Owners poll- 18" X 47" lathes

[Roger Chandler]

Ongoing review G0698

Just to update: I began a Black Walnut hollow form yesterday from a log blank, and the G0698 did a wonderful job on all aspects. I did find out that my previous post related to ballast, is a little inaccurate. I don't have quite enough ballast with the few tools on the shelf I put under it. I got a little vibration to begin with, with the log blank.

Seems even though I tried to shake and move the lathe with body weight, it is not the same as the centrifugal force of an unbalanced blank. I think a couple sand bags would take care of it though.

The power of the 2 hp motor came through, as I had 3 large catches when roughing out the blank, but the lathe just kept going, and I never tripped the circuit breaker. The log probably weighed over 50 lbs when I cut it in half, so I'm pretty confident that the blank was nearly 25 lbs or more.

I am impressed each time I use this lathe, and it has handled everything I have thrown at it so far with flawless operation, and I look forward to finishing this hollow form with a lid and a finial in the upcoming week.

 

[kevinkabby]

Just to update: I began a Black Walnut hollow form yesterday from a log blank, and the G0698 did a wonderful job on all aspects. I did find out that my previous post related to ballast, is a little inaccurate. I don't have quite enough ballast with the few tools on the shelf I put under it. I got a little vibration to begin with, with the log blank.

Seems even though I tried to shake and move the lathe with body weight, it is not the same as the centrifugal force of an unbalanced blank. I think a couple sand bags would take care of it though.

The power of the 2 hp motor came through, as I had 3 large catches when roughing out the blank, but the lathe just kept going, and I never tripped the circuit breaker. The log probably weighed over 50 lbs when I cut it in half, so I'm pretty confident that the blank was nearly 25 lbs or more.

I am impressed each time I use this lathe, and it has handled everything I have thrown at it so far with flawless operation, and I look forward to finishing this hollow form with a lid and a finial in the upcoming week.

Where can u get drive belts. I have one ordered from laguna, but need one now. Mine is shreaded. tried auto stores, fleet farm, homedepot.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Belt for 18x47

Where can u get drive belts. I have one ordered from laguna, but need one now. Mine is shreaded. tried auto stores, fleet farm, homedepot.

Hi Kevin,

I hope you are doing well. The part number for the belt on the Grizzly model is:

P0698043 Ribbed Flat Belt 530J6. It should fit the Laguna as well. You can call Grizzly and order it. I would get an extra as well, just to have a spare, and check the set screws on your pulleys just to make sure they are tight.

I don't know about retail outlets, but perhaps an outdoor power-tool repair shop might carry one for some machine they work on. Good luck.

Hope this helps,

Roger

 

[Bart Leetch]

Use blue loctite on all your pulley screws. I've never had one come loose using loctite yet.

 

[Ward Holdridge]

Laguna 18x47 Working OK

I've had my 18x47 for about two months and have had no problems. In fact I think it has performed well, especially for the $1,850 & no shipping.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has installed a vacuum chuck on an 18x47.

Thanks,
Ward Holdridge

 

[earl timmons]

Ward check the JT tools website. Tom has a complete setup for the newer versions of the 18/47. Given you have only had yours for two months I assume that's what you have. It has the extended spindle and hand wheel.

I have a two year old Laguna that Tom did a custom job for over a year and half ago, it works great. Tom is a good guy and his products are well designed and manufactured.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Thanks for posting

I've had my 18x47 for about two months and have had no problems. In fact I think it has performed well, especially for the $1,850 & no shipping.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has installed a vacuum chuck on an 18x47.

Thanks,
Ward Holdridge

Hello Ward,

Thanks for posting your experience with your Laguna 18x47. The purpose of this thread was to ascertain the experiences of owners of the 4 lines of this machine. My Grizzly G0698 does very well indeed, and most laguna owners seem pleased with theirs as well, although there has been one negative on the Laguna line.

I think it is a good lathe for the $$$$$ and has features that match up with most higher end machines like the PM 3520b. Likely for the dollars spent, there is not a better value on the market at present. [IMHO]

Let us know if you will how it goes as you use it along, so we get some perspective of the performance from a time beyond being new. Let us know what kinds of projects you are turning and how the lathe performs for you.

I have the vacuum system from JT Turning Tools on my "TO GET" list, and am looking forward to getting that set up.

Thanks again! 🙂

 

[Tom Hamilton]

I've had my 18x47 for about two months and have had no problems. In fact I think it has performed well, especially for the $1,850 & no shipping.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has installed a vacuum chuck on an 18x47.

Thanks,
Ward Holdridge

Hello Ward

I have owned my Laguna 18/47 since August 2009 and think it's great.

I recently set it up with a vacuum system. You can see pictures of my lathe with the vacuum system all set up on the JT Turning tools website under "Precision Vacuum Adapter", then there's a list under that with the Laguna 18/47 listed.

