2001nov2

machined casting. It appears a bit light duty for this lathe.

11. The drive belt is a wide, flat, multi-ribbed belt. There is no “standard” pulley per se.

12. There are 24 index positions (numbered for your convenience) and an easy to use lock.

13. If you attempt to start the lathe with the spindle locked, the electronics will instantly ‘kick out’.

14. The tailstock casting seems quite sturdy and the ram lock works by pinching the ram as opposed to directly bolting into it.

15. The tailstock lock lever is large and easy to operate. Don’t think anyone will break this one off.

These are only opinions based on a one time use of about 3 hours. I think it compares favorably with the Nova 3000 and when all is said and done, the price is very close. Speaking of price, list is $1899 but it will be offered for $1799 by Woodcraft in September.

TECH DATA:

1 ¼-8 Spindle thread #2MT BOTH ENDS

1.5 HP 120V Variable Speed Motor, reverses any time!

SPEEDS: 0-1100 RPM; 0-2200; 0-3200

16” Swing over bed, 11.5” over Banjo

42” BETWEEN CENTERS

HEAD SLIDES FROM END TO END

Bed and Legs: (included), Welded Steel

WEIGHT 354 LBS.

On August 11, 2001, I went to the Strongsville, OH Woodcraft store at the invitation of the owner, John Timberlake, to ‘test drive’ the new Delta 46-745 lathe.

I turned a 10 inch butternut bowl from a blank and a 13.5 inch ash bowl from a rough out. The following are my impressions, in no particular order:

1. The spindle height was about 2 inches too low for me (for bowl turning). I am average height.

2. The a/c control tends to overshoot when making adjustments. In other words, you can turn the dial faster than the motor responds and may get into an out-of-balance condition because you turned the control too far.

3. The electronic controls will cut the power if an out-of-balance condition is sensed. I think it is too sensitive.

4. An aggressive cut will trip the power and stop the lathe. You have to hold the stop button in for about 5 seconds, then start over. Again, I think the setting is too sensitive.

5. The spindle has a place behind the threads for a set screw (and in fact, their face plate comes with a set screw and the proper sized allen wrench). I didn’t lock the set screw on my Oneway chuck and thought I was getting some vibration when cutting on the outside of the bowl. There seemed to be just a slight bit of play between the chuck and the threads.

6. A knockout bar has to be used in the tailstock to remove items from the #2MT. It just so happens that the standard knockout bar is the same diameter as the through-hole in my Oneway live center. The bar would enter into the center but wasn’t able to push it out of the tailstock. I had to put a pin in the cross hole to eject the center. Any solid MT attachment would not be a problem.

7. The stand appears/felt very sturdy and has the added feature that the legs are hollow so sand or other weight can be added. This may not be of much value if the overly sensitive electronic controls won’t permit a large out-of-balance piece to be roughed into round.

8. The lathe comes with the same low end live and drive centers that are on their less expensive lathes.

9. There are holes and slots in the tops of the legs to store the standard attachments (except for the face plate).

10. The face plate is 4 inches in diameter and is a

Duxbury Goes to Production

Jim Duxbury’s respirator is going in production. It’s featured on the online woodworking journal, at this address: http://www.woodworkersjournal .com/ezine/interview.cfm

An excerpt:

A Tool So New it Will Take Your Breath Away…or Give it Back By Bob Filipczak

Jim Duxbury, in his life pre-retirement, worked with scuba equipment. He’s also an avid woodworker and woodturner, and one day he got fed up with the respirators he was wearing to keep the dust out of his lungs. So he drew on his knowledge and experience and came up with what he calls the Resp-O-Rator, a device that takes a radical look at current respirator designs and tries to make some dramatic improvements....