Which of these lathes? Delta vs Jet? Is it worth price??

[FLTurn]

Evening, have turned 2 pens at a class at Rockler.. found several lathes on marketplace. First. Two lathes listed by this seller are: 1. jet midi lathe that needs a new mandrel. Just lathe.
2. The delta comes with buffering pads. Said prices are negotiable. Seller said he would get me the model number in the morning.
3. Different seller selling Jet Lathe for $150.00 with stand only.
4. Jet lathe with extension, tools in drawer, pen holder and table to mount it to.
Which is the best deal? And why?
Are all lathes digital speed setting or belts? Would prefer digital speed. Which would you go with and why if at all? Good prices for either compared to buying new currently? Which company has better customer service and or parts availability? Would like to get into Pen turning without spending a lot of money in case i decide I don't want to continue with the hobby. At this time only interested in pen turning. Thank you

 

[KMCloonan]

I think Jet and Delta are solid lathes. You probably want Variable Speed as a must-have.

In my opinion, Digital readout is a nice to have, but not crucial.

You could get started with any of these lathes, but you will likely want to trade up to variable speed before too long.

 

[FLTurn]

I think Jet and Delta are solid lathes. You probably want Variable Speed as a must-have.

In my opinion, Digital readout is a nice to have, but not crucial.

You could get started with any of these lathes, but you will likely want to trade up to variable speed before too long.

So does the jet lathe with all the accessories seem a good deal compared to the jet by itself? As in worth while accessories that add true value to pen turning. Is either jet a better model or unable to tell from pictures

 

[Jarod888]

Honestly, either of the jets are fine. The bed extension is nice, but not necessary. I've never been a fan of the mobile bases, so to me that would basically be junk and I'd replace it with a cart built out of plywood, with drawers and a base that could be filled with sand or concrete. Weight is your friend when turning. It dampens vibration and allows you to turn pieces that are unbalanced.

All three of those lathes are manual speed adjustments, meaning you have to change pulleys to change speed. This can get annoying.

Both of the jets are the older model, so they have a cast iron head stock, instead of the newer design that has a plastic door to access the pulleys. The newer design is more rounded. I prefer the older square style. The best test you can do is run them through all speed ranges, make sure the motor doesn't have any noticable squeals or high pitched noises. Then, you want to test alignment between the head and tail stock by inserting a dead center in the head stock and a live center in the tail stock. The points of the centers should perfectly align.

Tools and accessories are nice to find, but be aware of cheap tools. See if any of them come with a chuck(s) and jaws. The spindle size of all three is 1inch x 8 threads per inch or 1x8. This is a common size for mini or midi lathes.

The delta is known for having a switch issue, but I believe the replacement switch is still available and fairly easy to replace.

Pen mandrels are essentially junk, don't let the inclusion or need to replace the one that comes with the lathe be a determining factor.

You are also going to want to see if any of these come with tool rests. Be especially careful about this with the delta. If it doesn't have one, walk away, you will easily spend the cost of the whole lathe on a replacement.

If you have the funds, I might buy both jets and keep parts, etc. from the "worst conditioned" one as replacement / spares for the good one.

 

[wolf creek knives]

I use an older Jet and it works just fine. But I am particular to Jet. Never had any problems with any Jet tool I've purchased.

 

[d_bondi]

The way (flat part or bed) of the Jet in the first picture looks either very dirty or very rusty. Just make sure that what ever you purchase you check that out first. Dirt isn't a problem, and rust may not be a problem if it isn't severely damaged or pitted. You need to be able to clean it up and have the tail stock slide smoothly or you won't be happy with it.

 

[monophoto]

Both lathes are good, but you have asked a key question:

"Which company has better customer service and or parts availability?

This is a major differentiator - Jet lathes are made in Asia, but the parent company is US and also makes Powermatic lathes. Customer service is good, but parts may be limited depending on the vintage of the specific model in question.

The Delta lathe was designed by Delta Manufacturing and manufactured in Asia, but the business has been sold a number of times. At one point in that process, the new lathe business was separated from the renewal parts business, so depending on the vintage of the model is question, parts may no longer be available.

Fortunately, lathes are pretty simple machines - the parts that are most likely to be required over time are belts and bearings (readily available from third-party suppliers - and there are lots of them out there), if its variable speed, replacement drive packages. The Delta 46-460 had a unique power switch which has a reputation for failing, and there have been many posts on this forum about the struggles that folks have gone through to cobble together a replacement.

