Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Delta Lathe
dopic1
>I have an opportunity to purchase a Delta 46-700 12" Variable Speed Wood Lathe (stand included) for around $240.00. Can anyone tell me anything about this lathe is it a good starter machine? It seems to be in good shape, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Re: Delta Lathe
JamieDonaldson
>That's a good price for a basic starter lathe- I modified mine to carry around for demos by adding riser blocks and shortening the bed. A poly-V belt reduced the noise some, but for the price it works well. Go for it!
Re: Delta Lathe
ben d.
>I have had one for several years and it is ok for small turnings. If you get a large block on it the bed , although is cast is not sturdy enough and it keeps moving and if you put the tool to the wood it will make it flex even more and by light turning you can get the block round but as son as you put the tool to it to make some headway it will go out of round again. You are limited to what you can turn.
The headstock being mounted past where the bed bolts to the stand does not help keep the thing steady. I have moved my headstock to where the bed bolts to the frame which helped some but would like much better.
Small items good large items not so good. Price is ok though in my opinion.
Re: Delta Lathe
Scott Longberry - Falcon, CO
>I'm currently using this model lathe right now. I consider myself a novice and am happy with the lathe. I'm sure I'll outgrow mine, but for $240 I think you'd get your money's worth out of it before you needed to upgrade.
I bolted mine to a large, HEAVY workbench and it improved the lathes performance b y quite a bit.
Good luck whichever way you go!
Scott
