sawhorses - Wood Tools

POWER & PERFORMANCEHowever much these lathes mayresemble one another, we startednoticing important differences assoon as we started turning bowls.Power, or lack of it, was the firstdistinction we found. The Jet andDelta performed admirably by poweringthrough 1/2"-deep cuts withoutslowing. The Fisch and Generallathes couldn't quite match thatpower, but still performed respectablywith cuts up to 3/s" deep. Both theGrizzly and the Turncrafter provedslightly underpowered by stalling onanything beyond a l/s"-deep cut.At the same time, we foundvibration to vary quite a bit in thesetools. Not surprisingly, the lightweightGrizzly was the worst shakerin the bunch. We felt a moderateamount of vibration in theTurncrafter, while the Fisch shimmiedonly lightly. As for the Jet,Delta, and General lathes, all threewere rock-solid without so much asAThe most common meons of chonging speeds on a shudder under maximum load.these lothes is to odiusthe position of the belt on the Heavier tools, of course, tend topulleys. The Fisch (shown here) mokes thot especiolly dampen their own vibrations, buteosy with o lorge occess door over the pulleys. weight alone isnt enough to make atool run smoothly. In the same waythat a misshapen arbor on a table sawcan cause blade wobble, the spindlesurfaces on a lathe must be flawlesslymachined, or the tool will vibrate.To see how much these factorsinfluenced our experience with thetools, we measured runout on theinside of the spindle and on theshoulder (Tbp Photo, page 65). Asexpected, we measured more runouton the tools with the most vibracion(see table on page 67).COMPONENT QUALITYPower and vibration, of course, arentthe only factors that differentiate thesetools from each other. Differences inthe design and qualiry of the componentsof the lathes also weighedheavily on our opinions.Those differencescan be easily divided intothree key areas on the lathe: the headstock,tailstock, and tool rest.Headstock - Most of theseheadstocls follow the same basic template- a handwheei on one side, aspindle on the other side, and a beltand pulleys on the inside. Grizzly isthe one variation on this theme. FirstPENN STATEINDUSTRIESVirtues: Heavy; Power{ul; No vibration; Large capacities;Good fit and finish; Wide range of speeds; Affordably priced.Vices: The belt was so tight that speed adjustments weredifficult to make; Chips collected on top of the motor.Verdict: This is an impressive lathe from head(stock)totail(stock). lf it had a looser-fitting belt and a chip deflectorover the motor, we'd dare call it perfect.www.JetTools.com800-274-6848Virtues: Heavy; Above-average fit and finish; Excellent price.Vices: Slightly underpowered; Axial movement in thetailstock; Limited speed selection; Light vibration under load.Verdict: In light of the affordable price, we were willing togive it a pass on a few of its shortcomings. lts not a topperformer; but it3 an affordable way to get started turningand still have money left to buy turning tools.www.PennStatelnd.com800-377-729764woRKBENcH n DEcEMBER 2005