I also made a customer comment on his site. His system is very well thought out and a joy to use.

 

[Tom Hamilton]

Where can u get drive belts. I have one ordered from laguna, but need one now. Mine is shreaded. tried auto stores, fleet farm, homedepot.

Hello Kevin,

I own a Laguna 18/47 and although I haven't needed to replace my drive belt I wanted to have a spare on hand.

I bought mine on-line from vbelts4less.com, PN:210J6 @ $2.28 each. 🙂 I ended up buying 3 of them, I ended up paying about $15 bucks delivered. I had them in 1 day. But I live in Madison Wi, and they shipped from Milwaukee, just an hour or so down the road.

Good luck.

Tom

 

[Tom Hamilton]

Drive belts Available in Milwaukee

Where can u get drive belts. I have one ordered from laguna, but need one now. Mine is shreaded. tried auto stores, fleet farm, homedepot.

Hello Again Kevin,

I noticed after my first posted reply to you that you live in Milwaukee.

Belarus Tractor International in Milwaukee owns and operates vbelts4less.com, the place I bought my replacement belts from.

You can probably drive over there and get as many belts as you need, no shipping!

Let me know how it goes.

Tom

 

[Fred Lockwood]

I have read the various posts in this thread (and the other thread on the 18x47 lathes) with interest.

recently purchased one of the 18x47 lathes, the Australian variety from Hare & Forbes, see here.

I thought I would put a few pictures of the Oz variety and my "fettling" process.

I decided to disassemble the legs, headstock, tailstock and banjo whilst the lathe was still on the forklift at the warehouse. This would save my back when I got home. The reason you see the assembled lathe on the forklift is that I bought the floor model, which I had previously inspected and measured run out and alignment on.



After taking the bed out of the trailer, it survived the 200km trip very well🙂, I lapped the bed with a carborundum stone just to make sure that the headstock, tailstock and banjo would slide smoothly.



Some pics of the assembly process



As I am somewhat "vertically challenged" (5'7") I put a temporary duck board (pallet) with a rubber mat in front.



As I have only owned the lathe for about 2 months I can't give you a thorough user report, but suffice to say that I am impressed with how quiet and smooth it is. I enjoy using it, especially as my previous lathe was one of those generic Chinese MC900 lathes with a Reeves pulley system, it was neither smooth nor quiet!

Only drawback I have found, and I was aware of this before I bought it, is that there is no handwheel. I am in the process of designing one and as I have a metal lathe as well it shouldn't be too much of a problem to "turn" something up.

On the Oz Wooworkers Forum there is a thread running on what various owners have done about a handwheel. Not sure of this forums' policy on cross-links to other forums so I won't put in a link.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Good to hear about your H&F 18x47

I have read the various posts in this thread (and the other thread on the 18x47 lathes) with interest.

recently purchased one of the 18x47 lathes, the Australian variety from Hare & Forbes, see here.

I thought I would put a few pictures of the Oz variety and my "fettling" process.

I decided to disassemble the legs, headstock, tailstock and banjo whilst the lathe was still on the forklift at the warehouse. This would save my back when I got home. The reason you see the assembled lathe on the forklift is that I bought the floor model, which I had previously inspected and measured run out and alignment on.


View attachment 3757

After taking the bed out of the trailer, it survived the 200km trip very well🙂, I lapped the bed with a carborundum stone just to make sure that the headstock, tailstock and banjo would slide smoothly.

View attachment 3756

Some pics of the assembly process

View attachment 3758 View attachment 3759

As I am somewhat "vertically challenged" (5'7") I put a temporary duck board (pallet) with a rubber mat in front.

View attachment 3761

As I have only owned the lathe for about 2 months I can't give you a thorough user report, but suffice to say that I am impressed with how quiet and smooth it is. I enjoy using it, especially as my previous lathe was one of those generic Chinese MC900 lathes with a Reeves pulley system, it was neither smooth nor quiet!

Only drawback I have found, and I was aware of this before I bought it, is that there is no handwheel. I am in the process of designing one and as I have a metal lathe as well it shouldn't be too much of a problem to "turn" something up.

On the Oz Wooworkers Forum there is a thread running on what various owners have done about a handwheel. Not sure of this forums' policy on cross-links to other forums so I won't put in a link.

Hello Fred,

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for posting about another model in the lineup of 18x47 lathes. From what I have read from some previous wanderings to some other forums, the reviews for the Hare & Forbes Woodmaster have been mostly very positive. I think your post is another view that validates the value and quality in this lathe.

I am really interested in the handwheel information you spoke of, and you are certainly able to send a private message with the information over this forum, so if you would not mind taking the time, I would love to hear about it, and I am sure others would as well.

