Isn't she a <cough> BEAUTY?!!!

[Dan Hintz]

Tony D.M. is going to roll his eyes, Mike C. is going to accuse me once again of being a tool hoarder, and Peter E. is getting a free case of his favorite beer for cluing me in on the deal.

I just put down an "It's mine!" request for a fully-loaded Robust American Beauty

It's the extended bed, 3HP with tilt-away/gas shock, includes the #2MT and #3MT tailstock, along with the caster kit and jack. That's a $9k package, though not what I paid for it. The unit is (was?) owned by none other than Bill Grumbine himself, and I personally used this lathe during a 2-day one-on-one teaching session with him in his workshop. The experience was everything you could hope for from such a great guy, and I was pretty enamored with the Robust... I was still pretty green to turning at that point, however, so justifying such a purchase would have proven difficult at the time. I've turned enough now to know it's what I have a passion for (if not necessarily the skill to go with it).

Looks like I'll be listing a never-used Jet 1642 in the classifieds here shortly...

[John Keeton]

WHOAH!!!!!! Didn't see that one coming!!! A big congrats, and hopefully, it will have a big, permanent, autograph from Grumbine on the end that doesn't see much abuse! That would have to add to the value.

[Scott Hackler]

+1 to John's comment to have Bill sign the lathe! That would be a cool feature to prove it's prior life! A big congrats from me. If I had the money, I'ld have one too.

[Roger Chandler]

Congratulations Dan.................I think that is one nice machine.............

[Tim Rinehart]

That's Awesome! I think it's actually a bit cooler given it's history. You'll have to dig up a handful of the items Bill made on it and hang in your ...ahem, studio, as a reminder of the work that has come off that particular lathe.
Congrats!!!
By extended bed...just how long is it? Is that like double the normal, i.e around 6ft or so?

[Dan Forman]

Sounds like quite the outfit, use it in good health!

Dan

[Mike Cruz]

Wow, Dan, with huge swing, imagine the pens you'll be able to turn!

Don't even THINK about calling me to help you carry that monster down that hill and into your basement, either!!!! What were you thinking?

Does this mean that you are going to start turning things?

[Dan Hintz]

By extended bed...just how long is it? Is that like double the normal, i.e around 6ft or so?

The standard setup is a 28" bed, and this one comes with the 24" extension, for a total 52" bed length. This unit actually works out well for me as I don't run long spindle stock, so I can remove the extension and keep the lathe in a smaller space than my Jet is currently occupying.

Does this mean that you are going to start turning things?

I was so disappointed in my performance last evening, Mike, I whined to Amy about it for quite a while. This morning I decided to start stretching every morning and every night to try and loosen up my muscles so I don't keep running into this issue with lack of flexibility. Twisting my hip this morning was bringing tears to my eyes, but I powered through it. I'm hoping the extra flexibility will also give me the added balance I seem to be missing (and so desperately need).

[Mike Cruz]

That is a...step...in the right direction, Dan. Keep it up.

[Alan Zenreich]

Dan, glad it was you. I was on the phone with Bill while you were trying to get through to him. My wife Lauren might send you flowers for buying the lathe from Bill before I could talk to her about it!

[David E Keller]

Congrats on the 'new' lathe!

Is it just me, or does Bernie's picture keep appearing in a whole bunch of posts? In Dan's initial post above, right after the words 'American Beauty' there are about a half dozen photos of Bernie... For a minute, I thought Dan had bought Bernie!

[Dan Hintz]

Dan, glad it was you. I was on the phone with Bill while you were trying to get through to him. My wife Lauren might send you flowers for buying the lathe from Bill before I could talk to her about it!

<chuckle> I told Bill I didn't want to snake it from under anyone if it was already promised, but if it was still an "open" deal, I have cash in hand. Tell Lauren to send the flowers directly to Amy as I'm sure she's going to kill me when she sees yet another piece of equipment being rolled into the shop

Hmmmm, guess this means I'll have to change my sig...

[Harvey Ghesser]

Congratulations on the Robust, Dan. It's a great lathe. Is this the one you're refering to?

[John Keeton]

I recognize Grumbine, but who is the other good looking fellow????

[Tony De Masi]

You are correct Dan.