Would some of you care to comment on 2 lathes I'm interested in ?? King Canada KLW-1218VS and Craftek CX 813. I suppose mainly Canadian turners use these. Many thanks
Would some of you care to comment on 2 lathes I'm interested in ?? King Canada KLW-1218VS and Craftek CX 813. I suppose mainly Canadian turners use these. Many thanks
Thanks for the info Mike. I used to be on CW, but returning from vacation 3 years ago , I could not get in and password did not work. Will try again, happy turning. JRJohn, I think you do need to register at CanadianWoodworking.com in order to post and log in until it recognises you automatically. I frequent the site regularly too. I Just looked the lathes up. There is a good chance they come out of the same factory. Edited - both have variable speed contollers. The sale price on the BB is pretty attractive. They will both get you to the addicted stage and both have in country support for parts. The electronic controllers on these import lathes seem to have a short production life and many owners have been stranded when they fail because they are no longer available. These are not bowl lathes by any stretch of the imagination but a decent way to start. The lathe is only going to be about a third of your starting investment if you look out a year or so. Grizzly and Busy Bee are independently owned by two brothers. Some BB products are similar to Grizzly. It all depends which nameplates and colors the factory is using that day.
Hey ! Leo, thanks for the reply. Nice to see you are at it still. Are you still turning ?? I will try CW again. Take care, happy turning. JRYou will be getting better results IMO if you go to the Canadian woodworking forum.
https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/woodworking
For your info Leo, I just tried CW and followed instructions NO register. JRHey ! Leo, thanks for the reply. Nice to see you are at it still. Are you still turning ?? I will try CW again. Take care, happy turning. JR
For your info Leo, I just tried CW and followed instructions NO register. JR
Not trying to be negative but I've had bad experiences with both Craftex (BusyBee) and King when it has come to service and quality. I've had really bad experiences with BusyBee warranty support and generally avoid anything Craftex. To be fair, none of these experiences were with lathes, but with other woodworking machinery both personally and professionally.
If it were me, I would avoid both of them as an entry level lathe and look at other entry level lathes such as a Nova or Laguna. Better still, watch Craigslist for used Delta or Jet lathes since you'll probably want to upgrade in a couple of years once you have a better idea of the type of turning you want to do.