The importance of rotating headstocks

[Graham]

This is quite funny.
I had decided on the Axi 16-28 when it first came out but was having difficulty convincing myself ( as a legally blind person ) that I would be able to use a lathe so decided to get something cheaper/secondhand to find out. I brought a hegner from John Taylor, of this parish, who was moving up to an Axi 16-28 od all things.
I keep on bumping into this machine and will probably end up with one. It seems to have pretty much everything on my list.

[Eric Harvey]

The Axminster 1628 looks like a good lathe,I might have been tempted if they had been available when I bought my Jet 3520B,but haven`t looked back,with the club discount I bought the freestanding toolrest as well its a boon when your turning stuff that won`t fit over the bed,alot of modern swivel head lathes now have locking points at various angles and inline for when you put back over the bed,cheers,

Eric.

[Eric Harvey]

oh and cast iron leg stands make the lathes much more stable than the cheap pressed steel ones on ceaper lathes.

[seventhdevil]

good point eric, cast iron legs are a must (unless it's bolted to something really heavy) however i have always thought that the jet 3520b is a bit top heavy and could do with even more weight on the legs.

when i put mine together i remember the legs being easy to handler but the bed and headstock are about 70% of the weight. and all that is 3' off the ground.

i've been thinking of buying a 1" plate and bolting that on to the bottom of the legs


have you weighed yours down at all or is it free standing like mine???

[Eric Harvey]

I did a 6`x8` shed extension on my last shed where we used to live,so I could get my new (then) Performe CCBL ,which was twice as long as my old drill powered lathe(which was adapted to take a 1/2 HP industrial motor),where we are now,I`m going to extend the back of the shed area by about 6`x13` to put all wife`s stuff in,cheers,

Eric.

[seventhdevil]

i built my workshop 20' long and12' one end the other is 15' (funny shaped garden) and very quickly ran out of space. think of the space you need and the double it if you can.


i need to extend my shop as i want to have the room to put in a new lathe as i've seen a couple of beauties that i wan't.

http://www.serioustoolworks.com/wood-lathes.php
http://www.turnrobust.com/AB_Photo_Gallery.html
http://www.axminster.co.uk/jet-4224b-heavy-duty-woodturning-lathe

any got one of these???


only the serious lathe has a non sliding headstock but the other two are non rotating but sliding head stocks.


no one seems to sell the serious or the robust over here which is a shame as i think there would be alot of interest.

[Graham]

That 'Serious' one is a heavy brute ( clever use of the wheels ) I would hate to think what the shipping charge from the USA would be.