Let us know how your model does as you do some ongoing turning projects, and if you can post some pictures.

Are you from Australia, or some other part of the world? Thanks for sharing your pictures of the lathe, and for your input to this owners poll. We appreciate hearing from all the turners.

Now that I have gone back and read your post again, I see that you posted you are from Australia, and I just missed that the first go around

 

[Roger Chandler]

We have 3 out of 4, How about Busy Bee craftex 128?

With the previous posting of Fred, from Australia, we now have postings on 3 of the 4 most popular models of the 18x47 lathe lineup. The one we are missing from this forum is the Craftex 128 model from Busy Bee [Canada].

I believe there are a good number of these in service in Canada [maybe elsewhere, as well] and it would be good to find out how that unit is serving their owners.

We invite posting from those who own that model, and all other of the 18/47 lineup, and what your experiences have been so far as you have used it. Let us know what kind of turnings you have done, and how the performance has been, and how the features have been used [reversing, VFD, etc.]

Thanks to all!

 

[Roger Chandler]

Handwheel for 18/47

Fred Lockwood who posted above speaks of a discussion thread about some turners in Australia who have made handwheels for their 18/47 lathes, and the pictures show some very interesting work, and success at adding the hand wheel.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/changing-guard-115302/

I hope this is allowed and it helps those who were interested in making one for their lathe. Also, the posters on the Aussie thread were very positive about their 18/47 lathes. Most praised the solid performance, vibration free and quiet operation. they seemed to like the power of the lathe as well as the features.

 

[Fred Lockwood]

And your "missing" Busy Bee / Craftex 128 is shown there as well Roger😉

 

[Roger Chandler]

leaving out was not intentional

And your "missing" Busy Bee / Craftex 128 is shown there as well Roger😉

Hi Fred,

I apologize for not including that some pics were of the busy bee/Craftex 128. I was just glad to see the pics of the handwheels, and how they were attached to the pulley with the 2 tapped holes. That was a discussion we had here, and I never got around yet to doing it on my lathe, but now, having seen it done by others, I know it will indeed work.

Your posting was a big help to us here in the USofA and is much appreciated. Your group to turners there really seem to be quite accomplished, and it is a joy reading your forum.

 

[Roger Chandler]

when I get a little time...

When I am able to get a little time I am going to try the handwheel adaptation to my Grizzly G0698. I've been busy with a remodel of a bathroom, then a death in the family, but hopefully within the next couple weeks, I want to try my hand at a fabrication that will attach to the pulleys with the 2 tapped holes, and if I can work a two-piece wheel design, then I might be able to keep the large cover on the headstock, and only remove the dust grommet that the knock out bar goes through.

It might complicate things too much, and it would be simpler just to make the mounting like the picture in the above forums from Fred Lockwood in Australia. I think that needing the through hole in the center to mate up with the through hole in the spindle would [perhaps] prevent the two piece now that I think more about it.

I pose the thought process, and present it for others to share a "better way" if there is one. I like running things by others at times, that way I reduce the "trial and error" process and get perspectives that may be a lot better than my own [no need to re-invent the wheel] if it is not necessary! 😀

 

[Roger Chandler]

TEFC Motor on G0698

A while back someone asked the question about the motor and it overheating, and they did not see how the motor cools itself. Today I was looking at the manual that came with the lathe, and the manual says it is a "TEFC motor with permanently shielded and lubricated bearings" - "TEFC meaning totally enclosed fan cooled."

As I stated in a previous posting, the motor on this lathe has never overheated on me, and I do not expect it to do so, as it seems this design is pretty well done, and I think the enclosed motor shroud is designed the way it is to keep sawdust out of the motor unit, so as to prolong the life of the unit.

At the time of the last post about this issue, I did not remember that information was listed in the manual.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Another session - Chinese Chesnut

This evening I started on a new turning that will go to our club challenge for the month of May and will be shown this Saturday at our next meeting. The club challenge is "Put A Lid On It." Each member is supposed to do a turning in which a lid is turned and fitted to it, and it will be entered for the prize drawing.

A couple months ago, one of our members was told about a church which had about a dozen Chinese Chesnut trees which were diseased, and were coming down. They planed to burn the wood in a large pile to get rid of it. Well, our member got a whole large load and all members of the club could have a few if they wanted. Great to save the wood!🙂

My turning will be about 5-1/2 inches round and about 7 inches high, and will be an end grain hollowed box with a lid shaped like the top of a circus tent, with a small decoration of some sort, which I will decide when I go back to it tomorrow [I only turned the outside this evening, and came in as the hour was getting late] and hollowed with an inside rim to match up with the inside diameter of the box, and will equal the outside diameter of the box so as to make it a real nice fit.

This is the first time I have turned chesnut. The wood has a coarse grain, but is really nice, and will take a beautiful color with an oil finish, and a little buffing, then perhaps some wipe-on poly as a finish coat.

