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Record Power Regent Coronet Regent Lathe

Odie

Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
TOTW Team
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Just in case anyone else here is interested in knowing more about the RP Regent lathe.......I skipped over this one before, because it's narrated in Russian, but it's a very good video showing more than the other vids I've seen on this lathe.

Note: Specs are at 2:30

Alignment of spindle to tailstock at 6:30

-----odie-----
View: https://youtu.be/zSUIAAHX26M
 
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Randy Anderson said:
Interesting. I assume that every time you move the headstock spindle you have to align it?
Click to expand...

Hiya Randy.....:D

I'd think only when you need to use the tailstock. It seems like a pretty easy thing to do, though.

For my bowl turning, I'd say I use the tailstock less than 1 in 25 bowls.....so, this means less to me than it would be for others......especially spindle turners. I'd think a sliding headstock would have the same requirements, seeing as how there needs to be the same gap to allow the headstock and tailstock to slide.

-----odie-----
 
One thing that seems very noticeable with these recent Record Power lathes, is the machined top surface of the bedways look to have a more surface area than just about any other lathe I'm aware of. This may be a factor in stability when rotating the headstock, I think. (Probably a good thing for the banjo, as well! ;))

As many turners know, the amount of detectible vibration is directly related to the quality of the cut......even small amounts can, and do have their effects. The overall weight of the lathe is a contributing factor.........

-----odie-----
 
I almost never do spindle turning and when I do it's a short piece. With a Jet1642 I have a lot more length than I need and keep the headstock in the middle of the frame. Odie, I use the tail stock to form the bottom and tenon then flip and slide to the end and turn from the end. Maybe keep the tail stock up until I get some of the hogging out done to be safe. Net, my interest is because I wish my lathe were shorter (small shop) so fun to look but no way I can afford.
 
odie said:
It does say 145 kg.....which is 320 lbs.....that seems a little too light for my liking. I wonder if that weight includes the legs.....??
Click to expand...

I doubt the overall weight of the Regent is 320 lbs with the stand.

For a comparison, the Vicmarc VL240 is listed as 365 lbs as a bench mount lathe......but, it's 659 lbs when the stand is added. (That's more like it! :D)

-----odie-----
 
odie said:
Specs at the Record Power site:

https://www.recordpower.co.uk/product/regent-lathe-230v-m33-x-35-with-european-plug

It does say 145 kg.....which is 320 lbs.....that seems a little too light for my liking. I wonder if that weight includes the legs.....??
Click to expand...
It has to include legs. As in picture the control box is mounted in leg cavity and in specs it says lathe is 48 1/2 inches high and weighs 320 lbs . That is less than half the weight of my Oneway lathe. Super light.
 
Glenn Lefley said:
It has to include legs. As in picture the control box is mounted in leg cavity and in specs it says lathe is 48 1/2 inches high and weighs 320 lbs . That is less than half the weight of my Oneway lathe. Super light.
Click to expand...

Very well could be, Glenn.......

If so, that would be a deal-killer! :(

-----odie-----
 
You could make this lathe weigh as much as you'd like if you took it off its legs and mounted it to your own base. And since the motor is integrated into the headstock, your own base/bench could be built any way you'd like.

If I were in the market for a lathe and this one was my leading contender, I'd have a lot of fun building a real beefcake of a base for it. I've done it for a couple previous mini lathes, and my previous Vicmarc VL300 was built up on scrap structural steel, concrete blocks, and lumber. I wouldn't let overall light weight of an otherwise quality and capable machine stop me.

Now, to hunt for some LVL lumber, big angle iron, and sand bags...
 
When I first got my PM3520 I built a base into it using the preforms on the legs. I put a false bottom in this and bought 300lb of scrap iron to fill the false bottom with (about 5" across the whole base). I made some measurements spinning a couple 20-30lb out of round log sections. I still have the info somewhere, but haven't seen it for a while. What I do recall was that I could spin the logs at about 300-350 rpm until is started wobbling without the additional weight, and got some incremental improvement as I added weight but what surprised me was that adding all 300lb only allowed me to increase the speed by ~10%, maybe ~50rpm.

When we moved to TN 5yrs ago I didn't bother to move the scrap iron. In fact, for most of the turning I do (<12in, fairly balanced) I don't even bother to lower the pads taking the weight off of the mobile wheels. I did lower the pads to secure the lathe when I roughed blanks the other day but it didn't take too long at 300-400rpm to balance the blanks enough I could run the speed up. The additional weight I added back in MN was nice, but didn't matter enough to me to move it; nor to bother reinvesting a few $ to acquire more.
 
I remember building a bunch of houses on back country roads for the federal government on reserves. And ,on a really cold day driving in wet mud got on highway and thought the front end was going to fall iff the van. I stopped at a repair place as could not get it over 40 mph as thought drive shaft was bent or something really bad. The garage took a look and said I had a few pounds off mud frozen in the wheels. Making it out of balance. A quick car wash and I was off and running. But a few pounds of out of balance mud was throwing around a few thousand pound van on the highway.
 
In my opinion, weight in the castings of the headstock and bedways is a better way to eliminate vibration......although weight in the base does also help in a little less significantly way. Maybe the mechanical engineers among us, can give a more reasoned perspective on that. To my thinking, weight in the base under the lathe itself, helps in a similar way as bolting the base to a cement floor.

-----odie-----
 
Having dissimilar materials that resonate at different frequencies helps with the higher frequency buzzing sorts if vibrations. If I recall, a long time ago Oneway use to use that explanation in describing their weld-up design style. Different grades of steel, thicknesses, castings, and the welds themselves helped wash out buzz.

Dead weight (timbers, sand/gravel, concrete, heavy steel members, etc.), and splayed out legs providing a wide stance in relation to the rotational mass, helps with the out of balance vibes and a tendency to tip over, as it were. Like a kid's swingset- a wide A-frame anchored to the ground keep the whole thing stable. Of course a stand could be built like a tank, and we push the limits of the machine and break the machine itself- the mounting points to the stand, headstock joint to the bed, etc.
 
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