# lathes help



## Flacer22 (Aug 30, 2013)

To start ive never even used a lathe so im totally lost here. I want to buy a robust sweet 16 just added a 40 by 30 on to my shop to put my wood tools in. I always buy usa made tools if i can help it. Problem is im about 6 months away from getting everything rdy to put all tools in and set everything up. Mainly due to work and what not. Question is will the robust do anything i want from big to small or is there any benifit of buying a smaller lathe for small items? If so whats a good small lathe?


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## SDB777 (Aug 30, 2013)

I use a JET 1220VS....

If I were to buy another, I would probably go with a  >>>> Laguna <<<< 
A big one that I could mount tree stumps on!!!



Scott (I love my JET though) B


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## justturnin (Aug 30, 2013)

Wow, I think if you put a pen blank on a Sweet 16 it would spontaneously combust. That is a BAAAAD machine there. May be a little overkill for small items. I have a Rikon 70-100VS and am very happy with it. When I am not turning pens or something it stays set up as a buffing station.


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## Mike1950 (Aug 30, 2013)

SDB777 said:


> I use a JET 1220VS....
> 
> If I were to buy another, I would probably go with a  >>>> Laguna <<<<
> A big one that I could mount tree stumps on!!!
> ...



quite a similarity in the laguna's to this 75-100 yr old lathe

[attachment=30057]

Outboard you could put a serious chunk of wood.


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## Mike Jones (Aug 30, 2013)

You can turn tiny on a big lathe..........cannot turn big on a tiny lathe.


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## kweinert (Aug 30, 2013)

Mike Jones said:


> You can turn tiny on a big lathe..........cannot turn big on a tiny lathe.



And some days it seems like I can't turn anything on any lathe :dash2:


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## DKMD (Aug 30, 2013)

Mike Jones said:


> You can turn tiny on a big lathe..........cannot turn big on a tiny lathe.



What Mike said... If you can swing the Sweet 16 or American Beauty, I can't imagine any reason you'd ever regret it. I've turned everything from single barrel pens to large platters on my 3520, and I prefer the larger lathe for small items compared to the small Rikon in my shop(not VS). In fact, I need to sell the Rikon at some point.

If I were going to dream about a new lathe, I think the Robust American Beauty would be at the top of my list... The larger swing makes it more appealing to me than the Sweet 16. So far, I haven't found anything that my PM won't do, so I don't have any plans to upgrade any time soon.


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## TimR (Aug 30, 2013)

+1 on DKMDs response. A lot to be said for the stability of a larger lathe, even if mostly doing smaller stuff. 
If the Sweet16 is an option, you won't regret it.
For what it's worth to you, the Liberty, while it doesn't have the huge gap bed capabilities of the Sweet16' it does have a sliding headstock. A lot of folks get quite used to turning on a fixed headstock lathe, but a sliding headstock can make bowls, especially, a lot easier working from the end, vs hanging over the middle. 
The American Beauty and Liberty both have sliding headstock, though with fixed heights. Either of these can however allow for outboard turning of larger pieces than the fixed swing between centers. 
I'm sure a discussion with Brent at Robust wold help you swing towards a decision that makes the most sense for where you are now, and where you think you might head. 
Look forward to hearing what you decide on.


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## Dane Fuller (Aug 30, 2013)

I'll echo DKMD as well. I've got a grizzly GO657 (10" swing x 16" between centers) and PM3520. Keller talked me into the PM3520 and since I got it, the Grizz has been a paper weight/dust collector. I thought I'd turn small stuff on it but the big heavy Mustard Monster is the one I go to continuously.....


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## NYWoodturner (Aug 30, 2013)

The sweet 16 is what I have. I do absolutely everything on it. I promise you that you won't regret it. The absolute best part is that the first 12" of bed ways closest to the headstock is removable giving you 16" over the bed ways allowing a 32" piece (for those of you not familiar with the sweet 16.) I almost went with the American beauty, but the piece of bed that you remove on the sweet 16 you can hang perpendicular to the bed or on the end converting it to a 54" bed. I have yet to turn anything that long. 

Go back to what Mike said - You can turn tiny on a big lathe, but can't turn big on a tiny lathe. That says it all


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## DKMD (Aug 30, 2013)

NYWoodturner said:


> The sweet 16 is what I have. I do absolutely everything on it. I promise you that you won't regret it. The absolute best part is that the first 12" of bed ways closest to the headstock is removable giving you 16" over the bed ways allowing a 32" piece (for those of you not familiar with the sweet 16.) I almost went with the American beauty, but the piece of bed that you remove on the sweet 16 you can hang perpendicular to the bed or on the end converting it to a 54" bed. I have yet to turn anything that long.
> 
> Go back to what Mike said - You can turn tiny on a big lathe, but can't turn big on a tiny lathe. That says it all



I was aware of the removable section, but I didn't know that it allowed 32"'of swing! So what's the AB got that the 16 doesn't?


