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Dr Bob

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
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Location
Stroudsburg, PA USA
Greetings!! I'm a general dentist from the Pocono Mountains of PA. Penturning has always intrigued me and I finally decided to get involved. I have no equipment but am a fast learner. In my dental practice I have always purchased good equipment rather than cheap which constantly needs to be replaced. So....Let me ask...What is a good lathe which will service me well and last?? Im not afraid to spend some money to get a good one...What other equipment should I purchase to complement the lathe. I would rather stay away from the "kits" which I have found to be low end. I have been browsing you-tube and have learned alot..how about a good video?? Glad to be here!!! Dr Bob
 
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Hello Dr. Bob. I'm just a regular Bob from Arkansas.

A good place to start is in the Library (our Library here).

My only advice on lathes is to get the largest one you have space for. You can turn pens on a really large lathe, but you don't really want to have to buy another lathe for bowls.
 
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Welcome to the IAP Bob.

As far as lathes go, you will probably get a few different answers. If i had it to do over again, i would of bought something bigger than a jet mini lathe 1014 with VS.


Harry
 
Welcome Dr Bob from Sydney Australia
My wife and I lived in Hazleton from 1994 to 1997, so we were almost neighbours.
As a matter of interest my eldest son is a Dentist here In Australia.
Brian
 
For pens, I find a smaller lathe more efficient. My Jet 1014VS starts and stops quickly because it's not designed for big heavy bowl blanks (which requires slower starting/stopping).

For the bigger items, get a bigger lathe. But you asked about pens…a good brand mini-lathe will do just fine for many years. Jet recently replaced their 1014vs with a very slightly bigger 1015vs….street price for a 1015VS is about $580. Used 1014vs' can be nabbed with luck between $300 and $400 (I just picked up a nice one earlier this week for $325…it's a nice companion to my Nova 3000 mid-sized lathe which has turned many pens as well).

Life is too short to not have variable speed especially on a small lathe. Adult-sized hands just don't fit in the spaces provided for changing belt spacing on non-variable speed lathes.

You can turn pens with only a good spindle gouge if you want to keep initial costs to a minimum. You can rough in the pen blanks, do all the detail work, etc with just that one tool.

You can also turn pens with just a good skew but they take more effort to learn.

You can turn pens with just a good roughing gouge though its size will limit your ability to do smaller details…I've done it just to prove to myself I could…but a 1/2" spindle gouge is my usual pen-turning weapon of choice.

You'll need a way to quickly resharpen your gouge(s). The Wolvering jig works well and there are equivalent systems readily available. A hundred bucks will get you a decent grinder with appropriate grinding wheels.

You'll need a way to drill the pen blanks. You can drill on the lathe if space is a problem but I find an actual drill press to be a better choice. It's a matter of personal taste.

My original drill press had only a couple inches of quill travel…a common problem with drill presses. There are a handful of models available now that have roughly 5 to 6 inches of quill travel! I have Rikon's (which has 4 3/4" of travel) and love being able to drill as much of a blank as I'll need BEFORE I cut into it to make the segment.

The longer quill travel allows me to make custom length styluses efficiently (some have one-piece bodies close to the full length of a blank). Even my two-part pens are usually drilled BEFORE cutting so I can avoid blowout, maximize the usable area of a blank, and be pickier about how the two pieces align on two-part pens.

You'll need a way to cut pen blanks to length. I tend to use a dozuki and a bench hook instead of my bandsaw. It just doesn't take that much effort and would let you avoid buying a bandsaw (or at least deferring the purchase until you have a better idea of what you want and whether or not it'll be useful enough to bother buying one). I love my bandsaw but rarely use it for pen making (it gets lots of love for bigger projects).

Welcome to the party! Post pics of your first pen and hang on to it...
 
Welcome from Ohio!

I have a Jet mini and a Nova 1624-44, I love them both the Jet for smaller works, the Nova for mid range size turnings. I don't ever anticipating exceeding the capacity of the Nova - and it is also great for pens! If I was to buy only one... The Nova!

Enjoy.
 
Welcome to IAP, I have used the jet mini lathe for 5 years, and had no problems, but my only change would be to get the VS (variable speed dial). But if you want to turn bowls and such for bigger projects you will need a bigger lathe. Good luck and have fun :cool:
 
Welcome to IAP...!

I would suggest a Nova DVRXP, is not a very big lathe but handles small item like pens with most precision and has the strength to handle any size piece up to 16" diameter. You can do bigger with their outboard system but that is a option that you can always consider.

They are very quite and their motor/head is not your typical lathe motor, variable speed and everything you may ever need, check it out...!

As soon as you have made the decision on the lathe, you can take care of all the other accessories and tools, suchs as gouges, etc...!

