I’m telling my story of a simple mistake that I made that would be easy for any newcomer to avoid. I started turning a few years ago on a new Nova Comet 14DR. I bought it locally at a store full of people I genuinely trust. They literally spent 3 hours talking to me about lathes, turning, and safety equipment. They showed me pictures of pieces they had turned and showed me their every day pen which was of course hand turned.
I got the lathe home and set it up. I started by turning some small blanks. I noticed that the hand wheel wobbled a little bit but I didn’t know how it attached to the spindle so I fuguered it was normal. I’ve been able to produce a lot of nice pieces but it’s always been a struggle. I took a few classes with my local Woodturning club (Central Texas Woodturners Association) and I always felt great after the class but I struggled the next day trying to put what I learned into practice on my own lathe. Last month I was getting ready to turn an ice cream scoop kit that my daughter bought me for Christmas. I put my Jacobs chuck into the head stock and then installed the Rockler mandrel into the Jacobs chuck. As soon as I turned the lathe on I noticed that the end of the mandrel was not spinning on its axis. It was drawing a small circle in the air. I was sure that something was wrong. I looked through my drawer of headstock drive centers and spotted my Oneway drive spur. I figured this is as high quality a tool as I own. I slid it into the headstock and flipped the switch. Yup, it was drawing a small circle too. My spindle is bent. This thing has been bent since the day I bought it. I looked at a few disassembly videos and learned that the hand wheel threads onto the spindle and that the only way it could wobble is for the spindle to be bent.
I won’t go through any more details on the lathe issue. I’ve already sworn my self out of profanities. My advice is invite one of these super friendly woodturners from your local club to come over and “kick the tires” on your new lathe. I bet one of these guys would have looked at this and said “uh oh, you may have a problem”. I could have returned the lathe 3 years ago and not fought against it for three years. When I get my next lathe, someday, I’ll have a person or two come over and help me kick the tires. For now, the parts have been ordered. Nuff said.
Pete
I got the lathe home and set it up. I started by turning some small blanks. I noticed that the hand wheel wobbled a little bit but I didn’t know how it attached to the spindle so I fuguered it was normal. I’ve been able to produce a lot of nice pieces but it’s always been a struggle. I took a few classes with my local Woodturning club (Central Texas Woodturners Association) and I always felt great after the class but I struggled the next day trying to put what I learned into practice on my own lathe. Last month I was getting ready to turn an ice cream scoop kit that my daughter bought me for Christmas. I put my Jacobs chuck into the head stock and then installed the Rockler mandrel into the Jacobs chuck. As soon as I turned the lathe on I noticed that the end of the mandrel was not spinning on its axis. It was drawing a small circle in the air. I was sure that something was wrong. I looked through my drawer of headstock drive centers and spotted my Oneway drive spur. I figured this is as high quality a tool as I own. I slid it into the headstock and flipped the switch. Yup, it was drawing a small circle too. My spindle is bent. This thing has been bent since the day I bought it. I looked at a few disassembly videos and learned that the hand wheel threads onto the spindle and that the only way it could wobble is for the spindle to be bent.
I won’t go through any more details on the lathe issue. I’ve already sworn my self out of profanities. My advice is invite one of these super friendly woodturners from your local club to come over and “kick the tires” on your new lathe. I bet one of these guys would have looked at this and said “uh oh, you may have a problem”. I could have returned the lathe 3 years ago and not fought against it for three years. When I get my next lathe, someday, I’ll have a person or two come over and help me kick the tires. For now, the parts have been ordered. Nuff said.
Pete