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## NYWoodturner (Aug 30, 2013)

DKMD said:


> NYWoodturner said:
> 
> 
> > The sweet 16 is what I have. I do absolutely everything on it. I promise you that you won't regret it. The absolute best part is that the first 12" of bed ways closest to the headstock is removable giving you 16" over the bed ways allowing a 32" piece (for those of you not familiar with the sweet 16.) I almost went with the American beauty, but the piece of bed that you remove on the sweet 16 you can hang perpendicular to the bed or on the end converting it to a 54" bed. I have yet to turn anything that long.
> ...



Truthfully - nothing I can think of at the moment. I think the sweet 16 with the removed section hung on the end takes it to 52 or 54". I thin the AB is 62" .
If you hang the removed section off the front of the lathe under the headstock, you have an "L" shaped lathe that allows you to put the banjo on the back side or the front side of the piece. I bought two banjos so I could move back and forth without moving the banjo, but haven't taken full advantage of that feature. Finding a piece of wood (if you don't mill your own) bigger than a LFRB is a tall order unless you belong to WB. 
Brent will put whatever motor, drive, spindle, plug, cord length quill etc that you want on the lathe, so you can make either exactly what you want. They are truly customized. I think the AB has a swing away tailstock that is not available on the sweet 16, or wasn't when I bought mine. The AB has a 25" swing and the 16 has a 32. It was an easy decision for me. Its very much like a full sizd full power lather and a bowl lathe combined.


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## Flacer22 (Aug 30, 2013)

Thanks for info guys. From everything ive read and watched on here last few months i wanted the sweet 16 but theres always problem of mewanting vers u guys actually having the expenrince so i wanted to be sure it would work. Iguess ill save money and just wait for months longer and buy one good lathe intead of jump to soon and buy a small one to play with. I also called the guy from robust and talked to him for a long time really seems like a good guy and willing to help me make right choises. 

On side note whats the diffrencd with the laguna lathes vs the robust? I have a laguna bandsaw and love it but when i compare lagunas lathes to robust seems the robust has it bet all around something im missing? Also the lagunas are china made vs amarican made rrobust. I also talked to him about the max u can turn of 32in i mean really when u think about it thats the size of a large truck tire not sure how many people turn objects bigger then that but if i ever gwto to turning thingd much larger then that i guess ill have to find a bigger lathe and a bigger shop.


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## Dane Fuller (Aug 30, 2013)

I don't have any first hand experience with a Laguna lathe but I looked into them before buying the PM3520. They look good but I sure did find a bunch of bad reports on the interwebs. I'm not saying they're bad, but if I had the choice, I'd go for the AB without a doubt.


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## NYWoodturner (Sep 14, 2013)

Roughed out a 16" bowl blank today that did not allow room for the blank to turn over the bed with complete clearance so I had to remove the first foot of bed ways and thought I would post a pic since this thread was recent. If you have never seen it you might have a hard time envisioning what I was talking about.

The first pic shows the bed ways in their original position.

[attachment=31032]


The second pic shows the section removed opening up a 16" swing, allowing for a 32 " piece. The bowl I roughed out was just slightly over 16" so it didn't really demonstrate the capacity. When you remove the piece, you can either move it to the front at a 990 degree angle like I have done here, or you can move it to the end of the lather to extend your reach by 12". I prefer to use the 90 degree option so I can move the banjo to th moved piece to gain great access to the back of the piece.

[attachment=31033]


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## Rkent (Sep 15, 2013)

DKMD said:


> NYWoodturner said:
> 
> 
> > The sweet 16 is what I have. I do absolutely everything on it. I promise you that you won't regret it. The absolute best part is that the first 12" of bed ways closest to the headstock is removable giving you 16" over the bed ways allowing a 32" piece (for those of you not familiar with the sweet 16.) I almost went with the American beauty, but the piece of bed that you remove on the sweet 16 you can hang perpendicular to the bed or on the end converting it to a 54" bed. I have yet to turn anything that long.
> ...



AB has a sliding headstock; the sweet sixteen has the removable bed section. I upgraded to a sweet sixteen and have been happy ever since. NYWoodturner will steer you in the right direction. You can actually talk to the people that build your lathe. Good folks.


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## Gary Max (Sep 16, 2013)

Heck waste some gas and come down here for a visit ------ Mustard is the way to go. I am about 110 miles south of Lexington Ky. Powermatics service center is on the south side of Nashville.


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