Good Luck,

Cheers
George
 
Welcome from the big Island of BC. As other have said you can turn pens on a big lathe but you can't turn big bowls on a small lathe. I started out with the Nova 1624-44 and should have listened to others about VS lathes. I ended up converting it to VS, so I should have got the Nova DVR these lathes are pretty good lathes. I ended up with a Vickmarc VL300. If I had to do it all over again I would buy a OneWay the ultimate. IMOA. Good luck with all the comments you will get.
Lin
 
Welcome Dr. Bob from northcentral PA

I have been using an old Craftsman lathe for penturning, but I just picked up a slightly used Jet 1014 lathe for $150. I think the person may have turned 2 pens on it!

It is a great hobby and you will find a lot of help and information here.
 
Welcome!
I have the Delta midi 46-460 and like it. The jet midi is also a nice lathe. For more money the Nova DVRXP would be my choice. For less money the Rikon mini would also be a good choice. Definitely get a variable speed unit whatever you buy!
 
Welcome aboard, Bob. I grew up in the Philly area many, many, many ... many moons ago.

If you want to stick with pens and small turnings (12" or under) a Jet 1221VS (variable speed) is, IMHO, the way to go. If you want to do larger turnings, look for a Jet 1642, a Nova DVR or if you have plenty of $$$$, a Robust Sweet 16.
 
Happy to have you with us, Bob!

You might not know this yet, but many of use use baseplate wax to plug our tubes before gluing. There's a little advantage to being a penmaking dentist!
 
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Welcome to the addiction.

As far as lathes, I think one is better served to consider value rather than price. For the most part the bottom rung lathes are "price options" rather than value options. For example many of the lower ends use "non standard" components and other things like uncommon Morse Tapers, making tooling hard to find and unnecessarily expensive. Additionally finding parts and service for many of these products is virtually impossible, making them "throwaway purchases" because of something as simple as a broken belt. Also, many of the machines are made to "laughable" tolerances. If you are used to using precision medical equipment, these machines WON'T provide much relaxation and enjoyment.

If you look at both Delta and Jet lathes bigger than 10 inch swing over bed, they both make equipment with fairly exacting standards and take "usual and customary" tooling (such as MT2 tapers, 1x8 TPI headstock, 1HP reversing motors and front mount belt speed change).

Lathes that I would avoid like a plague are CarbTec, Turncrafter, General, and the small Grizzly. While some of these are "OK" products, warranty and service require you to ship BOTH ways. On a 70 or 80 pound lathe, IMHO, paying shipping both ways for a manufacturers defect, makes these lathes a poor value.

Respectfully submitted
 
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Welcome, and be prepared to spend a lot of cash on this hobby. It is fun, and pretty easy to get started and a novice can achieve really good results. If you do not own a drill press, I would not invest in one for pen blank drilling. Most bench drill presses have insufficient quill travel to drill long blanks, and so a floor model is better suited. And keeping the hole centered in the blanks from end to end can be very tricky. rather than invest in a decent drill press and vise to hold the blanks, doing them on the lathe is easier. Before I got the pen blank jaws, I turned the blanks round, and then conventionally chucked them in a lathe chuck to drill them. The jaws eliminate the need to round them first, but either way, you woudl need a chuck to hold the blank for drilling. I own two Nova chucks, since I also turn peppermills and other larger objects, and need a variety of ways to hang onto a blank for turning.

BTW - I do all this on a Rikon mini lathe, a belt changer (6 speeds). But I did add a bed extension so I could turn and drill longer objects. It is a good lathe, although to get variable speed requires a user-installed upgrade kit.

I have a drill press I use for a myriad of tasks, but no longer do I use it for pen blank drilling. I just bought a set of pen blank drilling jaws for one of my Nova chucks. These do an excellent job.

I also bought a Woodchuck Pen Pro carbide tool last year for use on pens, and really like it. But I still find myself using basic tools like roughing gouges, spindle gouges, scrapers, etc. I'd recommend getting a budget set of tools, and learn to turn with them, as well as learn to sharpen with them. I have a full size set of tools, and not the smaller pen tools often sold. I find the pen tools just too small to use comfortably.

I've been turning for about 3 years. I wish I could say I've mastered the skew. It is a tool not for the faint of heart when new to turning. It is one on my goals this year to became "one with the skew".

Good luck in all your purchase decisions!
 
Hi Bob, welcome to the IAP from now San Antonio, Tx. but formally lived in Allentown, Pa. area for about 45 years. I will be heading back up to Allentown Monday for about 3 to 4 months (I miss the cold weather :eek:)
If you would like to chat about pen making send me a PM and we can try to get together. I've been turning pens about 10 or 11 years. To bad my shop is now in Tx. or I could show you a thing or two about pen making and all my vintage materials I use for pen making.
Keith "mrburls"
 
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