RIKON Power Tools 70-105 10" x 18" 1/2 hp Mini Lathe
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Like many drill presses, this machine has several pulleys on a belt. Simply loosen the belt and switch to another pulley to change the speed. (500, 1,175, 1,850, 2,225, 3,200) are the available speeds.
Stable rests can be made with Carter products and Ron Brown's Best (Peacetree). Lathes with a diameter of ten inches are available. Ron Brown's Best is around $160 and Carter Products is around $375. Both should work on a Rikon 105, 10" lathe, in my opinion.
They're both two taper, yes.
Selected User Reviews For RIKON Power Tools 70-105 10" x 18" 1/2 hp Mini Lathe
I am pleased with the performance of the lathe. br>br>The only complaint I have with the lathe is that the holes for the rubber feet bolts were not properly tapped. br>br>During assembly, one of the bolts broke, so I had to buy a new one as well as an easy-to-use wrench. I also needed to borrow a tap to fix all four holes. br>I sent an email to the manufacturer's tech support, copying their customer service, and received no response. br>For the Lathe, I give it four stars. br>For customer service, they get 0 stars.
This is a fantastic little lathe. I also purchased an extension bed, which I have yet to use. Poplar and walnut were used to make some ornaments. I also made a spindle towel rack to go with a cabinet I built. Snowmen, birdhouse ornaments, tool handles, and furniture spindles are next on my to-do list, and once I've mastered the basics, I'm confident I'll upgrade to a lathe with a little more power and electronic speed control. The speed change of the pulley belt is a little slow, but that shouldn't be a problem in a home shop. I also added a Nova chuck (Nova 48111) with a pen chuck attachment and a PSI TM32 drill chuck. In general, I'm very pleased with the lathe!.
Not only does it turn pens, but it's also a great little machine. On this lathe, I turn bowls. The only disadvantage is that before I begin cutting the bowl, I am limited to a diameter of about 9 inches. Within the lathe's size limit, this is plenty powerful for almost any job. It's a fantastic pen-making tool. The pulley system has five positions, allowing you to achieve a wide range of speeds for almost any project. My next lathe will be a larger Rikon lathe.
I received his lathe shortly before Christmas in 2015, and I was blown away by the machining and smoothness of the tail stock travel. Stock. I was considering purchasing both the Harbor Freight and the Rockler Excelsior lathes because they appear to be similar. For $50, Woodcraft had this one on clearance. 00 more, but it comes with a 5-year warranty rather than the 90-day warranty offered by Harbor and the 1-year warranty offered by Rockler. The motor appears to be of higher quality, as it has cooling fins. Others have expressed concerns about how hot the one from Harbor gets, but this one has only been slightly warm so far. There is no vibration and it is perfectly balanced. I bought it to experiment with turning pens and toys, and so far it's been great. I'm still new to this. I've had an old Craftsman lathe for years and never did much with it because I was always fighting (which I didn't realize until now), so it wasn't much fun. Now that I have this one, going to the shop and playing has become a joy. br>It's heavy and smooth enough that I haven't bolted it down and it hasn't moved, even with some large pieces of wood that weren't squared and were out of balance at first, and it handled it just fine. Great little lathe for turning pens and toys or small projects.
I just got it and unboxed it this week. The machine is in excellent working order and appears to be straight and true. The end spool shaft is bent, which is my only gripe. It's likely that this occurred during the shipping process, so it's not a problem with the company. It will have no effect on performance.
I use this for a variety of small projects, including tops, pens, wands, and icicles, and it performs admirably. The fact that the belt must be moved and that it is not variable speed adds to the inconvenience. Also, when I received the product, the tailstock wheel was slightly bent, but this had no bearing on the product's functionality. Would I Buy It Again? My next lathe, however, will almost certainly be variable speed.
The machine is extremely quiet and produces a silky smooth smoothie. There is a lot of energy.
This is a fantastic little lathe. It's so expensive to get started with wood turning, tools, and so on, but you can do everything on this lathe very well.
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