannot use, full bl**dy stop.
I have to say, that I have no gripes with Record. they have been good. Stuart rang me up after I had sent back the first lathe and asked if I wanted to change it completely for a different model, like the CL4-CAM which I was admiring at the Evans show. But, I decided to stick with the 1624 thinking maybe I had just got a bad one. Reccord, by way of compensation have even offered me a free days training with Alan Holtham.
So, what's the chances of me getting 2 bad ones? What this means is that Technacrap have absolutely no quality control and that since relocating in China, their standards have dropped - Big Time!
I emailed Technatool, this is what they said,
"We do have very strict quality controls, however only for a percentage of each batch, so it would seem your particular lathe have slipped through. We can only apologise for this, this is not a typical NOVA experience."
So, there we have it. It's funny though, because both of my lathes came with quality conrol certificates, signed by a guy called David.
So, where now? To be honest, I don't care. I am sick of stupid lathes, I don't want one anymore, I don't want to pratt about with bits of wood. I don't want that thing taking up garage space. Bugger woodturning, I've had it.
Graham.