Well, the newbie has taken the plunge.....

[Matthew Martin]

I went ahead last night and bought my first lathe. I wanted to take the advice of you guys but hated the thought of dropping more than 400$ for a Delta or Jet for my first lathe.

What I got is an Xtremediecast off ebay that sells for about 240$. Speeds are 760, 1100, 1600, 2200, 3200 rpm. I noticed that the smallest Jet had a range from 460 or so to just over 4000 so I am loosing a little bit of flexibility there.

It does have a #2MT, which from what I have read is better than the #1MT since you have more options. Maybe you guys can clue me in on that.

If everything goes well I may have a cheap lathe for sale in a few years so I can upgrade.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Matt - had to look up the brand lathe you are talking about as I have not heard of them yet. Lathe seems like it should work just fine for spindle work - which is what you stated you wanted to get into. Hope you can get to turning real soon! Have fun with it!

[Michelle Rich]

you'll learn despite the speed issues you have saddled yourself with..the 760 low end will cause you problems unless your bowl blanks are VERY round and very even in weight all around. that's a scary speed to start anything with. Good luck. I hope you stick with spindles until you get the hang of it. I have never heard of that lathe & know of nothing I can pass on about it.

[Marty Eargle]

I would say to be wary of that lathe and practice the highest level of safety when using simply because you cannot be sure of the level of quality of parts, etc. But I won't bash it because I have been using a lathe from Harbor Freight that many consider a terrible lathe and it has given me zero problems over the last year or so of turning spindles, bowls, plates, etc.

The main issues that you will probably notice with that lathe are the follow:
- 700 RPM is really too high to properly sand at. Your paper will get hot fast and it will be difficult to get all sanding marks out.
- Low quality lathes generally don't have their centers perfectly aligned. Even a small difference can throw a wrench in your turnings.
- The smaller parts of your lathe such as knobs, handles, and belts are probably very low quality. Go ahead and replace them from the start and save yourself some stress.
- A motor that small will bog down quite easily when turning hard wood or trying to make deep cuts. Light, sharp cuts and green wood are your friend.

Enjoy your time in the vortex. Apologies to your bank account.

[Matthew Martin]

Yeah....I'm looking at it as a starter lathe. Right now I don't expect to turn any bowls. I wanted to get my hands dirty first and learn and see if I would stay with it. I tend to get a little ADD and didn't want a high priced dust collector in the shop .

I've bought some cheap tools from Rockler that I'm sure I'll be sharpening later. There is plenty that I'll just have to learn the hard way.

[Tim Rinehart]

Welcome Matt. Looks like a decent mini, about same footprint and specs of the minis offered by PSI, Grizzly, HF, etc... As said and you realize, speeds will make it kinda high for some things, but spindles and pens and other smaller diameter stuff should be just fine. It looks like a decent value with free shipping which basically trumped the Grizzly H8259.
Have fun, be VERY safe, especially with those speeds.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome Matt. Will work fine for a pen or spindle lathe for sure. I would sharpen your tools before you start as they are not to sharp off the shelf. Face mask is a must. Have fun.

[Mike Cruz]

Welcome, Matthew. As others have said, please be safe. By that I mean wear a face shield, stand to the side of the blank when first turning your machine on with a new blank, make sure the lathe is mounted to whatever it is sitting on, be prepared to to turn the lathe off immediately in case it starts jumping around, sharpen you tools...properly, and VERY sharp.

You may not be planning on doing bowls or HFs, but you will likely go that route eventually...if nothing else, out of curiosity and the challenge.

Just a note on "spending". If you buy a used Jet at a decent price, say $300-400, and need to sell it, you can likely get that $300-400 back out. But if you buy a new lathe for $240 and need to sell it, you MAY be able to get $150 out. (Used stuff usually sells for 1/3 to just over 1/2 of original price.) So, buying the used Jet would make more sense...value wise. But it is too late for that now. So, enjoy what you got. If you find you are lovin' turning, keep your eye out for an upgrade.

[Donny Lawson]

Welcome and I hope it turns out to be a great lathe to start off with. Let us know how it is when you get it set up. After it's set up check and see if the headstock and tailstock line up. That is the main part to make sure your turnings come out right. I had a "Ridgid" a long time ago and they did not line up and all turnings was useless.