I wanted to mention the Grizzly G0698 and its performance. Once again, the lathe just performed so smoothly, and even though the log was out of balance, I got the initial speed to over 400 to begin turning between centers with a spur drive and a cup center in the tail stock. I quickly turned at upwards of 1000 rpm when I got the log trued just a little, and the roughing out was a breeze with ribbons of chesnut flying everywhere.

I am trying to be as honest as I know how to be, and I know that I "own" this lathe now, but if it did not perform up to my high expectations, then I would definitely say so, and would also return it to Grizzly, but this thing really performs on a par with much more expensive lathes costing twice as much or more. [IMHO]

My reason for posting is because many were asking for updated reviews along the way. I don't want to cause the readers to be bored, and no intention to gloat either. There was just considerable interest in this line of lathes from a lot of people who wanted first hand information from someone who bought the unit.

Regards to all 🙂

 

[Roger Chandler]

Chinese Chesnut - round 2

I finished off the turning for the Chinese chesnut log, and have made a lidded box that has turned out well [except at the very last turning of the lid, I let the small detail gouge slip and got a small catch, which I cannot turn out because the lid is too thin, and I would turn away the ability to fit over the main body. 🙁

Oh, well, I guess we never get too accomplished to let a diverted moment of attention to allow the tool to get too close to the spinning wood! Its really a pretty small catch, but it does take away from the desired result.

Now on to the Grizzly lathe performance. I had about 5 hours total time in this project, and turned and sanded at various speeds. The bulk of the turning was done on the low belt setting, as it was plenty fast for this project. I have found this setting will allow me to turn at speeds from 50 rpm to 1260 rpm. I know the specs on Grizzly's website state 100 rpm, but you can go lower. The high belt setting on my unit will go to 3260 rpm.

I sanded at about 150 rpm, beginning with 100 grit up through 180, which on this chesnut, it gave me a nice finish, to which I applied danish oil. After drying for 3 days I will buff it and most likely apply wipe-on poly.

The lathe has been so smooth, and quiet, and has given me flawless performance, and I have come to believe that it's performance rivals that of higher priced machines I have turned on [PM3520b] My feeling is that the features and performance of this lathe makes it the best value on the market at this current time.

I still plan to make a handwheel for this lathe, but have not needed it at all with anything I have done so far. I guess it would just be nice to have.

I hope this series of reviews has been helpful to all who have been interested, and I am not sure how many more posts I will make about this unit, unless I hear from others who want to have additional information from time to time. I have given my honest and forthright experiences with this lathe, and my opinions have come from actual experience.

On a scale of 1-10, for the value I rate it a 10, for features I rate it a 10, for performance I rate it a 10, for finish and machining I rate it at a 8.7, for customer service, I rate Grizzly at a 8.5, [ they don't have all the parts in stock as of yet, but can get them] my only other rating will have to come at a later date, and that would be long term reliability, and I have only had the lathe for 6 months as of now, and will look at the longevity and reliability some months down the road [maybe years]

As of now, this purchaser of the Grizzly G0698 is indeed a happy camper! 😀

 

[Roger Chandler]

Ellsworth tool handles -

I had another turning session on the Grizzly G0698 18x47 lathe today. I had picked up some hollowing tools from David Ellsworth when he was with us on May 25th for an all day demo. After talking with him and seeing what he made for the same tools, and saw him using them, I decided who am I to argue with the man who made them and uses them to such great success everyday?

So I copied his instructions the best I could, and turned the straight hollowing tool handle 27" long with an oval end to give a better fit to the hand and to help with the torque that is generated by hollowing. The bent tool handle is 22" long and both are made from cherry, and both have the oval end to help with the grip and torque generated from hollowing.

David says that having to over grip a tool handle is a cause of carpal tunnel syndrome, and this helps eliminate that to some degree.

The Grizzly really did the shaping, drilling and sanding with the utmost of ease. All turning was done on the high belt setting, and the drilling was done with the drill chuck in the headstock, and on the low belt setting, about 400 rpms. This unit really performs well!

 

[Roger Chandler]

A day late & a dollar short

Funny thing happened today. After I made serious inquiry some months ago about the Laguna Platinum 18x47, and almost bought it, now some 7 months or so later I get a follow-up call from one of their sales reps. and they want to see if they can get me to purchase.

Since I bought the Grizzly G0698 18x47 on New Years Day, it just seems they had their opportunity in December 2009 when I was making the inquiry 😕

I told them I was very happy with the Grizzly model, but mentioned the centers not lining up with some who had posted about the Laguna model, and he said they had sold over 1000 of the units and there were a few problems, but most were good.

Just thought I'd let you know what their rep said....

