After far too long, I have a lathe again. To recap, I sold my Nova Galaxi back in early December and (pre-)ordered a new Nebula. All this with the aim of freeing up some precious shop space near the lathe due to the Nebula’s shorter bed. That all went sideways with Teknatool’s extreme shipping delays, culminating in Teknatool USA filing Chapter 11. All that past, a few weeks ago I ordered and today received and assembled a Harvey T-60S. It’s been power tested, but I haven’t turned anything on it yet. I’ll get to that once I’ve properly leveled it tomorrow.
One initial impression: compared to my old Galaxi, this thing’s a mountain. I could make the Galaxi’s frame “ring” with vibration by giving the bed a whack with my palm. The long moment of the bed with legs on either end was a real challenge for that lathe. Even prior to proper leveling, the T-60 at 726lb, given the same treatment just goes “thunk”. I might as well hip check a boulder.
One initial impression: compared to my old Galaxi, this thing’s a mountain. I could make the Galaxi’s frame “ring” with vibration by giving the bed a whack with my palm. The long moment of the bed with legs on either end was a real challenge for that lathe. Even prior to proper leveling, the T-60 at 726lb, given the same treatment just goes “thunk”. I might as well hip check a boulder.
Note that 2x4s are not tall enough when flat to clear the clamp blocks on the headstock, tailstock, or banjo. I used 4x4s to situate the headstock for stability and safety, but 2x4s on edge were fine for just setting the tailstock and banjo out of the way when unpacking the crate.
