In a short couple of weeks, I will have the very rare position of having enough funds to purchase a 2 horsie, Oneway 1640. It seems to be one heck of a lathe but for a lot of money.
However, there is always the "but", I have also looked at Powermatic (3520A) which is about $1000 cheaper, give or take.
There in lays my dillemma.....Which one?? Any 1640 owners who would like to chime in on some plusses and minuses, please do! Same with powermatic owners.
The new lathe will be an upgrade to the Jet 1442 that I currently own.
>Hi William. I have had my 3520 for two years now and I couldn't be happier. Aside from the 20" swing, you can slide the head down the bed and turn much larger pieces. In this position it also make a great bowl lathe. I havn't had any problems with the 3520. Hope this helps. Gary
>We all know the One-Way is a great lathe, but in our club, we have 7 or 8 members who have the Powermatic and love them. They also very much enjoyed the savings in price difference that allowed them to buy chucks and tools with the savings. Either way, you'll be happy with the choice. best of luck, Sean
>. . . on what you're going to do. (How's that for a nice, waffly answer?) I will also grant you these are by no means the only considerations.
Do you really need the extra five inches of spindle turning length on the 1640 for those just-a-little-bit-longer newel posts or baseball bats? Or maybe you want the extra four inches of diameter for bowls that the 3520a provides? (Larger diameters still if you slide the headstock down to the end of the ways.)
I do a lot of end-grain turnings of small lidded boxes and spindle staff-toppers, and very few cross-grain bowls and vessels, so the 1640 might be a good choice for me. However, I really don't use the full length of my Delta 12 x 34 now, and I might actually wish to try a big bowl some time in the future, so the Powermatic might be a better choice for me. Your needs and desires are probably quite different from mine so your mileage will probably vary. I have read good things about both lathes on this board, leading me to believe you will not be sorry either way you choose.
One final consideration. Based on hearsay, you would probably have the "Mustard Monster" Powermatic in your shop a lot faster than you will have the OneWay up and running. (Unless you already have one lined-up . . .)
Good luck with your choice, and let us know what you decide.
>I bought a 3520a in August. I am a serious beginner and have done a lot of turning but a beginner none the less! So take these remarks into account with my limited expertise! But I did do a lot of homework, and it has held up so far.
Have turned on a 1640. Visited shops from my club with very experienced turners who have one or the other. Both are very good professional standard machines. Spent a weekend seminar recently with Nick Cook a very prolific production turner who uses and demos on a 3520a.
Here are some quick comparisons for my purchase decision as I saw them (3520a vs 1640.)
- $1000 toward tools and fixtures vs extra money
- 20" swing vs 16"
- 32" bed (but has available extensions) vs 40" Pluses and minuses here. I liked the shorter length for my small shop.
- Sliding headstock vs fixed. Again pluses and minuses. Outboard turning is from same side vs reversing motor and changing sides for outboard turning(?) (I think this would be the case but don't know.)
- Freestanding tool rest available, vs outboard bed extension with 24" swing
- Cam locks work fine vs. exceptionaly good system
- Both have very smooth, reversable, variable speed motors with good braking
- Worthless indexing accessary (but easy to build a variety of good solutions) vs standard 48 position indexing
- Switch in headstock works fine, with available remote with magnetic mount vs very nice arm mounted switch
- Best I can tell both have good responsive service and parts availability
- Both machines continue to be progressively refined
- Spindle lock is spring loaded and takes up a hand, but it is easy to adapt to a fixed lock vs fixed lock
Bottom line: 3520a is a slick machine that I believe would last your turning career. Oneway is the best, very refined construction and top flight components and is the default choice if money is no object. The Oneway will definitely give you bragging rights. But I would be hardpressed to find a situation where the Oneway would do something the 3520a couldn't do as well. I decided I wanted the $1000, shorter footprint, 20" swing and sliding headstock. Besides I just love the yellow-orange color. It goes so well with all the offwhite of the rest of my shop.
Do a search on this and the AAW site and you will find a lot of helpful comments. Here are some 3520a reviews I found helpful.
>William, I am a PM3520a owner and am happy as a lark. I saved some money like the others and have spent it on things like more tools. I have bought the Jamieson Boring System except for the laser attachment which I will buy shortly and then will buy a coring tool soon. To me, "OneWay" is just a status machine and it may even be a little better, but not $1,000 better. And as for the yellow mustard color of the PM that some gripe about....well, it is not all that bad in reality. I associate it with Catepillar machinery which, as we know, is one tough hunk of steel. Either way you go, you will continue to be regarded as a member of a great community of woodturners who are more concerned about what you turn, rather than what you turned it on.
I've had my 3520A since Aug. and couldn't be more pleased. It has done everything I expect a lathe of this size to do and is very stable. I'm not knocking the Oneway, I would love to have one also but just couldn't justify the cost. My 3520A should last me for as long as I want to do turning.
>6 months ago I upgraded from a Nova 3k to the Powermatic 3520a. For the money I think the 3520a is the best lathe out there, period. Large capacity, lots of mass (read heavy), scary amount of torque even at 10rpm, and very smooth. Best $2500 I've ever spent.
