New lathe questions

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the Nova DVR XP. I have about 300 lbs of sand on my stand. It doesn't move anywhere. Like Jim K. I can turn 15 3/4" and have had some 8" or so in depth. I use a oneway coring system for nested bowls and haven't had any problems at all. I turned on both the Jet 1642 and the Nova. Both are excellent machines but chose the Nova because of it's small foot print. That was the only reason.

[Wayne Kuhn]

and got very frustrated with the low end speed. Unless your blank is perfectly balanced forget about anything over 12 inches, more like 10 inches, and that was with the lathe leveled and bolted to the floor.

I is a great spindle lathe, but not a good bowl lathe. I upgraded to a Jet 1642 1/12 HP and have not looked back, great machine.

The mechanical problems I had with the Grizzly were minor, they included:
2-stripped handle on tool rest tightening knob. I replaced with after market after grizzly sent a replacement.
Broken pulleys- I kinda blame myself for that one, I put a link belt on it (too wide.)
The digital display went out after roughing an out of balance blank,-But I did get it working again.

Not so sure about the 2 hp. I'm sure it is inflated like all HP ratings these days.

Its not a terrible lathe but save you pennys for an upgrade with electronic variable speed. All reeves drives have a high low end speed.

[Reed Gray]

2 big negatives on the Grizzley for me. First, a true 2 hp motor needs to run on 220 volt power, not 110. Second is the Reeves drive. Adjustable pulleys seem to need a lot of 'adjustments' as they age, and hand adjusting the belt on a standard lathe may be a bit of an inconvenience, but mechanically it is hastle free. A true variable speed isn't a necessity, but once you have it, you never want to go back.
robo hippy

[Jason Clark2]

I had the Grizzly G0462 for about 18 months before I upgraded to a Powermatic 3520b. I wouldn't recommend it for large bowls for all of the reasons already mentioned, primarily the lack of a slow speed.

The Nova 1624, Grizzly G0632, Jet 1642 EVS, and Nova DVR-XP (in ascending price order) are much better options.

Jason

[Alan Trout]

There are a lot of better options as Jason has suggested. I own A Nova DVR that I have really enjoyed. I think the Nova 16/24 is a heck of the lathe for the money and the Nova's being a bench type lathe add a lot of options to stand design. They can be as heavy or light as you want. Mine is over 800lbs. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=99001

Of course it seems everyone that has the Jet 1642 like them and the Grizzly 0632 has had good reports. If you want to do bowl only or very short spindle work the Vega bowl lathes The 2600T and the less expensive 2413B might be options to look at.

Any of these should perform well and last you for a long time.

Good Luck

Alan