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Teknatool in trouble in the USA
- Thread starter hughie
- Start date
I was looking at the NOVA Comet 14 DR just today as my old lathe is OOS. I’ve heard nothing but good about NOVA and was also thinking about a new chuck at the same time. The price seems right but IDK about the 1 hp for using a forstner bit, it would choke down my 3/4 hp motor quick.
Any other recommendations around that $750 price range? How is the NOVA customer service?
Any other recommendations around that $750 price range? How is the NOVA customer service?
I hadn't heard about woodcraft closures... I guess, I am not surprised? At least based on my experience recently? :\ Saddening, though...
I have one only a couple miles away, its my main store that I go to if I need something quick. (Well, now that I think about it...it WAS.) Although, I do have to say, it seems to be rather empty lately... Back in 2020-2021, the place was always hopping! The people running the place and the employees were older, all woodworkers, all skilled, and everyone was always chatting with everyone else, employees and customers alike. It was always bustling, at least any time I went in. There were two, three guys in particular, who were just awesome, knew EVERYTHING in the store, and had a story for EVERYTHING too. Loved going there, and it was rarely less than an hour a visit if not more. They also had a lot of workshop activity most of the time.
This year, its very quiet, couple other customers if any at all, and the employees are now all quite young (early 20s?) save for a couple of guys my age, and only seem to talk amongst themselves now. I'd say there are probably less than half (maybe a third?) the employees they had in 2021...two out front, and I guess a couple out back usually (although I very rarely see any of them.) All the old guard are gone, the guys who knew what they were talking about, what woodworking was all about. They had skill... NOW, I'm really wondering if the local woodcraft store is going to be closed. They have to be doing a small fraction of the business they were doing a few years ago. The thing it had going for it, the employees and the bustle, is all gone... I'm not sure what they have going for themselves now? I hadn't quite registered how far it had fallen from the first days I had gone to it, I mostly end up walking out with nothing lately because prices are so high, but now...it seems rather stark.
Regarding prices, when you say "blown away" do you mean in a good way or a bad way? I've been finding more and more, that the local woodcraft here, has UNHOLY prices. I used to buy certain pen kits there. I no longer can, the prices are so high. I recently needed a particular fountain pen kit...it was $32 at woodcraft. Just the kit! I found it from Berea (its one of their kits) for $20!! I've never seen it listed for such a high price anywhere else... I used to buy wood there, but most stuff has reached ridiculous prices, $50-70 for a 3x3x12" of even your basic walnut, and exotics can be more. A 2x2x4" piece of ebony, and not even that great of ebony (its brown, not black, and had a significant swath of sapwood) was $93. Most of the exotics, a simple 2x2x4 can be as much as $28! Let alone any larger blanks, those are usually $60 to over $100. Lumber is also unaffordable. I was looking for some lighter colored microlumber a few weeks ago, even a 3" wide 1/8" thick basic hard maple 3' long, was nearly $20. They used to be like $7.99. They were never the best priced, but lately they just seem to be totally pricing themselves out of their target market, completely. The younger guys, they don't know the store, none are woodworkers, and they are very....sloppy? I'd say a third of the stuff in the store is labeled wrong, so you never know what the prices are going to be at the register, and you have to keep a hawks eye on the prices to avoid being over-charged (and its ALWAYS an over-charge, vs. the stickered price on the item.) I had a gap of about 8 months where I hadn't gone there, and I guess in that time, prices must have risen several times (sometimes you can see three, maybe even four price stickers on a single item.)
I don't know if that is just the economy, or if its particularly this store... In any case, it certainly seems to be pricing this store right out of its own market. I suspect that the cost of everything might be why, or at least half of why, no one really shops there anymore. I am quite sure the fact that all those older, skilled, and friendly chatty guys are no longer there is the other half. The new guard are just cashiers, really. The rich, dynamic environment of a place for WOOD CRAFT is gone, replaced by a dead silent void... Sad loss for the local woodworking community, IMO. Even if it does not get closed, its still a loss, as it really had something going for it when that old guard of employees were there. THEY made the place what it was.
So, you are now hearing something bad about Nova. Take that Comet 14DR and toss it off the tallest cliff you can find. I've now owned four different lathes. I've used several others. Nova, Wen, Laguna, Powermatic, Robust, Vicmark, Delta. Including a Wen 14x20. The Comet 14DR was, BY FAR, the single worst lathe I've ever laid eyes on or had the displeasure of using, hand down, no contest. I still have mine. Its gathering dust in a corner somewhere. I strongly, strongly, recommend you avoid this lathe. Even the Wen is more reliable and operates better. In fact, I purchased the Wen in November 2020, midway through the episode outlined below. The Wen is still running strong. I accidentally snapped the RPM gauge line, and had to replace it, but otherwise I've not really found any issues with the build. I guess the only mechanical issue is, near the end of the ways, the tailstock does not clamp on very tightly. There appears to be a very slight taper to the thickness of the ways, from about midway or so, to the end. Depending on what I'm turning, I'll adjust the nut on the bottom of the friction plate to account for this. Otherwise, the Wen 20x14, which is basically the same thing as the Comet 14DR, has been a vastly superior lathe, and I generally turn most of my smaller things on it. (I also have a powermatic, so I know well enough, the difference between a truly good lathe, and the Wen...in part I jest, but its kind of the same difference between the Wen and the Nova Comet 14DR...
