Hi everyone, recently joined the forum an I'm taking the advise to make a bit of an introduction. I started turning with the mid 1940's 9" Dunlap (Sear) lathe, in the photo below, that I took out of my dad's shop after he took it out of my grandfather's shop. I'm a retired accountant and have been a woodworker for many years, also a beekeeper and touring cyclist (bicycle, not motor). But turning is a new adventure
I've quickly caught the bug and realized I need to upgrade to technology from the current century so I have been pondering new lathes for quite a while now. I've read numerous threads here and on other forums, read blog posts, watched YouTube videos and have settled on "the lathe" several times (all different, obviously). I started looking at midi's till my wife said "I thought you'd get something bigger". Hard to pass up and opening like that, but I don't think she had any idea how the price can double, or triple from a nice midi to a 16" or 18" Jet or Laguna. To say nothing of Powermatics, Robusts etc.
I took an afternoon bowl turning class at the local Rockler's and turned on a Laguna 1836 which I really liked. That got me to looking at the Revo 1216. Looking bigger I consider the Revo 1524. But the price is more than double the 1216 and at that price range a Jet 1640 is another option. However, at that size I could spend a little more for the Jet 1840 with 220v power. For a price vs. size compromise I've also considered a Nova 1624 II with belt drive. This morning I was back to the Revo 1216. For a little over $1,000 I could get the lathe with the 10" bed extension and extended banjo for outboard turning. Still a 1" vs 1 1/4" spindle and 1HP 110v power. But I watched someone on YouTube carefully turn a 16" bowl with that configuration. I don't know that I'll want to do that but it showed a lot of versatility in a smaller machine. For $200 more I could get the 20" bed extension and have the bed length of the Jet's
I've considered Grizzly lathes but I'm wary of quality issues.
For now it's all a bit mute as I'm recovering from rotator cuff surgery so no turning (or many other things) for a while.
Here are some bowls I turned on the 9" Dunlap. The big one at the bottom was at Rockler on the Laguna 1836. I've also turned a few pens, which really pointed out the inability of the old Dunlap to turn true.
I've quickly caught the bug and realized I need to upgrade to technology from the current century so I have been pondering new lathes for quite a while now. I've read numerous threads here and on other forums, read blog posts, watched YouTube videos and have settled on "the lathe" several times (all different, obviously). I started looking at midi's till my wife said "I thought you'd get something bigger". Hard to pass up and opening like that, but I don't think she had any idea how the price can double, or triple from a nice midi to a 16" or 18" Jet or Laguna. To say nothing of Powermatics, Robusts etc.
I took an afternoon bowl turning class at the local Rockler's and turned on a Laguna 1836 which I really liked. That got me to looking at the Revo 1216. Looking bigger I consider the Revo 1524. But the price is more than double the 1216 and at that price range a Jet 1640 is another option. However, at that size I could spend a little more for the Jet 1840 with 220v power. For a price vs. size compromise I've also considered a Nova 1624 II with belt drive. This morning I was back to the Revo 1216. For a little over $1,000 I could get the lathe with the 10" bed extension and extended banjo for outboard turning. Still a 1" vs 1 1/4" spindle and 1HP 110v power. But I watched someone on YouTube carefully turn a 16" bowl with that configuration. I don't know that I'll want to do that but it showed a lot of versatility in a smaller machine. For $200 more I could get the 20" bed extension and have the bed length of the Jet's
I've considered Grizzly lathes but I'm wary of quality issues.
For now it's all a bit mute as I'm recovering from rotator cuff surgery so no turning (or many other things) for a while.
Here are some bowls I turned on the 9" Dunlap. The big one at the bottom was at Rockler on the Laguna 1836. I've also turned a few pens, which really pointed out the inability of the old Dunlap to turn true.
