woodworking lathe “+10,000 Step By Step Plans ...even if you don't have a large workshop or expensive tools!“ Click Here 👈 ...
woodworking lathe
“+10,000 Step By Step Plans ...even if you don't have a large workshop or expensive tools!“ Click Here 👈
you're going to want to know these five things before you buy a new lathe [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hi I'm Kent and welcome to turn a wood bowl today I'm going to share with you five things that you're going to want to know before you purchase your new lathe now these aren't going to be the basic ordinary things like pricing and budget and that you're going to figure those things out on your own instead I'm going to talk about five things that a lot of people don't mention but if you're not aware of them before you make your lathe purchase you may be disappointed down the road so let's jump right into these five things that you're going to want to know before you purchase your lathe number one size Matters yes there are different sizes of lathes you can start off with a mini lathe which is a very small lathe typically these are used for pin turnings and small turnings like that now they're not great for turning bowls if you want to turn the world's smallest Bowl they might actually be ideal and I've got a video All About That here if you're interested so between the mini lathes and the full-size lace there's a category of lathes called midi m-i-d-i they're kind of in the middle or the midi section of the categories of lays now if you're looking to do medium to small size bowls a midi lathe can be perfect for you a good example of a mini lathe is the jet 1221 variable speed you can make all sorts of different bowls with this now the only downside is you won't be able to make very large bowls or if you have really heavy wet green wood it could be a little bit of a struggle turning on a midi lathe most bull turning is done on full-size lace and a full-size lathe is usually a freestanding lathe that's larger than the midi they can range in quality in motor size and there's a whole variety of different styles of full-size lathes but typically for wood bowl turning you're going to be looking for a full-size blade there are four measurements you're going to want to know about the lathe that you're considering the first one is the swing the swing is the largest amount of material that can be turned on the lathe or the diameter of the material that can be turned on the lathe so for instance if you have a lathe that has an eight inch radius or from the center of the headstock to the rails is eight inches then you can do a 16 inch swing or a 16 inch diameter now what's important to know about that is that when they say 16 inch or if you have a 12 inch swing keep in mind it's going to be nearly impossible to make an actual 12 inch bulb on a 12 inch swing because you're going to need to remove material as you're turning so typically the swing size is the maximum that you can have on there and you're going to be turning something that's less than that so if you know that you want to make bowls that are 12 13 14 inch then you're much better off getting a 16 inch swing lathe or larger so that's really important to understand the next measurement that you're going to want to know is your headstock spindle threads the threads on the headstock spindle are very important to know their size because that is the size you're going to need to get all of your accessories that attach to the headstock to match most headstocks in the United States are either one inch diameter by eight threads per inch or one and a quarter inch diameter by eight threads per inch now there are different size headstocks all around the world so you're going to need to actually check what your lathe headstock measurement is and make sure you understand that before you purchase a lathe now this is going to be important especially you if you have existing accessories if you have a truck maybe that you've been using that's a certain size the lathe that you're purchasing might not have that same exact headstock size now a lot of times that can be fixed by using an adapter there are adapters that will upsize or downsize the head stock threads for your lathe the only downside of that is when you add an adapter you're taking your turning farther away from the lathe headstock the farther you're turning is away from the lathe the more chance there is for vibration or movement in that so we don't want to use adapters unless we absolutely have to we really want to have the connection to the lathe be as tight and close to that headstock as possible so that we get smooth vibration free turning on the lathe the next measurement that we want to know is the Morris taper size the Morris taper is the hole in the middle of the headstock and in the quill of the tail stock that hole size is one of three sizes it's either a Morse taper one Morse taper two or more taper three now I haven't seen too many more taper threes they're out there of course but the larger full-size ladies typically have a Morris taper 2 size hole where the smaller midi lays and mini lays usually have a Moore's taper one so you're going to want to know that check with the manufacturers and see what they have now the Morris taper is going to determine what accessories you can use such as live Center or drive centers in your lathe and you're going to want to make sure you match those up these are friction fit meaning they slide into the hole and the tapered angle of that hole grips this and then you will knock these out with your knockout bar now almost every lathe that I know of comes with a knockout bar so you don't have to worry about that but essentially what happens is these get put in and then the friction of tightening everything up is going to hold them in very well and you'll need to use the knockout bar to loosen these up the other thing you want to know when you're doing that is you want to hold the piece that you're knocking out so that it doesn't go flying across the room and damage to the bearings and especially in the live centers so the Morris taper size is important to know before you purchase a lathe and the fourth measurement that you're going to want to know is the tool Rest Post size the tool Rest Post receiver in the banjo is one size and that post is necessary to match for any accessories typically this would be additional tool rests if you want to add a curved tool rest an inside curve or an outside curve or a longer tool rest to reach down on the bottom of bowls or if you're doing small detail areas you might want to even have a smaller tool rest you're going to want to make sure that you're matching that tool Rest Post size with your banjo most of the large full-size lathes on the market use a one inch diameter post for the tool rest and a lot of the smaller lathes the midi and the mini lace use a three-quarter inch post so you're going to want to know that especially if you're going to be getting additional General tool rest or any kind of accessories that goes in the banjo brand loyalty it can be really confusing when you're looking for your first lathe I remember when I was looking for mine there was a lot of confusion about lathe manufacturers and accessories like the Nova Chuck was really popular and Nova also made a lathe and it's easy to think well the Nova Chuck goes with the Nova Lathe but then I started looking for other lathe manufacturers and I saw other lathes that I was interested in but then I didn't see that same manufacturer making a chuck and I thought well what are we going to do for a Chuck well there's good news here you do not have to be brand loyal when it comes to purchasing your lathe and the accessories for your lathe you can mix and match any different manufacturers and as a matter of fact there's lots of Manufacturers that just make lathe accessories and there are