Just looked at a Nova Galaxi DVR 1644 Lathe

[MichaelMouse]

So I called Woodcraft and told them to put my name on one of the Galaxi lathes and will pick it up on Saturday.  

Sweet, sounds like there's a 16" bowl in the immediate future from you.  Everyone starts at capacity.  Let us know if it's really a 400mm lathe (15 3/4") or have they pushed it out since my antique was made.

[DFJarvie]

Congrats. If your serious about turning you need a modern lathe. The old iron is great for spindles but having variable speed is awesome. No more changing belts just turn the knob and your ready to go.

I was in the same position where everything I own was used old iron. I had a Jet VS 1014 and wanted something bigger. I pulled the trigger on the PM 3250 and couldn't be happier. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

[EvilTwin]

Busy day.  I listed the Delta lathe two days ago and had 2 lookers and one buyer come by today.  In between, I went into Norfolk and picked up the new lathe.  It was tough paying that much for a new tool, and I haven't bought anything new in power tools in a very long time.  All my purchases have been old iron, generally American but with a couple of Euro machines and one Japanese.  But as mentioned, there is really nothing in vintage machinery that does what this lathe does. 
Unboxing: 
    Lathe comes crated up in a plywood box and is pretty well packaged for shipping.  The legs are bolted together with some steel plates and they are bolted down to the bed with some "T"s that hold them tight.  They also use Styrofoam to keep parts from banging together.  And the bed is through bolted to the base of the crate to keep it from moving.








I left the box in the back of the truck and pulled the parts off one by one.  Once inside the garage, I managed to get the bed up on some sawhorses with the help of the guy buying my old lathe.  Then it was just a matter of maneuvering the legs underneath the bed and getting the bolts started.  I had mounted the feet on the bottom of each leg.  One of the feet had the screw threads covered in some sort of white corrosion, similar to what you get on a car battery.  I went ahead and wire brushed the corrosion off and put it on the leg

And for my next gripe, one of the holes was buggered up with either swarf mixed in with paint or it was never machined correctly.  I had to drill out the hole before the bolt would even get through.  But that was pretty much it for manufacturing boo boos.  I will also say that the paint is pretty soft and chips easily and the base primer is some type of white so it shows right up.







I'm very impressed by the way this motor runs.  Very smooth, a small hiss as it starts up and runs.  In normal use, I don't think I'll even hear it run over the noise from turning.   I've got it moved into its final spot, and will take some more pics tomorrow when I will actually make some chips with it.  Thanks for following along.

[SteveK]

EvilTwin,
Very nice indeed!  I just got mine assembled and will fire up shortly.

One question for you -- did you install the little holder for the knock-out bar?  There are 2 holes -- one for cap screw and one for the bar and the bar only goes through 1 hole (cuz its slightly larger diameter).  But I can get it screwed down with a cap screw -- the little holder hits the vertical rise of the bed.

MichaelMouse -- to answer your earlier question -- the Galaxi will do a full 16" diameter over bed (maybe a bit more).

[Tim J. Chase]

Congrats on the new Lathe. Your gonna love the DVR I bought the original and it will handle about anything you throw at it. I have done way larger that 16 " outboard with the outrigger. Having the ability to slide the headstock to the end will make it much easier when you get a blank large enough.
Tim

[MichaelMouse]

MichaelMouse -- to answer your earlier question -- the Galaxi will do a full 16" diameter over bed (maybe a bit more).

Good.  I marked and bandsawed carefully on my first chamber-pot sized piece, only to have to go back and trim 1/8 -VERY difficult - to get it to fit.  Downloaded the manual and saw it described as a 400mm lathe.

Looking forward to a picture of your first basin.

[AHill]

Your Galaxi was certainly packaged way better than my Nova DVR XP. Mine was one of the early Chinese production runs. It was literally packaged in a cardboard box with some styrofoam on the bottom. Something had dinged the box and crushed the power switch. The castings were so-so, with flashing still on some openings and painted over. I got a replacement lathe (Amazon Prime) in no time. I had a conversation with the US-based president of Teknatool, and some correspondence with the CEO. It looks like they've taken some measures to improve quality. Your tailstock is a new design as well. Looks a lot more beefy than what comes with the 1624-44 and the Nova DVR XP.

Enjoy the new lathe!

[EvilTwin]

EvilTwin,
Very nice indeed!  I just got mine assembled and will fire up shortly.

One question for you -- did you install the little holder for the knock-out bar?  There are 2 holes -- one for cap screw and one for the bar and the bar only goes through 1 hole (cuz its slightly larger diameter).  But I can get it screwed down with a cap screw -- the little holder hits the vertical rise of the bed.

As far as I could tell, they were both the same size, and the knockout bar seems to fit fine.



I moved the lathe into its permanent spot.  It gets real good overhead lighting here and is next to the dust collector piping.  I made a couple of chisel holders that are sitting on either end of the bed.  The bed on this thing is so long, and I don't really turn anything longer than a foot or so, so much of that real estate will never be used.  I will work mostly in the middle of the lathe.  What is also nice about this design is that if I have to run something long through the bandsaw behind it, I can slide the headstock all the way in and not have it interfere.   





I have made a few chips on it, the bowl is a project started on the old lathe and I'm trying to square it up since the old faceplate would not fit on the new machine.