>The Powermatic is made in the fareast and the Oneway is made in Canada. That is why there is a $1000 difference. If they were the same price, most would buy the Oneway. So it boils down to the price difference.
Both will probably meet your needs. When my father died, I brought the Dewalt and Rockwell tools home and brought most of the fareast tools to the dump. Your heirs may have the same choice someday. I bought the 1640.
>The best advice I got in regard to the control box was to get extra wire and a large magnet.
You glue the magnet to the back of the box and then you can put it where YOU want it instead of where the factory thinks it should be.With a simple used microphone stand you can even place it away from the lathe.
>I have a Oneway 2436 and a Vic 200. The swing of the controlls is of no special value. My Vic is mounted solid to the frame. The only time I find a problem is when I am standing on the back side of the Vic and back cutting under a bowl lip.
Many of the responses on this subject think the Oneway is to expensive. I can buy a cheaper Tiwain nock off of anything and spend the savings on other tools.
With that attitude in the end we all loose.
I am not a Oneway fan But it,s one of the few or only one still made in North America.
Do your kidds or grandkidds have a good, high paying job like you have or retired from with nice benefits. Or have those jobes disappeared. Yes, I understand but just one won't make any differance.
And I am guilty of it too. But I am trying to do better. Maybe it will catch on .
>Nichols makes a pretty good lathe too.I know because I have them both.I didn`t buy either new.
My brother bought a Powermatic when they were still made here.I really like his lathe and would buy a Powermatic if I was to buy new.
The answer is not just the tool manufacturers overseas,it`s also the factories and jobs moving overseas.You`ll have to look to our elected officials for an answer to that.
Mainely,Bob-Who buys American made whenever possible.More and more that means buying old iron.
Thank you very much for your post. There is lots of good information in there. I've been turning for a few years and have often longed for a bigger lathe, like the 3520 or 1640. I really appreciate your informative post.
>I haven't posted here before, but have been reading/lurking for several months. Seems that there were very few responses in favor of the Oneway over the Powermatic, and so I just had to chime in.
Last year around this time, I made the decision to purchase a Oneway 1640 and couldn't be happier. I had originally had my mind set on a Powermatic as an exceptional value for the buck, but after attending a woodturning symposium and seeing the Oneway quality firsthand, I was totally impressed and after about 6 months of thinking about it, I decided on a Oneway. The 1640 happened to put Oneway lathes within range for me! I must say that everything about the 1640 is top quality. I only wish that all the tools in my shop were of this level of quality - it's a pure joy to work with such a machine. I upgraded from a Delta 12" lathe and recently turned my largest bowl to date - it came in at about 12" finished and I must say that I'm not sure that I can see myself ever needing/wanting to turn anything larger than 16". But, if I do ever want to, then the 1640 has the option of the outboard bed that will support up to 20" - of course for an extra $500 ($250 for the bed extension and $250 for the tool rest).
All in all, I'd have to say that I'm completely satisfied with my 1640 and would do it again if I had to. If you do decide on a Oneway, deal with Oneway directly and plan on some lead time - I placed my order on December 4 and my 1640 arrived in my shop exactly four months later on April 4.
>As I own neither, nor have turned on them, it an interesting situation you've got that I can only offer some of my thoughts (if I were in your smock). The Oneway is known for its ruggedness and top notch quality. The Powermatics of today (read import) can suffer from QC issues. However, you're comparing a smaller Oneway with a slightly larger Powermatic. If it were me, unless I could afford the Oneway 24xx line, I'd go with the Powermatic. Its alot of lathe for the money and would give you more capability (stock configuration) than the Oneway. Larger swing, heavier unit, sliding headstock for easy bowl turning. Spend some of the savings on a good quality paint to cover that "less than desirable" mustard yellow (to put it VERY lightly).
>...view on the "sending your money/jobs overseas" thing.
While the quality issue is valid, the argument that we shouldn't send our money overseas has two problems. Both involve "turnabout is fair play".
First, if we only spend here in the USA, then it would only be fair if the rest of the world quit spending here. If that happened, tens of thousands of American companies, and millions of American jobs would disappear.
Second, if we kept all our jobs here, it would only be fair if the rest of the world kept all of their jobs out of the US. If you run the numbers you will find that would result in a net loss of jobs in the US. Toyota, Nissan, BMW, and other auto manufacturing jobs would go away. Hitatchi, Ryobi, etc. would quit making tools here. The list is endless, and the fact is more foreign companies employ more US workers here than US companies employ foreign workers overseas. Sorry, but those are the facts. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Be careful what you wish for...you might not like it if you get it.
>Well Said Bubba. Folks need to realize this is a global economy today and it's not going back to the old days. While the odd piece gets thru QC most of the larger overseas manufacurers realize that if they are to compete in today's marketplace, quality must be held high.
>I agree with Barb. I too love my Oneway 1640 and wouldn't traid it for anything. I have the outboard bed so if you wanted to get it you don't have to spring for another bandjo it comes woth a longer post toolrest so you can use your regular banjo. At least at the time I bought mine it did unless something has changed. When I ordered mine it was one of the first to come off of the line so it doesn't have adjustable legs, but I hear now that they all do. Right Barb?????????