 

[Roger Chandler]

belts for 18x47 and new turning

I got information on this thread from Tom Hamilton related to drive belts for this lathe series. He posted about Belts4less.com [a division of Belarus Tractor] and I purchased 3. They were a perfect fit for the Grizzly G0698. Thank you Tom!

I turned a new cherry bowl yesterday afternoon. The log blank had a large and deep check all the way through the entire length. I stabilized it with a generous amount of CA glue, and put some accelerator on it, and hoped for the best, but was honestly a little leery of the thing for a while, but it stayed together and allowed me to salvage a piece of cherry that would have otherwise gone on the firewood pile.

I went ahead and put the new belt on the pulleys before I got started, because on one earlier occasion, I did not get all the ribs lined up correctly on the pulleys and got a little tear on one of the ribs. I figured I would save the original belt as a back up, and put the new one on, with the knowledge that I need to be a little more precise in aligning the ribs with the pulley.

All the turning and sanding were done with the belt on the high setting, and once again, I am so impressed by the performance of this lathe. It is so smooth, and quiet. I have come to believe something that I hope pans out as reality for me, and that is this:

If in the long run, this lathe continues to perform like it has so far, then I have scored a great buy on a great machine, for a very good price! I have had it for 6 month now [long term reliability still being evaluated] but this Grizzly G0698 unit has truly impressed me, and has features of much more expensive lathes, like 2 hp, VFD, reversing, great speed ranges in high and low from 0-1200 on the low belt setting and 0-3200 on the high setting.

The actual rpm's go a bit higher, but I stated what is on the label.

My motivations for posting this thread and my experiences is not to try and sell anyone on this lathe, but to simply let those who may be interested in it, and are not sure, to know what my hands on, up close and personal experience has been. I don't think anyone should be apprehensive about this lathe model from Grizzly. This one is definitely a winner, and fills a niche that allows a turner to be able to get a great performing machine without spending the better part of $3500.00 for a lathe with a lot of the same features.

I hope this helps someone who may be considering this unit, and if I may be of help, then I am glad to share my understanding further, if someone desires me to do so. Just send me a private message over this forum, and I will respond with what I know.

Good luck to all!

 

[kevinkabby]

laguna problems

Funny thing happened today. After I made serious inquiry some months ago about the Laguna Platinum 18x47, and almost bought it, now some 7 months or so later I get a follow-up call from one of their sales reps. and they want to see if they can get me to purchase.

Since I bought the Grizzly G0698 18x47 on New Years Day, it just seems they had their opportunity in December 2009 when I was making the inquiry 😕

I told them I was very happy with the Grizzly model, but mentioned the centers not lining up with some who had posted about the Laguna model, and he said they had sold over 1000 of the units and there were a few problems, but most were good.

Just thought I'd let you know what their rep said....

That is funny, because when I started having problems with my lathe. They told me that they had about a 10 percent with issues. That tells me that they have no quality controls

 

[Roger Chandler]

Just repeating what the sales rep. told me...

That is funny, because when I started having problems with my lathe. They told me that they had about a 10 percent with issues. That tells me that they have no quality controls

Hello again Kevin,

I don't know what the sales or other folks at Laguna have told others, but I just relayed what the sales rep. said to me......... not defending anyone, but maybe you did get one of those that had the "issues" [whatever they might be] but I really wish things had gone better for you.

I remember Earl Timmons and Tom Hamilton and a few others posted that they had good experiences with the Laguna 18x47 and that they were pleased with their units.

Have you gotten any of the issues worked out as of yet like the centers not aligning?

 

[kevinkabby]

Hello again Kevin,

I don't know what the sales or other folks at Laguna have told others, but I just relayed what the sales rep. said to me......... not defending anyone, but maybe you did get one of those that had the "issues" [whatever they might be] but I really wish things had gone better for you.

I remember Earl Timmons and Tom Hamilton and a few others posted that they had good experiences with the Laguna 18x47 and that they were pleased with their units.

Have you gotten any of the issues worked out as of yet like the centers not aligning?

I still have the same lathe. They won't have any new ones till july 25...supposedly. It has been almost 6 months and nothing has been done. I wanted them to send me a new headstock and tailstock but they said that it would be better to wait till a new one came in. LOL. What a joke

 

[Roger Chandler]

sometimes delays can work out for best

I still have the same lathe. They won't have any new ones till july 25...supposedly. It has been almost 6 months and nothing has been done. I wanted them to send me a new headstock and tailstock but they said that it would be better to wait till a new one came in. LOL. What a joke

Kevin,

I do hope that they get you an entirely new machine that is right this time. It should be the case [I emphasize SHOULD] that after the amount of conversation and complaint that you have registered with Laguna, that they would be glad to have this negative issue resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

I hope they really go out of their way to make things good for you, and that the new lathe gives you exceptional service. It seems like the shippments of new machines are a bit slow arriving from China.......from some of your earlier posts, I thought they would have them a bit earlier. I have ordered a second tool rest assembly from Grizzly, and it is back-ordered as well. I just wonder if the process of getting new units and parts is a little slow because of delays at the manufacturer?

