Hmmm, I wonder...

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I do notice that the motor and the headstock has a step pulley on it, if you like the lathe, but the speed is a bit too high, maybe you could swap pulley(s) to reduce the lowest speed...?

Just a thought.....

Cheers!

[Steve Miller]

I have been using the G0584 for about six months. I consider it an excellent starter lathe. I have turned wet bowls as big as 12 inches on the faceplate and had no trouble. I do rough out the blanks on my bandsaw, but I have put some pretty out of balance pieces on it and it handled them fine. I have a couple hundred pounds of sand on the bottom, and I have not had any moving problems. The only trouble I have had is the handle to tighten the tool rest. I managed to strip the threads, but I now have a set of pliers that I use to tighten and loosen it.

I would recommend it as a starter. Eventually, I would like to put some serious money towards a bigger machine, but this will serve me for years to come.

Good luck!

[Chris Barton]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. The G0462 that I am talking about is essentially the same as your lathe except with more than double the HP of the G0584 and only $20 difference in price. With so many folks wanting to get into turning but, being on a strict budget, the G0462 may be a very good option. Sure, I would like to wish everyone could wait until they could afford a (Oneway, PM, Stubby, Poolewood etc...) but, reality is that for lots of folks if they have to save $50/month for 10 years to get a lathe they will just give up. On the otherhand, if they can get a new 16x43 machine with variable speed drive and 2hp delivered to their door for under $400 then they might just jump in!

[Keith Burns]

OK, I normally don't post anything when it comes to recommending lathes for newbes or experienced turners either. As far as the Grizzly lathe I have read a couple of posts from users and they said they are happy with it. My experience is this: My first lathe cost $100.00, a cheep 12" square tube import. Did it work, yes. Was it a quality lathe, no. Did I do some decent turnings on it , yes. The most important thing to me was that I learned that I like turning and that it was something I wanted to persue. What did I do next ? Sold it for $50.00 and bought a better 12" lathe, then sold it and bought a yet better 12" lathe. Well guess what, I sold that one and bought yet another better 12" lathe. On all three lathes I sold I got between 50 and 80% of my money back. Would I like to have a Oneway, sure. Would I like to have a PM, sure. Am I ever going to have one, probably not. Not everyone is going to continue with turning no matter how good or poor their lathe is. Bottom line I guess for me anyway is it's not so much the lathe produces good work as it is the operator. Just my dimes worth.

[John Hart]

I like the way Keith's thinking....The real value is between ones ears and in the hands. I think it's great that you can get 2 HP for $400.

3/4 HP would become "too small" after a shorter time if one wanted eventually turn larger stuff.....But 2 HP would go a lot longer before the turner decided that it was no longer adequate for their needs. IMHO

[George Summers]

Except for the cast iron legs, this looks just about like the 'in'famous HF 34706 (which I have) and the original Jet 1236 it was cloned from. I bought the HF 34706 because of the many good reports as a good starter lathe. I know that there are a couple of other differences (continuous bed, etc) but the headstock is basically the same.

George