manufacturers that just make waves so you you need to be able to mix and match accessories from different brands so a great example here is the robust lead that I turn on robust tools also manufactures tool rests they make really nice tool rests with a hardened top Edge and I recommend them they make curved and extended tool rests short let rest all sorts of different sizes but there is one catch you need to make sure that the tool Rest Post diameter matches the tool Rest Post receiver in your banjo if it does and the height of the tool rest matches what you need for your lathe then you can use a robust tool rest on your lathe the same goes for any accessory on your headstock as long as the thread and the threading of the accessory matches the thread size of your headstock you can attach it to your lathe and same with the Morris taper that's why those measurements were so important to know before you purchase your lid especially if you have accessories already you want to make sure that you're going to be able to use those accessories with your lathe now you can use an adapter but like we mentioned you don't want to use adapters unless you really have to and realize you can mix and match Brands however you would like in any configuration that you would like to get your wood turning projects completed power both the source of the power and the amount of the power are going to be important for your turning your source is going to be an outlet obviously a standard wall outlet at 110 volts there are many lathes that require that voltage which is great you can simply plug them in and go just know that you may need a little bit more amperage on your breaker in order to really power that lathe now the lathes that are running at 220 volts they're going to require a 220 volt Outlet most of us don't have 220 in our shops or in our garages but just know that you can hire an electrician to usually pretty easily move an existing line a 220 line and put an outlet in your location so that you can plug in your lathe most homes have a 220 volt Outlet or circuit somewhere in the home for a dryer or something like that and you can actually add an additional line using an electrician if you know electricity you can do it yourself I don't like to play around with electricity I would hire an electrician and I did hire electricians you put in 220 lines for my shop and it wasn't that expensive or complicated and they did it in one afternoon so it's not that big of a deal don't be intimidated by that you may want to check with the electrician before you purchase a lathe that's running 220 volts but just know that it's doable and the other nice thing is a 220 volt lead is going to have a lot more power for turning than a 110 volt blade now as far as the power of the lathe and the horsepower you're going to want to get as much horsepower as possible if you plan on turning larger bowls and or if you're going to be turning wet green wood that is heavy heavier the wood is on your lathe the more power you need a half horsepower motor is not going to be enough to turn a large wet bulb link what's going to happen is you're going to get bogged down the motor will get bogged down and come to a screeching stop frequently and that's not so much fun so you're really going to want to purchase as much horsepower as you possibly can I would recommend getting at least a one or two horsepower motor for your lathe if you can get a larger horsepower motor then get that if you can afford it because you will appreciate it down the road when you get in a situation where you're turning a large bowl that is wet and heavy you need that extra power to get through all of that material now that being said if you plan on turning dry wood or you like purchasing Bowl blanks that are dry that are going to be smaller and they're relatively balanced then you can get away with a half horsepower motor or less and make decent turnings just know that the heavier wet wood does require more horsepower lathe location now this is pretty important and I see people overlooking this all the time it's easy to do think about it what do we have all over our shop we have different pieces of equipment that are set on benches that are set on countertops that are kind of stored away until we need them and it's really easy to think well I'm just going to use one of those counters and I'll set my lathe there and I'll be able to turn you will be able to turn but you're going to be limited how will you be limited well first of all if you have your lathe setting on a countertop or a bench or even on a cart what's going to happen is you're not going to have full Mobility with your body to move around your turning and the work that you're doing as you're turning and that's going to limit your movement and if you've seen this video about moving your body you understand that moving your body is the most important thing you can do when you're turning wood bowls you do not want to be restricted in any way the other thing that's super important is to get the height of your lathe just right one of the ways and techniques that we use to determine that is to take your hands and cross them across your body put your hands on the opposite shoulders and then measure the height of your elbow at that point that height should match the height of the center of the headstock that is the eye ideal height at that height you won't be bending over and you won't be reaching up there's a good chance that if you just set your lathe on a bench that height is probably not going to be right and even if it's off an inch or two higher or lower you're going to be putting strain on your back and you're not going to be comfortable turning what I highly recommend is to either use the stand or base that comes with a lathe or purchase the stand or base that your particular lathe is designed for the base from the manufacturer is going to give you more room to move around one of the things with the counter and the bench is that you can't get your feet underneath the Turning there are going to be times when you're turning that you need to have your feet underneath the lathe just a bit to get into the proper position if you're turning at a bench top or the counter you can't do that so now you're you're stretching out and you're Reaching Across and you're not going to make a good cut and you're going to be uncomfortable and you're going to make your body sore quicker that way so consider purchasing or using the legs that come with your lathe this is really important now if you're thinking space wise I want to put this lathe on the counters just so I have extra room and I can park the car here that's fine too figure out a way that you can get the lab into an open area while you're using it there are different Mobility kits for a lot of lays where you can put wheels on them or you may have a mobile base that you can use to move the lathe out of the way when you need it and then bring it into an open space so that you have that free Mobility around the lathe while you're turning it's super important for a comfortable turn and for the ergonomics that are necessary while you're turning well there you have it there are five things that you really need to think about before you purchase your lathe let me know if you've considered all of these or if any of these has sparked any new thoughts in your mind by leaving me a comment below also if you've liked this video do me a favor and click that like button I greatly appreciate that thank you and subscribe if you're not already subscribing check out my website turnawoodbull.com over there I've got tons of information including online courses that are going to bring your wood bowl turning skills up to speed super fast so check them out all right guys as always thank you so much for watching and happy turning thank you [Music] ...
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