)This lathe lead me to the single most....well, weird, strange, and disturbing tech support saga I've ever had as well. This was late 2020, through early 2021. Whatever has resulted in this bankruptsy now, I suspect may have been going on back in 2020. I have honestly never had a more disconcerting, disconnected, disjoint, and confusing interaction with tech support, than the several calls I had with them back in late 2020. My 14DR had been having problems since early summer, and I had only bought it in February that year, 2020. The lathe started having problems running the motor. Teknatool insisted it was a control box issue, and ultimately sent out four entire control box replacements, spanning a period of several months, before I finally started getting irate and told them they had to look elsewhere, as not one of the four (nor the original) did anything to resolve the issue, and it had remained the same across all of them. They finally put me on with their "main" tech guy, and I don't know if the guy was just completely overwhelmed by an untennable amount of work (whcih I think he mentioned...but, I couldn't really tell, as you'll understand shortly), or if he was just completely without sleep (I've been there...but, not at work), or if he was wildly strung out on drugs....or perhaps all three. In any case, the conversations with this guy, which spanned a period of several hours and a few different calls, were the most disjoint conversations I think I've ever had. The guy would start saying something, suddenly and instantly switch to saying something else on a totally different subject, then switch to something else, then suddenly continue back on one of the earlier conversations as if it had never stopped. I was at one point both impressed, and a little sad for the guy...he seemed to be keeping everything strait in his head, but on my end, it was the most confusing jumble. That guy, over a very long period of time, walked me through a few different procedures to check electrical, verify and fix the configuration of each control board, etc. In the end, despite the monumental (truly monumental) effort, nothing changed. I finally ended up getting an RMA from them, and I guess this was about mid september, and shipped the lathe off to them. After a couple of initial communication emails thorough the end of september, I lost all communications with them. They did not respond to emails, calls, nothing. I had no news on my lathe, which they said might take a month to fix. They just completely ghosted me. It wasn't until about February 2021, that suddenly there was a big package at my doorstep. It was after some more effort, that I finally managed to get ahold of someone, and they said they ended up having to take apart and rebuild the entire lathe, piece by piece, and I guess they found SEVERAL bad parts??
In any case...I had written the lathe off! By the end of November, I bought the Wen. Then I bought a Laguna, which also had problems within its first year, and Laguna legit ghosted me right in the middle of attempts to resolve the issues. They just vanished. Their tech support seemed fine, in comparison to the oddity that was Nova's tech support. I don't know what happened to that poor guy, but, I hope he quit and got as far away from them as possible, as it seemed like they were at the time innundated with technical support issues (which was actually mentioned by several different people early on when I was just getting the RMA going), and I suspect that is why it took them....eh, I guess about 5 months in total, to get to fixing my lathe and get it back to me, and I guess the total communications blackout? In any case, something crazy was going on with them in 2020/2021...and I dunno, maybe it lead to the current bankruptcy.
FWIW, I've never used the larger direct drive Nova lathe. With regards to that, I too, have heard nothing but good things. That, and Nova's drill press. Both seem to be well respected and well loved by all their users...I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain. This is a story specifically about their entry level Comet 14DR. The 14DR is a WILDLY different kind of device, its the most cheaply built lathe I've ever seen (you would think Wen would be, too, but I've owned numerous Wen products and they are generally quite good, and I don't think I ever really have any issues with them.) The 14DR is not the same build, finish, or general quality of the higher end like Nebula or Neptune. Its like it was subcontracted out to an entirely different manufacturer, as I don't know that there is anything similar between the 14DR and any other Nova product...
In any case....beware. You have been warned. I'd explore your options before getting a 14DR, and I mean EVERY option.
If you are looking for a good lathe with great customer service, you should look at Rikon.
I loved my Comet. Customer service was excellent. No problem using a Forstner bit, depending on how big though. I replaced the Comet with a Nebula. Couldn't be happier. I'm a big Teknatool fan.
I bought the Nova 14DR when it first came out and the one I had was damaged as the round circle with teeth which gave you the speed got a couple teeth knocked off. I let them know and they sent a new head. That lathe from that day on was one of the best lathes I had. I rated it better than my two Delta 46-460's and my Jet 1221. Had I not bought the Nova Neptune I would still have and use the Nova 14DR. When I had my full compliment of lathes going (11) for hands on the Nova 14DR was one I never had to worry about where others needed care after a hands on. It seems to me that people would try stuff on somebody else's lathes that they would not do on their own. The biggest culprit or should I say victim was my Vicmarc, it got buggered up at most every hands on, but being one of my favorites I always brought it back to great and is one of the ones I kept as it is perfect for use with my small Baxter Threading jig. The Nova 14DR is still chugging away being used by a new young turner and I expect it will do that for a lot of years. I right now have no fears about the Nova/Teknatool business and I'm sure if I had a problem they would be there to take care of it and until they prove me wrong I'll stand by them.
I'm sure I would have been as happy with the Nova as the Rikon if I had gone that direction. The recent bankruptcy news wouldn't put me off if I were serious about Nova.
I wonder if they will have a booth at the AAW symposium?
I'm sure they will if they have in the past.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US folks are so paranoid about their perceived privacies that a company giving out information of any sort would be instantly burned at the stake (figuratively). Online sales of almost any sort are all essentially blind purchases. We hope we get what we think we purchased. Touching the merchandise is a rare occurrence.
Rikon 1420 and Jet 1221 are at the top of my lost right now.
Darn
Amazon has changed everything. How many times have you went to your local stick and brick and they do not stock anything close to what you need.