which woodworking lathe is best?

[ryanjohn_5]

im am a recent graduate from a craft degree course, i am working part time as a design technology technician/ wood-shop technician is a secondary/ high school. I am also starting up my own woodworking business making a variety of work including sculptural pieces and kitchenware.

Im looking to buy a good woodworking lathe, I have used a few different lathes while at uni, a wadkin and a victory - i have been given the chance to buy either of these - 600 pounds for the wadkin or 700 pounds for the victory - unfortunately my budged is 500 pound so i cant really afford either of these. - also neither of these lathes have electronic variable speed - you have to change the pulleys on them to change the speed.

so i have been considering some other new lathes:

http://www.sipuk.co.uk/tools/info_SIP01490.html

and

http://www.tooldirect.co.uk/product/sch ... nc_vat.htm

when taking into account delivery they are nearly the same price - one has slightly large dimensions the other has clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation (i dont really know what this would be used for)

anyway which lathe is best?

or should i spend a bit more and buy this one:

http://www.tooldirect.co.uk/product/sch ... _lathe.htm

and i have also now found this one:

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-1 ... d-240v.asp

- which is draper, who i have heard are quite good?

or is it worth it to really push it a buy the wadkin from uni?

or do you know of any other better lathes on a 500 pounds budget?

i know its a long one, thanks for your help!

 

[DaveL]

Hi Ryan,

Welcome to the forum.

Your links have been caught by our spam trap, this will stop once you have a few more posts to your name.

im am a recent graduate from a craft degree course, i am working part time as a design technology technician/ wood-shop technician is a secondary/ high school. I am also starting up my own woodworking business making a variety of work including sculptural pieces and kitchenware.

Im looking to buy a good woodworking lathe, I have used a few different lathes while at uni, a wadkin and a victory - i have been given the chance to buy either of these - 600 pounds for the wadkin or 700 pounds for the victory - unfortunately my budged is 500 pound so i cant really afford either of these. - also neither of these lathes have electronic variable speed - you have to change the pulleys on them to change the speed.

so i have been considering some other new lathes:

http://www.sipuk.co.uk/tools/info_SIP01490.html

and

http://www.tooldirect.co.uk/product/sch ... nc_vat.htm

when taking into account delivery they are nearly the same price - one has slightly large dimensions the other has clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation (i dont really know what this would be used for)

anyway which lathe is best?

or should i spend a bit more and buy this one:

http://www.tooldirect.co.uk/product/sch ... _lathe.htm

and i have also now found this one:

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-1 ... d-240v.asp

- which is draper, who i have heard are quite good?

or is it worth it to really push it a buy the wadkin from uni?

or do you know of any other better lathes on a 500 pounds budget?

i know its a long one, thanks for your help!

 

[misterfish]

Wadkin are acknowledged to be excellent quality industrially rated machines - good old solid and well built British engineering. I have an old wadkin tablesaw and wouldn't want to change it.

Although lathes with variable speed are nice, this function is not absolutely necessary, in fact you will probably end up using only a few speeds. If it was me I would put up with changing drive belts on pulleys (as I currently do with my bench drill).

Something to bear in mind is whether the machines on offer are single or three phase. If three phase and you only have standard 240 volt single phase you would also either have to buy a converter or change to motor to a single phase. I currently have an Axminster lathe that I bought second hand - currently this costs about £450 new, and although a perfectly good lathe, if I were given the choice I go for the Wadkin.

Misterfish

 

[tekno.mage]

I agree with misterfish regarding lathes with mechanical variable speed. I have one of these and find I only use a few of the speed settings - the slowest speed isn't really slow enough at 500 rpm.

However, I also have access to a smaller lathe with electronic variable speed and I do find this useful - mainly because of the the very slow speeds at the bottom end which are useful for thread cutting.

If you are only used to using the lathes you mention at Uni, I think you might be surprised at how flimsy many of the modern offerings are - on the plus side it does make them easier to move about if you need to.

If you could go the extra £100 for the Wadkin, I think it would be a better investment than any of the other lathes you've mentioned (and would also hold it's value better). Also, you would probably be able to upgrade the Wadkin to electronic vari-speed at a later date when funds allow.

tekno.mage

 

[johnjin]

Hi Ryan
First off Welcome to the forum
I would suggest you put this post into the turning section.
You will probably get a better response.

John

 

[Tim Nott]

Both of those look solid at 80 and 92kg. Mass is important (unless you are crting the thing around craft fairs). I had a Kity once - aluminium rails, steel legs and it vibrated like anything.

The reverse direction thing is useful when you've taken a little too much off and want to pit it baqck,