 

[William Young]

Been so busy with my own Woodworking Friends site that I have not been here as often as I would have liked to .
I ran across this thread tonight and was amazed by all the responses so I thought I better put in my 2 or 3 cents worth about this lathe . I did not have time to read all the messages in this thread but I glanced through half a dozen pages.
One message that caught my eye was this one which shows the handwheel that I made for mine . That handwheel works very good for me . It is shown several pages into the link in this quote.

Fred Lockwood who posted above speaks of a discussion thread about some turners in Australia who have made handwheels for their 18/47 lathes, and the pictures show some very interesting work, and success at adding the hand wheel.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/changing-guard-115302/

I hope this is allowed and it helps those who were interested in making one for their lathe. Also, the posters on the Aussie thread were very positive about their 18/47 lathes. Most praised the solid performance, vibration free and quiet operation. they seemed to like the power of the lathe as well as the features.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last edited by Roger Chandler : 05-16-2010 at 07:12 PM. Reason: additional

I have the Craftex CT128 from BusyBee and I am totally delighted with it. It is a real workhorse of a lathe . It is smooth quiet power and I could not wish for anything better in a lathe. I sure have a lot of hours on it now and turned items up to its full inboard diameter limits.
The only two issues were the lack of a hand wheel and the pot metal handles that stripped out on steel studs . They have a no questions replacement service on those and since I modified mine so they are trouble free (so far) it is not much of an issue with me anymore .
However, I am interested in if a better made handle is now available by any of the suppliers of those lathes . I would like to get a few free ones while it is still under warranty for in case my modified ones ever fail. .
Even information of a good one from an after market supplier would be helpful . I can't imagine they would cost all that much.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Welcome William -Glad you posted

Been so busy with my own Woodworking Friends site that I have not been here as often as I would have liked to .
I ran across this thread tonight and was amazed by all the responses so I thought I better put in my 2 or 3 cents worth about this lathe . I did not have time to read all the messages in this thread but I glanced through half a dozen pages.
One message that caught my eye was this one which shows the handwheel that I made for mine . That handwheel works very good for me . It is shown several pages into the link in this quote.



I have the Craftex CT128 from BusyBee and I am totally delighted with it. It is a real workhorse of a lathe . It is smooth quiet power and I could not wish for anything better in a lathe. I sure have a lot of hours on it now and turned items up to its full inboard diameter limits.
The only two issues were the lack of a hand wheel and the pot metal handles that stripped out on steel studs . They have a no questions replacement service on those and since I modified mine so they are trouble free (so far) it is not much of an issue with me anymore .
However, I am interested in if a better made handle is now available by any of the suppliers of those lathes . I would like to get a few free ones while it is still under warranty for in case my modified ones ever fail. .
Even information of a good one from an after market supplier would be helpful . I can't imagine they would cost all that much.

Hello William,

It is nice to get an owner of the Craftex 128, and hear the good report on it's performance. I am so pleased with my Grizzly G0698 as well.

I think Grizzly upgraded the handles for the tool rest because mine are solid steel, and someone mentioned they deepened the sockets and if allowed to seat properly, they work well. I know I have not had even one issue with the ones that came on my lathe.

I am probably going to make a hand wheel for my unit at some point, but to be honest, I haven't needed it whatsoever. I just use the pin and locking spindle, and it works great.

Welcome to the 18x47 owner's poll thread!

 

[William Young]

I am probably going to make a hand wheel for my unit at some point, but to be honest, I haven't needed it whatsoever. I just use the pin and locking spindle, and it works great.

I thought the same thing for a while . For attaching my Oneway scroll chuck and Barracuda 2 it was no problem to do it that way. When it became an inconvenience was when I got the heavy Barracuda 4 chuck and then after I built a big heavy 18" donut chuck with half a dozen different hole size rings . It was harder to get it started on the threads. With the hand wheel I can hold that big donut chuck vertically and turn the hand wheel to feed it on without danger of missalignment and unnecessary spindle thread wear. Once you put a hand wheel on you will wonder why you hadn't done it sooner 😉



Also when turning small things like pens where the small diameter mandrel makes it difficult rotating it for certain operations of turning by hand and finishing them.

Hmmm . . . . I tried to include photos but the uploader would not let me do it. They are 640 x 480 size so perhaps beyond allowable size here.

