Thinking about a lathe

[Jason White]

I know nothing about lathes, but want to get one mostly for making table and chair legs.

What size should I be looking for?

Jason

[Tony De Masi]

Jason, maybe a mod can move this to the turning forum or you can repost yourself there. Also, ask John Keeton what happened when he only wanted to to furniture pieces as he wasn't interested at all in turning anything else. Don't short change yourself with thinking you will only want to do X when there are so many more options with a lathe.

Tony

P.S. - Heading up to BTown in the morning. Been a long time since I've been home.

[Bob Vallaster]

Jason,
As Tony remarked, this is better placed in the turning forum where you will likely be swamped with answers.
The largest diameter you anticipate will define your minimum swing. The longest spindle will define your minimum length. Round up in each case because your stock starts as a crude round or polygon, and accessories (drive center, tail center, tool-rest base) consume some swing and working length.
Accepting that legs for tables and chairs remain the outer bounds, 10-12" swing and 36-39" length between centers are ample. More is better, as it usually comes with increased mass (stability). You can achieve a longer post on a shorter lathe IF your design will accept a tenon and socket at a transition where it will not be noticeable. I might use this for a bed-post, but would NOT do it for a chair leg.
By all means, find a turner (or 2, or 3...) nearby; spend some time on others' lathes to get some idea of what suits you. It's a Goldilocks process to find the one that's 'just right' for your needs.

BobV

[Frank Drew]

For me the perfect lathe would have to have speed control and reversing (non-negotiable items); allow, say, 65" between centers (for medium height bedposts in one go); and be ready out of the box for serious outboard turning (spindle thread the same as the inboard spindle, stable deck for a banjo...).

[Stephen Cherry]

You might take a look at the delta 1460, the ubiquitous (used spell check) "school lathe". 12" x 36", cheap, and solid. For spindle turning, you may not need all the fancy features, and could get by with just a few tools.

I got all of my turning stuff, including turning tools, from Craigslist, for a good discount.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Jason, do not go there
I don't have personal experience with lathe, but two of my friends completely turn to be a "turners".

[Frank Drew]

You might take a look at the delta 1460,

I had one for years and it was a good, solid machine; I upgraded it by adding a DC motor with a variable speed/reversing switch and packed up the head- and tailstocks to give me about a 19" swing inboard for faceplate work.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

65" would probably be a custom (many thousands of dollars) lathe. Most lathes are 40 or 50". The Delta mentioned seems to be the sweet deal, you get a soild lathe and can get bed extensions. You may be able to get several extensions to get out to 65" but I'm not sure, as I have the mini Jet.... The Jet mini can have multiple extensions, but is a little weak.

Be careful though, they call it the vortex for a reason. Check out the turner section. If you want to be bombarded with comments, re-post this over there.

[Frank Drew]

65" would probably be a custom (many thousands of dollars) lathe. Most lathes are 40 or 50".

Most lathes that I've seen are under 40" between centers, not enough for a newel post, even, let alone much of a bed post.

And I was talking about my dream lathe, after all.

[Joe Wiliams]

Didn't John Keeton ask a similar question......

[Dan Coleman]

Cruise CL and start asking around. Many turners start out with a small lathe or evena medium wieght lathe with a long bed only to get interested in turning larger diameter stuff. At least several around St Louis have abandoned good lahes and built their own.
Powermatic 90's are good lathes and were used in a lot of schools. Parts are available. They appear often at auction. Mine is VS with the jack shaft. Buy the one with the jack shaft so you can re-pully in the future if you get into bowl turning.
The Craftsman lathes from the 1950's are good small lathes and you might be able to find a bed extension. It is a short section of bed that you can bolt down on a workbench to turn extra long pieces. One of these was my first lathe and I wish I had not sold it. It would be a good candidate for converting to VS DC with parts from a treadmill.
I just purchased an old Crescent. It is very heavy and only 4 speeds. It would be a good candidate for converting to VS DC with parts from a treadmill.
Also, don't be afraid to buy a 240 volt, 3 phase machine. For about another $150 you can convert it to single phase and have VS with a VFD. The guys at OWWM.org are big into VFD's.

Dan