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Looking for a Good Mini/Midi Lathe

T

Trevor

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Jan 17, 2008
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About two years ago, I was given a Delta Midi lathe for Christmas and have had pretty good luck with it so far. About three month's ago, I introduced a couple friends to wood turning using my lathe and tools and one of them has now been sucked into the Vortex. He wants to get his own small lathe to turn small projects.
I figured this would be an easy answer, but found that there are not that many small lathes out there.

Grizzly, Rockler, and PSI(turncrafter) all look the same. They seem to be made by the same oversees company. The issue with them is the door to change the belt speed in behind the housing and not in front like the Delta.

Woodcraft & Amazon dropped Delta. Can't find one.
The Jet is nice but expensive.
Not familiar with Rikon.

Any other options I don't know about?
I've been scanning Craig's List with no luck.

Trevor
 
Trevor, I've turned on the Rikon, and it's o.k. for a mini lathe.

It has 2 features that make it worth a second look. One, it has a locking spindle, something that many of the earlier mini lathes lack. Two, for ease of changing the belts, you couldn't ask for better access. Just open up the entire headstock casing, and it falls away to the left. Kinda like those older sports cars, where rather than 'lifting the hood', the entire front of the body lifted up and out of the way.😀

I don't own one, nor do I know of anyone who does, so I can't tell you how they hold up over the long term. But I think the price on the lathe is less than the Jet Mini, which is a pretty good (IMO) mini lathe. The advantage to going with a Jet, if your friends decide that woodturning's not their thing, they can sell the Jet mini lathe and get a pretty good price.
 
Trevor
Amazon (etal) didn't drop the Delta, Delta did. They are coming out with a new one (soon or already).

The only other one I can recall is the Vicmarc, and it ain't cheap either (and you still have to switch belts)

IMO (and many others) the best deal out there is the Jet 1014, if you don't want to switch belts, the 1014VS.

It does have a big brother now, the 1220 (and 1220VS), but they do cost more

TTFN
Ralph
 
I have the rikon

I have had the Rikon for almost a year now, have since upgraded to Jet 1642 but still do ALOT on the rikon. I carry it to alot of arts and crafts shows to do demos also. The belt access as stated earlier cannot be beat, has good power, 1/2 hp and never had any problems with the tailstock sliding like i hear about with the jet mini's (I think i heard it is because a bolt is too short or something) My 2 cents
 
I'm a fan of the Jet and Rikon. I've put many hours on both however I don't own one. I have an older Nova Comet and a Carbo-Tec. I have not turned on the PSI and Grizzly but have seen them and played with them. They don't seem to have the same quality of castings and other parts but they may be decent lathes. They are less expensive.
Another plus for Jet is the service from the company. They have been excellent at helping people out when problems arise.
 
Ive got the Jet the 5 speed with the manual change. I have put this through a lot of shaving and made a lot of various projects.
 
Trevor,
I started with the Delta Midi as well. After a year, the Rikon came out. I wanted the extra 2" of swing so I sold the Delta and bought the Rikon. At $330, I think the Rikon is the best deal out there unless you really want variable speed. I've run it pretty hard over the past 3 years and it shows no wear. I consider it a better machine than the Delta it replaced (which gave me excellent service).
If you are looking for the current equivalent of your Delta Midi, the Jet JML-1014I is probably the closest, but the Rikon is $45 less, has 12" of swing, is heaver, and offers a slower minimum speed of 430 compared to the Jet's 500rpm.
Delta is introducing new 3/4hp 12" swing lathes (with and w/o VS), but it has seen repeated delays and will not come cheap. Last I heard was to look for it in April.
 
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Delta IS coming out with a new midi lathe. I was told it would be out before the holiday season, but they've been delayed for some reason or other. I was lucky enough to help them with pre-production testing and have had a production version since late last summer. I've been able to demonstrate using it at a few shows and love it. If they ever want it back I'll have to buy one as it's far, far better than anything else out there, especially my old Jet variable speed. Although I've a Stubby, I've found having a good mini/midi for smaller pieces and portability is a real benefit.
 
Thanks for the feedback

So Delta is coming out with a new lathe. That explains a lot. I hadn't heard that nor read it anywhere. Thanks for the update.

So a few of you have the Rikon and like it quite a bit. I'll pass that on and take a look at it tomorrow at Woodcraft. The one here in Norther Virginia only has the Rikon and Jet.

Thanks for your feedback.

Trevor
 
waltben said:
Delta IS coming out with a new midi lathe. I was told it would be out before the holiday season, but they've been delayed for some reason or other.
Click to expand...

When I saw this lathe at IWF, and talked about it with Don Russell (who demonstrates for Delta in Atlanta), it sure seemed production ready. The price they were throwing out was pretty in-line with the Jet 1220. At January's WWS, I went to the Delta booth, but this lathe wasn't there. They said there were problems with switch failure and to look for it around April. I also asked what they new about pricing. The VS model is around $700. In retrospect, I should have asked what this means. We've all seen tools that are listed at $500, but routinely sell for $300.
 
I own several mini/midi lathes and have turned on the Rickon and General lathes in the same class. My Preferance is the Jet mini with the variable speed. The spindle lock and added swing can be had on the newer mini, as well as, the larger swing can be found on the 1220. IMHO, the Jet mini VS is the best ballance of cost, features, and durability.

Aaron
 
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