My brother visited us this past weekend and brought me a few things. The biggest being a Rigid WL1200 lathe with a tube bed. I have a Jet Mini 1014 that I've used for a couple of small pieces and I was considering getting a bed extension for it along with building or buying a stand.
The Rigid was the right price (free) and allows a couple extra inches of swing and a longer bed length (36") but gets mixed reviews as far as I can tell. It's also a tube bed, which I'm not super fond of, but the tube looks and feels sturdy and straight at first glance. (I haven't assembled the whole lathe yet as I'm trying to figure out where to put it and how I want to use it.)
I'm considering just using it as an outboard type lathe that I can swing larger diameter things with but don't know if the 1/2 HP motor will really swing anything big.
Do any of you fine folks here have any experience with the Rigid lathe?
The Rigid was the right price (free) and allows a couple extra inches of swing and a longer bed length (36") but gets mixed reviews as far as I can tell. It's also a tube bed, which I'm not super fond of, but the tube looks and feels sturdy and straight at first glance. (I haven't assembled the whole lathe yet as I'm trying to figure out where to put it and how I want to use it.)
I'm considering just using it as an outboard type lathe that I can swing larger diameter things with but don't know if the 1/2 HP motor will really swing anything big.
Do any of you fine folks here have any experience with the Rigid lathe?
