Turncrafter Commander

[K. L. McReynolds]

12" by 18", variable speed(electronic control), 1hp(DC motor). Has bed extender available.

YouTube videos look good, any one have one? $502 + shipping.

Been contemplating the slippery slope a while and grandson wants to do epoxy work.

[iclark]

12" by 18", variable speed(electronic control), 1hp(DC motor). Has bed extender available.

YouTube videos look good, any one have one? $502 + shipping.

Been contemplating the slippery slope a while and grandson wants to do epoxy work.

I may be mistaken, but I think that Turncrafter is the Penn State Industries house brand.

PSI has it on sale at the moment.

Reading the reviews on that site, it sounds like there have been some quality control issues. The biggest recurring issue seems to be a bit too much slop (side-to-side or rotational) for the tailstock/ways interface.

You want to be able to put a drive center in the headstock and live center in the tailstock and have their points align (when you bring up the tailstock and lock it down) repeatedly without having to push or twist while locking down the spindle and tailstock.

The good news seems to be that the PSI CS folks are helpful if you buy directly from PSI.

[EightFingers]

You left out a bit of information.



What do you plan to make?

[K. L. McReynolds]

Turned stuff.


Grandson wants to do cast in epoxy turnings. He may try to get his daughter interested.

 I just want to piddle. Have used lathes in the past, so have a slight headstart.

The YouTube videos I watched showed the centering of head/tail stock centers as being really close.

I can buy cheaper lathes, but have learned buying cheap is usually a bad idea.

[Arlin Eastman]

12" by 18", variable speed(electronic control), 1hp(DC motor). Has bed extender available.

YouTube videos look good, any one have one? $502 + shipping.

Been contemplating the slippery slope a while and grandson wants to do epoxy work.

Mac

that was the first lathe i had and it worked great.   Mine also had the variabe speed but i gave it away after I got the 1hp delta 46-460 which was great until I hurt my neck looking into the box and why you guys helped me get the pm3520b.

The other two lathes went to vets and so did several others I got on sale.


Great pen lathe and small bowls and box lathe

[Robert Wilson]

I have this one  for about 4 years now and like it. I  have turn some smalls with it and did ok.

[iclark]

Turned stuff.


Grandson wants to do cast in epoxy turnings. He may try to get his daughter interested.

 I just want to piddle. Have used lathes in the past, so have a slight headstart.

The YouTube videos I watched showed the centering of head/tail stock centers as being really close.

I can buy cheaper lathes, but have learned buying cheap is usually a bad idea.

I brought up the head/tail stock centering only because it came up several times in the reviews on the PSI site that I linked to. The people that had to send the first 2 lathes back that they received (minor damage in shipping of parts that could not be replaced and the slop in the ways problem) were still happy with the PSI CS when they got the third lathe and started using it.

Bottom line: with any of these tools these days, unpack it and do your own QA inspection as soon as it arrives.
(In other words: do as I say, not as I do.
)