Hello,
My name is David Coburn and I've recently started turning bowls.... I have turned pens and stoppers and small things for quite a few years but never really done many bowls until just recently. I have a very cheap setup that I think everyone here knows about, the Harbor Freight 34706. By specification it has a 12" swing and 33" between centers. It has a reversible head for outboard turning but only a 3/4hp motor so I'm not really sure that you would really be able to do much outboard turning.... So far I've done up to a 10" diameter 3" thick cherry bowl and it did ok but I'm afraid as I move up to the full 12" and 4" walnut I'm going to start running into problems. From what I've read I think it will do it as long as I'm in no hurry but I would also like to do some larger bowls 16" or so...
Anyway, I'm very aware of my lathes limitations (under powered & not enough swing) and problems (already replaced a pair of reeves pulleys, no grease on shafts, belt is cheap junk, bottom end speed is too high, etc...)... but for $269 or much less if you do it right it's a real good starter lathe.
So, I'm starting to get the itch to move up to something better... What I'm seeing so far is that there are a bunch of middle range lathes in the $800 to $1200 price range but they're mostly just this same harbor freight lathe packaged a bit differently... The one exception that I've found is the Grizzly 462 (priced at $625, has a 2HP motor, 16" swing, 46" between centers)... but it still has the Reeves pulley setup and I'm assuming many of the same shortcomings of the HF lathe. The Reeves pulleys on my current lathe were really a beating for me over one weekend. Up from these lathes ($800 top $1200 - plus the grizzly) there are a several lathes that cost in the upwards of $2500 range... and then some others that are extremely expensive...
So... I have a couple of questions...
1) With the exception of the Reeves pulley setup is the Grizzly lathe a definitively better lathe than the other ones in the middle price range group and mine?
2) Are there any lathes that you would really recommend in the (less than $1500) price range?
Note: I have many second hand tools (Yorkcraft 15" planer & a Powermatic 8" jointer)... I am no stranger to Craigslist but I'm not really familiar enough with lathes to know if I'm buying a lemon or not as a second hand tool....
Here's a picture of my current lathe setup and first bowls...
Any comments you might have on how to improve my current lathe setup for 12" bowls would be welcome.
daves_lathe.jpg
and here's a picture of my first bowls.... Not too fancy but I'm happy with them... The cherry one is almost 10" diameter and 3" deep.
daves_first_bowls.jpg
thank you for your feedback,
david