 

[Roger Chandler]

I hadn't considered a doughnut chuck

I thought the same thing for a while . For attaching my Oneway scroll chuck and Barracuda 2 it was no problem to do it that way. When it became an inconvenience was when I got the heavy Barracuda 4 chuck and then after I built a big heavy 18" donut chuck with half a dozen different hole size rings . It was harder to get it started on the threads. With the hand wheel I can hold that big donut chuck vertically and turn the hand wheel to feed it on without danger of missalignment and unnecessary spindle thread wear. Once you put a hand wheel on you will wonder why you hadn't done it sooner 😉



Also when turning small things like pens where the small diameter mandrel makes it difficult rotating it for certain operations of turning by hand and finishing them.

Hmmm . . . . I tried to include photos but the uploader would not let me do it. They are 640 x 480 size so perhaps beyond allowable size here.

William,

I had not considered a doughnut chuck, and I could see the weight and bulk of such an apparatus would lend itself to use of a hand wheel. I guess I just need to get with going ahead and making one for the Grizzly.

If I understand correctly, the Craftex 128 has a 1 inch x 8 tpi spindle size. Is that the most popular size in Canada? The Grizzly and the Laguna both have 1-1/4 inch by 8 tpi which is more popular here.

 

[William Young]

Yes, mine does have the 1" spindle and I was sure glad of that so I didn't have to get adaptors for all my chucks and accessories. I even have a 1 x 8 Beal tap for making quick faceplates for segmented turnings and some other turnings and it would have been obsolete for for me with a 1.25" spindle.
I have turned some real heavy stuff on that lathe with no problem so I am not concerenrd about the spindle being too small.
Will have another go at the picture posting and see if I have it figured out. It is just a little different sytem here than other places where I post photos.

 

[Roger Chandler]

I had to change all my inserts,etc.

Yes, mine does have the 1" spindle and I was sure glad of that so I didn't have to get adaptors for all my chucks and accessories. I even have a 1 x 8 Beal tap for making quick faceplates for segmented turnings and some other turnings and it would have been obsolete for for me with a 1.25" spindle.
I have turned some real heavy stuff on that lathe with no problem so I am not concerenrd about the spindle being too small.
Will have another go at the picture posting and see if I have it figured out. It is just a little different sytem here than other places where I post photos.

Hi again William,

My old lathe that broke on me had a 1x8tpi spindle, so I had to upgrade to the larger adapters, and a new Beale spindle tap. I like the larger size, because there seems to me more accessories available for it.

Your last picture showed up larger, and was good. You can probably go a bit larger though. I haven't as of yet posted pictures, but plan to do so sometime in the near future. My wife has a digital camera, but I need to get a new SD card for it, and have my son teach me how to post. My computer skills are probably like a kindergardner's, but I will learn it soon.

Stay in touch with posting on occasion, and some pics of your work and shop always make for interesting viewing.

 

[Roger Chandler]

new shipment of Grizzly G0698 due in mid-July

I spoke with customer support yesterday about a 2nd tool rest assembly that is on backorder for this lathe, and also inquired when the new shipment of lathes is due to arrive [thinking my part might be in the same shipment] and was told the lathes are scheduled in mid July, and that my part is backordered until sometime in August 🙁

Thought you folks who have one on order would like that bit of info.....

 

[kevinkabby]

Well rog... If something could go wrong with this lathe, it did and will. I lost a vessel on sunday morning because of the centers not lining up. The 2 inch bit vibrated and it grabbed and popped it off at the base. I have to take cardboard shims and still lift up on the jacobs chuck to get to center.

If that wasn't enough...The switch went out. Try to find a switch on a sunday at 11 a.m. I had a show on tuesday through thursday and was almost complete with the 6 vessels (now five) and it popped. 200 dollars later to get an electrician to come over to help me hot wire it. I was up an running by 4 in the afternoon.

I had to completely start over on the vessel I lost so ended up working for 21 hours that day until 5 a.m.

Info for you guys,what i have learned is to stop the lathe with the vfd and not the switch unless you want to purchase a better quality one which is what I will be doing. The electrical components on this lathe are as cheap as you can get said my electrician. I asked the electrician why the motor gets so hot sometimes, They probably don't have the vfd parameters set properly. Good news. LOL

Recommendations for any serious turners that want a lathe that will maybe last more than a month buy a jet. Better electronics, better motor even though they have had problems with them(they will replace it). They have parts for there lathes in stock in the united states and can get it to you over night if you need it.

Does anyone want to buy my new lathe when they ship it too me? LOL.

 

[Fred Lockwood]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Kevin😱

There could be a few reasons for a 2" drill bit grabbing of course.

As for buying a Jet because they stock parts, that still wouldn't help you much at 11am on a Sunday morning I guess. Even Jet wouldn't answer the phone then.

I have the Australian version of your lathe and have had absolutely no problems (or should I use the current "issues"?) with it. Centres line up exactly, switch is a standard no-volt type found on any number of machines, yes even the Jet. Motor never gets hot, just a normal sort of "warm".

