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Hello all, a question about a new purchase.

R

Round

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Jul 26, 2005
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Hi everyone! I'm new around here, this is my first post. Very nice site. I have a question for all you veteran turners out there. Last Christmas my parents bought me my first lathe, a PSI Turncrafter Plus Link. I have used this lathe for the last 7 months and I love it. I have turned probably 50-100 pens on this lathe and for $140 I definitely got my money out of it. I have decided that I like turning enough that I want to upgrade to a new slightly larger, slightly higher quality lathe. I am currently looking at two lathes, the Jet Model 708351 Link, or the Delta Model LA200 Link . These lathes look nearly identical on paper and was wondering what someone with experience on these lathes might think. Any help/thoughts would really be appreciated. Oh, and BTW I am sorry if this has been discussed before, I could not get the search function of the site to work.
 
Hi Round - sounds like you have been caught in the woodturning vortex! You might try the search function in this forum. It will show you discussion threads about whatever topics you type in.
 
Well, I tried that but for some reason it would not bring up any results for any queries. I tried just "jet" and it said no articles returned so I don't think that it is working for me.
 
Thanks so much, that discussion had a wealth of information. Looks like I will be heading to the local Woodcraft on Thursday to be picking up my new Jet mini lathe. Everything in the store is 10% off on Thursday 🙂
 
Well I guess I do have a question, while reading I came across this comment
...require a few modifications and adjustments out of the box to work well
Click to expand...
What kind of modifications will I need to make? Adjustments of some kind?
 
Round said:
Well I guess I do have a question, while reading I came across this comment What kind of modifications will I need to make? Adjustments of some kind?
Click to expand...

Start by planning ahead on your stand. Note where the motor is, and make sure you gain some clearance for it over any top so it doesn't suck shavings. Make clearance enough so you can get your hand underneath the ways and rummage through the shavings for a dropped screw, roll pin, etc. You'll be glad you did. For reasons unknown, that kind of thing seldom hits the reviews.
 
Hmm, I see that now and it has me thinking. But, don't you still have to change the belt to change speeds with that one? Is it really worth $100 more dollars?
 
Variable speed

I would say it is worth the $100. I bought the variable speed Jet mini at Rockler and love it. I have to admit that I got it for $289 after it was used in a demo. It never hurts to ask for a greater discount than they're offering. Now that I want to start chasing threads on my lidded boxes having that option is important. While there are 3 belt positions I tend to leave it on the middle position and control the speed from 0-max with the rheostat. I do 90% of my turning on an old Oliver that starts up around 800 RPM. So the variable speed is going to allow me to practice what I learned from Anthony Harris at the Symposium.
mkart
 
Woohoo, picked her up tonight. I went ahead and took your advice and got the variable speed model. She's a beaut.
 
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