 

[Mortalis]

I am the owner of a Delta 46-460 series 1 bought brand new at a Rockler store. About more than 10 less than 15 years ago.
I've turned many a nice pen and quite a few large bowls on this lathe.
I have no regrets learning how to turn on this lathe.
I have replaced the belt once when the lathe started to get a tick in the rotation. After I replaced the belt the tick was still there so I replaced the bearings. That took care of the issue. That was 5 or so years ago.

My on/off switch stopped working and found that they were no longer available for the series 1 but the series 2 switch was available. The problem with the series 1 switch is, the body has a concave area that the contact arm moves in and the contacts became off center to one another.
The problem I encountered with replacing the series 1 with the series 2 switch is the opening for the mounting of the switch is a rectangular hole in the center of the casting of the head on the series 1. The series 2 switch was moved to the edge of the casting and was mounted 90º different from the series 1 switch. After some finagling with the body of the series 2 switch I was able to get it to fit into the series 1 hole but it is obvious it is not the switch that is supposed to be mounted there. All the connections are the same so that wasn't a problem.

I still have this lathe and use it whenever I turn a pen (I turn more bowls than pens these days, personal preference).

TL/DR
Check the ways for flatness and straightness. Check what series it is. If it a series 1 walk away. although the series 1 is a very solid machine, parts are hard to come by.

 

[NJturner]

I started turning on the Delta shown - was a solid lathe for pens. My only complaint was having to change the belts for getting different speeds - sounds like a lazy excuse, but it isn't if you change speeds for each different process done on the lathe. A lot of newer lathes also require a belt change, but the range of speed variations is a little wider as it combines variable speed electronics with a belt change - in essence giving you a slower, faster, and fastest range on some allowing you to dial more within those ranges as you like. Better solution, but still requires belt changes like when you drill something (lower speed) versus polish something (higher speed). Delta has kind of gotten out of the space so not sure how well you could get parts if needed, so I guess if these were the only two choices, I would pick the Jet, as they are very active in the woodworking space and are know to have good customer service.

 

[egnald]

If it was me (based on my personal preferences and experience only), $150 for the JET sounds pretty reasonable. I wouldn't put much value on the extended bed, stand, and other accessories - but that is simply because I wouldn't get much use from the extended bed and I would prefer my own stand and accessories. It looks like it needs some TLC with a detailed cleaning, steel wool, Nevr-Dull, and some Trewax. (Another thing that I would find to be "fun" - but that's just me).

For turning pens, I would likely consider swapping the motor out for a variable speed motor (as I already have a surplus motor and controller that would likely fit).

I started out with an inexpensive Harbor Freight lathe pretty much for the same reasons you stated. Later I upgraded it with a variable speed motor, and then ultimately replaced it with a JET 1221VS model just to get improved quality and repeatability with the headstock and tailstock. (That's where my surplus variable speed motor came from). The HF did it's job though by providing me a relatively inexpensive introduction to make sure I would enjoy the hobby. Now, nearly 10 years later I have far more tied up in pen kits, exotic blanks, resin casting equipment, and other tooling than I have in my lathe.

Dave

 

[SteveJ]

Looks like the first Jet and the Delta are from the same seller, which makes comparing them easier. Of those two, I would choose the Jet for reasons listed above.

Comparing the two Jet offerings the first will certainly allow you to turn pens. The benefit of the more expensive Jet is the inclusion of turning tools. Depending on how nice those tools are they could well be worth the additional price. The stand may also be of value to you. If you are unlikely to turn long spindles the bed extension is unnecessary and will just take up more room.

 

[JohnU]

I own both and really like both but today I would go with the Jet based on finding replacement parts if something breaks.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

Which one is closest to you?

Remember, turning is a vortex - you might think you only want to do pens, but I can almost guarantee you that you'll find very quickly that there are lots of other things that you want to make.

If it were me, I'd mount a dead centre and spur into the lathe and turn the spindle by hand with the lathe off to make sure the bearings aren't shot...if you can't do that, don't mount anything and listen for noise when you turn it on.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about customer service. An old lathe is like an old car - if you can't fix it yourself, you might as well buy something with a warranty. That being said, the amount of time I've had to fix anything on mine is pretty much 0..and like a car, you can learn a lot by learning to fix it yourself.