Lathe

[Mel Reed]

Hi All, I now own a Jet JWL 1442VS.I would like any opinions or thoughts so I know what to expect.
Thanks Mel Reed

[Bill Wyko]

I recently purchased the same lathe and I love it. Make sure you change speeds with it running. I've had absolutly no problems what so ever but I've only had it a couple of months. You'll have plenty of power and size to do just about anything you can dream up. Don't forget to post pics of your new baby and the cool stuff you make with it. When they talk mustard they also must talk money. Mustards are very pricy.Your Mayo will do just fine.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on your new lathe Mel! Pictures? Would love to see your setup when you are up and running.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the new lathe Mel. Now it is time to have fun.

[Ken LaSota]

Mel I have had mine over a year and love it,good luck and happy turning.
Ken

[Craig Zettle]

I am curious as to why you would care since you already own the lathe. If you read any of my posts regarding the 1442 and the WMH Tool Group you would know that I could have given you a real deal on a 1442 with 0 miles on it. That lathe has some serious design flaws, it is crude in detail, and customer service flat out stinks.

I wish someone would have planted the seed of doubt in my mind before I bought mine so maybe I would have done more research, as my problems are well documented with other 1442 owners.

I guess buying a lathe is like buying a car. Whether you get a lemon or not depends on what day it was built. Good luck.

[Neal Addy]

Craig, I see nothing wrong with Mel's after-the-fact question but I am curious why you are condemning what is generally considered one on the better lathes in its price range? With all due respect, generalized statements like "serious design flaws" and "crude in detail" need to be backed up with supporting details. As you suggested, you may have just gotten a lemon as sometimes happens with any piece of equipment. In fairness, I've had no reason to contact Jet customer support so I really can't speak to that.

The only two complaints I have ever heard about the 1442 are:

1) "The motor housing gets in the way" - This can only be the case if you are turning odd-shaped pieces that might extend behind the length of the spindle. Personally, I've never had this problem but I can see where it could be to some.
2) "The speed lever gets in the way" - I'm honestly not sure what is meant by this. There may be a legitimate reason for it, but the only way I can see it getting in the way is if your are doing faceplate/chuck work at 3000 RPM. If that is the case then you have bigger problems than the speed lever.

I know that a Reeves drive is now "old technology" but that doesn't make it a design flaw. These drives have been around for years and generally work well enough for those who don't want or can't afford a more expensive EVS lathe.

Personally, I'm very impressed with the build quality of the 1442. IMO it is sturdy, well thought out (with regard to small details), and generally well designed. Is it the best lathe in town? No, but it's a good lathe for its price range.

[Nathan Camp]

[quote=Neal Addy;586503]Craig, I see nothing wrong with Mel's after-the-fact question but I am curious why you are condemning what is generally considered one on the better lathes in its price range? With all due respect, generalized statements like "serious design flaws" and "crude in detail" need to be backed up with supporting details. As you suggested, you may have just gotten a lemon as sometimes happens with any piece of equipment. In fairness, I've had no reason to contact Jet customer support so I really can't speak to that.
quote]

Neal,

Craig and I both bought the 1442VS at about the same time. Both of our faceplates were locked onto the spindle. I had a devil of a time getting mine off. Craig did not have as much luck. If you search through his threads, you can get the play by play. Let my try to sum up.
1. New lathe broke.
2. Over a month before he could turn any thing on it.
3. Not happy with the customer service.

After I got that stupid faceplate off of mine, I love it. Turned a bunch of pens, a couple of bowls, and am making a steady rest to try to do some hollow forms.

You are right, that speed handle does get in the way sometimes.

By the way, Mel, enjoy your new lathe. Make sure to put a cardboard or nylon washer on before reinstalling the faceplate.

Happy Turning,
Nathan

[Craig Zettle]

Neal, sorry for the late reply, but I had to get some sleep last night. As
Nathan stated, I pretty much covered my trials blow by blow in past posts. If you dig around a little you will find others with problems with this lathe, some similar to mine as well as other problems.

I firmly believe that to make a reeves drive pulley out of a highly brittle pot metal that will be stressed every time you remove the face plate is a design flaw. Jets' answer to that is to use the small, bendable wrench they provide so you cannot exert enough torque to break the fins on the pulley. And if you ever get the stuck faceplate off, they want you to install a nylon washer on the shaft to keep from overtightening the faceplate again. (another design flaw.) There is a housing support inside the machine that actually gets in the way of the reeves drive if it is not installed correctly (as mine was/is.) (another design flaw.) If you have trouble holding in the headstock spindle lock button while exerting an unbelievable amount of pressure on the cheap wrench, you have the option of concocting a way to temporarily hold it in. See other posts for creative ways to do this. (another design flaw.)

And as to "crude in detail" you have to understand that one mans' Pinto is another mans' Ferrari. As I unpacked the legs I noticed that the pretty racing stripes around the legs were falling off. The paint on the tops of the legs chipped off with light finger pressure, and tightening the screws took off more paint. The handwheel has a bounce as the lathe turns. Nothing that will affect the operation, but when I pay for paint I want it to stick to the machine, not lay on my shop floor. Everything should line up, not lead me to belive that there is a bent shaft. If you compare this lathe to their main competiton you can clearly see that the Jet engineers said "lets make it heavy as possible with as much cast iron as we can find in China, and quickly spray some paint on it."

Why did you call "serious design flaws" a generalized statement? I am curious because I made up my mind a while ago to contrbute to this forum only when I had facts/real life experience to contribute, and I try to give as much detail as possible without going on and on.

Jet made purchasing my first lathe the worst machine buying experience I have ever had. And I have had some bad experiences with Grizzly and Delta in particular, but this one takes the cake. I wish I had a tape recording of the conversations I had with Jet tech support. Rude, condesending and unprofessional. My lathe is still broke even after being sent to a machine shop, but I am not calling them again. My blood pressure can't take it anymore.

[Scott Donley]

Mel, congrat's on the new lathe. I have had mine for about a year now with no problems. I would buy again. Have fun

[Jamie Donaldson]

.. in buying lathes. The first is usually a mini like a Jet, to test whether we really are going to succumb to the disease, and then we want a real lathe that allows turning some real bowls. This initial process takes about 6 mos. to a year, and then we begin to dream and scheme for a lifetime lathe that will allow the freedom and capacity to turn anything we can manage to lift to spindle height! We also finally find there is no end to the dream lathe evolution, only the reality of the check book! But this learning process from prior experiences becomes the criteria for each new lathe purchase, and learning the shortcomings of each machine makes us both better consumers and turners for the next machine. There is no perfect lathe, but my Stubby named Studly is as close as I can get.

[Mel Reed]

Thanks everyone for your imput.
Mel

[Paul Engle]

Wow, I think i'll sell my jet and get a studly.....

[Frank Kobilsek]

Mel,

You'll get a couple of opinions on that machine and if you do have the noted problems you'll solve them and move on to enjoying a nice machine.

I will make two rebuttals to the above.

1) Jet Customer has always treated me quite well.

2) Bill, Jet's relish mascot is Miracle Whip, Mayo is Andy and his Oneway crowd. I'm surprized someone from the Mayo crowd didn't call you out on that one. Hey I wouldn't blame them, they got 3 to 5 times the cash tied up in thier machines. Miracle Whip is a Chevy and Mayo is the Caddilac now on the other hand why would you want a lathe like a car so the Mustard guys have 2 ton Dodge Ram with Cummings diesel and dualy's.

Frank

[Bill Wyko]

I happen to own that ram2500 cummins turbo diesel It's nicknamed hemi's-fear.