Woodfast M408H Questions

[John Ellis]

A new member of our chapter, who is also a new turner, has asked for my help. He has seen a used Woodfast M408H for sale for $1500, and asked my opinion of it. I'm not familiar with that particular lathe, but from a picture of it, and the sale write up is says "variable speeds." My guess is that it's not an actual variable speed lathe, but just has 5 or 6 belt-change speeds. Anyone know for sure.

Also, it's a fairly short bed. Will it take a bed extension?

From my web searches, I haven't found out much more. I thought I'd ask people on this forum for any input.

What can you tell me about this lathe? It's located about two hours away, and before we make the trip to inspect it, I wanted to do some research.

Thanks

 

[allen jay]

wood fast lathe

i owned one of the 908 woodfasts a few years ago. it had a variable speed controller along with a step pulley setup, so you got the best of both worlds.
chances are it came from csusa as they were the distributors of them at one time. 408 is the 16 or 20 bed model so yes it is short. also might want to check the swing on it.
imho it is a good lathe and the cadillac of lathes back then

if you want more info on it call csusa they can fill you in on it

 

[Alan Trout]

I have a 408H and many were variable speed. Mine has a Leeson DC motor. The swing is over 16" but just shy of 17". so it is considered a 16" lathe. It is a well made lathe. It does have a lot of speed ranges to maintain torque. Mine has a 1HP motor on it. It will not accept a bed extension. Not sure if that is a good price but I can tell you it is a good lathe.

Alan

 

[odie]

I also have the M908, which is the long bed version of the one you are enquiring about.

Yes, it is a quality lathe, made in Australia.

I've had mine since 1992, and plan to keep it for the remaining time I have on this earth!

I got mine from CSUSA, and at the time there was only a 16" swing available. Riser blocks were added as an accessory and brought it up to 20" swing. A few years later, the manufacturer began making them all with 20" swing.

I believe I paid around $2200 for it in 1992, and if it were produced today, it would easily be in the $3000 to $4000 range.

Originally it was offered with a straight 5-step pulley and 1 1/2hp motor, or with the same step pulleys and a 1hp variable speed motor.

If I were in need of a good, well built lathe right now, I wouldn't hesitate to get the same Australian made Woodfast lathe, either long or short bed. If treated with respect, it will easily outlast your grand-children!

ooc

 

[hockenbery]

John,
I have had the 20" long bed Woodfast for about 18 years. Mine can from craft supplies with a variable speed controller, no reverse on ours.
Ours got used 15-20 hours a week for about 12 years. The last 6 years mostly by students since we both have a couple of newer bigger lathes.
We do sometimes have the vacuum hooked up to the Woodfast since we have a few vacuum chucks on 1 1/4 x 8 threads.

They are good lathes and nothing much goes wrong with them. We had 8 Woodfasts in the Maryland hall for the creative Arts classroom.
The only maintenance we had to do was replace the bolt that connects the cam and the locking plate on one of the banjos. Not sure how it was broken.

Its weakest feature is the tool rest lock. I learned early on to tap it with the tool handle every time I raised or lowered the tool rest.
I tap the tool rest lock on Powermatics whenever I turn on them after having the tool post slip on me a few times on those machines.
It is also a light lathe and we had ours bolted to the floor when we used it a lot.

Regards,
Al