I know how you feel though, once these sorts of things happen to you it takes the shine off your new purchase and it will never be the same again.

 

[Roger Chandler]

totally different experience with the Grizzly

Well rog... If something could go wrong with this lathe, it did and will. I lost a vessel on sunday morning because of the centers not lining up. The 2 inch bit vibrated and it grabbed and popped it off at the base. I have to take cardboard shims and still lift up on the jacobs chuck to get to center.

If that wasn't enough...The switch went out. Try to find a switch on a sunday at 11 a.m. I had a show on tuesday through thursday and was almost complete with the 6 vessels (now five) and it popped. 200 dollars later to get an electrician to come over to help me hot wire it. I was up an running by 4 in the afternoon.

I had to completely start over on the vessel I lost so ended up working for 21 hours that day until 5 a.m.

Info for you guys,what i have learned is to stop the lathe with the vfd and not the switch unless you want to purchase a better quality one which is what I will be doing. The electrical components on this lathe are as cheap as you can get said my electrician. I asked the electrician why the motor gets so hot sometimes, They probably don't have the vfd parameters set properly. Good news. LOL

Recommendations for any serious turners that want a lathe that will maybe last more than a month buy a jet. Better electronics, better motor even though they have had problems with them(they will replace it). They have parts for there lathes in stock in the united states and can get it to you over night if you need it.

Does anyone want to buy my new lathe when they ship it too me? LOL.

Hi Kevin,

It seems like Murphy's law has moved in and started living in your shop🙁😱🙁. I can only say that I have not had any of the issues with my Grizzly G0698 that you have experienced with your Laguna.

I have always made it a practice to turn down the rpm's with the VFD before shutting the lathe off, as it just seemed to me to be the reverse of the sequence for turning it on.

I have not had any issues at all with the handles on the tool rest stripping out, and my centers do line up dead on. My motor does not overheat either. I think your Laguna unit must have slipped past QC at the factory, or something out of the ordinary is with your particular unit.

I hate this for you, and I hope that Laguna will swap you a lathe they have gone over and made sure is right. Let us know how it goes.

My last post was about Grizzly getting a new shipment mid-July, so I guess that the factory in China is shipping units to the USA. Maybe Laguna can get you set up.

 

[Roger Chandler]

Fred, glad to hear your H&F performs well

Sorry to hear of your troubles Kevin😱

There could be a few reasons for a 2" drill bit grabbing of course.

As for buying a Jet because they stock parts, that still wouldn't help you much at 11am on a Sunday morning I guess. Even Jet wouldn't answer the phone then.

I have the Australian version of your lathe and have had absolutely no problems (or should I use the current "issues"?) with it. Centres line up exactly, switch is a standard no-volt type found on any number of machines, yes even the Jet. Motor never gets hot, just a normal sort of "warm".

I know how you feel though, once these sorts of things happen to you it takes the shine off your new purchase and it will never be the same again.

G'Day Fred,

Good to hear from you again! Also good to hear that your version of the 18x47 lathe [Hare & Forbes Woodmaster] is performing well, and that you have not had any of the issues Kevin has experienced with his Laguna Platinum 18x47.

I don't know how to account for the differences, other than he just got a unit that wasn't put through Quality Control like it should have been, and was let get out the door when it should have been re-worked to bring it up to standard.

As you can see in my reply to Kevin, my Grizzly G0698 has been superb in its performance and I couldn't ask [so far] for any better performance.

Have any of the turners "down under" that have this lathe mentioned any issues like Kevins? I heard from a turner in Canada who has the Busy Bee Craftex 128 18x47 lathe, and his satisfaction is really good. His words were "one workhorse of a lathe" or something very similar.

 

[Fred Lockwood]

G'day Roger,

As a matter of fact only last Sunday I went to a woodturning exhibition in Melbourne (about 200km away) and was talking to someone with the same lathe as mine. He is just as satisfied as I am and I know of a few others feeling the same way. One or two have had problems with the locking handles, but that is about all I know about.

Hare and Forbes are routinely out of stock of this lathe, each shipment coming in is sold before it hits the wharf. Not really surprised as it is a value for money machine with very good features. Here in Oz anyway there is nothing on the market that gets close to it. Nearest is a lathe that costs 50% more and hasn't got the features of this one.

 

[William Young]

I echo Fred and Roger's report .
I just came in from a full afternoon of turning. . I have a LOT of hours on my Craftex CT128 . I couldn't wish for a better lathe. The only thing I would like to have had on them would be an hour counter. Mine would be quite high mileage by now.

Hate to see someone having trouble with one of those lathes but then there are Cadilacs that spend way too much time in the garage instead of on the road.
Too bad but there will always be a lemon in anything made in this fast paced age of mass production.