Woodturning Guide

Anyone who likes to work with wood will sooner or later play with the idea lathe to buy. Beautiful objects to give away and for your own home can with a lathe be made as fast and easy as the filigree posts for a new stair railing. But not with everyone lathe You can do all the work equally well. For those who have never turned, for which it is advisable, one’s own abilities first of all at a low-priced lathe for beginners and beginners to try. Because even though the machine takes on the power-robbing part of the work, the movement of the work piece is at work with one lathe a certain manual skill required. If, after a long trial period, you still enjoy this job and the results you get, the next professional and powerful lathe is not far away.

Basically, when buying a lathe are a few important criteria to be considered. This is, for example, the engine power. To ensure that the speed of the lathe does not fall and the quality of the surface suffers when working on harder types of wood, a lathe should have a motor with at least 350 watts of power. This is really the absolute minimum for machining larger and hard workpieces. For the small parts in the model, of course, also a lower engine power. The maximum workpiece length indicates how long the parts to be machined may be. Many of the offered lathe benches can take up to 1,000 mm long parts. This length is sufficient in the vast majority of cases. Even for table legs and balusters. Another criterion is the maximum turning diameter over the tool rest, the so-called support. Here you should try to take a look into the future and estimate which turning diameter you will need. Values ​​above 350 mm are usually more than adequate. Who intends to make larger bowls and bowls on the lathe, should choose a correspondingly larger value. The peak height is only partially helpful here. It indicates how large the workpiece diameter can be above the machine bed (center height times 2). Another important factor is a multi-stage gearbox, which can be used to adjust the rotational speeds adapted to the turning diameter. The smaller the diameter of the workpiece is, the higher can or should be the speed.

Turning lathes for beginners and model making

Turning lathes for beginners are not necessarily the same as inferior lathes. These lathes usually have a slightly weaker drive and are smaller in size. Special turning lathes for machining small parts for model making are rarely found. A popular turning lathe for model making is the Proxxon 27020 Micro Lathe DB 250. With a length of 55 cm and a low weight of only 2.6 kg, it is ideal for modellers. The motor power of 100 watts is perfectly sufficient for the fine work in this area.
A cheap turning lathe, which is recommended for beginners, is the 350 Watt wood turning lathe from Berlan with which a maximum of 1,000 mm long work pieces can be machined. The spindle speed with this machine can be set in 4 steps.
You have to dig a little deeper into the bag for the Jet JWL-1221VS lathe. For this you get, among other things, a powerful spindle motor with 700 watts of power and a 6-speed gearbox.

Turning benches with underframe

Most lathes for the hobbyist can easily be stored on a sturdy plate, for example one Workbenchto be placed. More freedom of movement and legroom are provided by wood turning lathes with their own underframe. The bases are usually made of welded steel sheets and very stable.
A lathe with base for advanced and professionals is the lathe DB 1100 from Holzstar. The machine offers, among other things, a top width of 1,100 mm, a stepless speed adjustment of 500 – 2000 rpm and can be retrofitted with chucks if required.

Of course, there is also the right one for each lathe Tool, The so-called turning tools or turning chiselscomes in many different sizes, shapes and qualities. But especially with these tools you should not save at the wrong end and spend a few euros more for high-quality tools.