Hello!

Is the reverse feature that is found on some wood lathes helpful in turning and sanding grips and reel seats whether the material be cork,wood or other?

I've studied threads here for the last week and noticed that while some have purchased lathes without variable speed and get along fine, others welcome the upgrade to variable speed. I was looking at the Jet 1220 CS with extension and mentally was thinking this would be one I would try to buy. I noticed there is a newer model coming out, which is the Jet 1221 that has a bit larger motor and reverse. This is what has prompted the question above. In addition, for what the new Jet 1221 costs with extension new, a person could find a preowned full size lathe for near the same.

Any thoughts appreciated!

Dan,
Although I love having reverse on my power rod wrapper, I really haven't felt the need for a reverse on my wood lathe.

However, one thing that is very very useful and that is the lathe bed extension. There are many many times that I use the lathe bed extension - even when working with things that are not that long.
The reason for the lathe bed extension, is that the extension is very very helpful, when using long bits, and or mandrels for grips and or drilling. It is so nice to be able to slide the tail stock on down the bed to be out of the way when fitting a chuck, mandrel, or long drill bit.

For actual wood turning, and using turning chisels, one would never want to use reverse - I don't believe.

Of course, if you did not have the tool rest in place and wanted to have the work piece in reverse for some unique sanding job, then the use of reverse might be nice.

If you used your lathe to do reaming, and used the head stock to hold the reamer, then you also might find it very useful to have reverse to have the reamer turn in the correct direction for either the milled flutes on the reamer or the way that the sand paper might have been applied to the reamer.

But for routine shaping and sanding using conventional tools, there is really very little need for a reverse on the lathe.

Good luck
Roger
+

Veriable speed is important on a lathe for wood turning. Maybe not so much for cork.
You need to "round-down" wood at a low speed to keep it from tearing.
I wish my rod winder had reverse. If, for some reason, I wanted to turn something on it, I now have to turn the whole machine around to get it turning into the tools.

Garry,
Any time you like, just drop me an e-mail and we can work out a power unit for your rod wrapper if you like.

hflier@comcast.net

Roger

This was a unit that I built for a fellow builder a couple of months ago. The white rocker switch on the face of the power supply is the reversing switch for the motor:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I have been using lathes a long time(teaching shop and woodworking+using before that)and see no practical use for reverse. Variable speed yes reverse no. The only thing I can see it for is sanding maybe.

I have had a jet 1220 for almost a year now. It is not a variable speed. Although variable speed would be nice to have, for cork/eva, you do not neet it. I have yet to change the speed on my lathe when working with grips since I bought it. If I do need to change it, it can be done pretty quickly with how they have the lathe set up. I found mine on craigslist for a good bargain. With all the new models coming out, if you keep your eye out, you can probably run across a good one from someone who is looking to upgrade at a good price. Just expect to spend some money on all the other stuff you need for the lathe....chuck, chisels, etc. That's where the money can add up pretty quickly.

Jeremy,
I do many things on my lathe besides grips.
As a result, I change the speed of the lathe a great deal.

When you are doing drilling with the lathe and tail stock, the speed needs to be much slower than when sanding.

But if using lathe chisels, then the speed needs to be somewhere in between the slower sanding speed and the fast sanding speed.

Be safe
REW

I change the speeds all the time when making grips and using the lathe for other provesses - reaming, grinding, buffing, boring. It is niceto have VS, but even with that you have to change the belt to fo from the slowest to the highest speed. THere are 3 ranges of speeds, check the specs on the lathe.

Reverse - if you search everyone says for sanding wood it's useful. I don't know since I do not work with wood. There's enoughinfo out there that you can find out with a few searches.

My concern is with a chuck screwed on it would tend to loosen in reverse. I guess a morse taper fitting and a pressure mounting is in order.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

I thouhgt about it a bit. WhenI see guys sanding wood, they put their hand behind the piece and cup the sandpaper. THis causes teh dust to fly up. MAybe the reverse festure allows them to sand and have a clear view of the workpiece since teh dust is now flowing below? I dunno just guessing.

Freddy, that might happen if it's not tight, but if you're using a chuck whatever you'r eturning is in a tialstock, supported on the other end, so it shouldn't be able to fly off like that.

I thouhgt about it a bit. WhenI see guys sanding wood, they put their hand behind the piece and cup the sandpaper. THis causes teh dust to fly up. MAybe the reverse festure allows them to sand and have a clear view of the workpiece since teh dust is now flowing below? I dunno just guessing.

Freddy, that might happen if it's not tight, but if you're using a chuck whatever you'r eturning is in a tialstock, supported on the other end, so it shouldn't be able to fly off like that.

I should clarify, I am doing only sanding and roughing work on my grips (cork/eva/foam). I haven't needed to bore yet; I do a lot of split grips which are usually no more than 4" or so. To bore these, I use a drill press and a self centering drill vise. [www.woodcraft.com]

Variable speed is always nice. Reverse is rarely needed. I have two lathes that both feature reverse - I've never run either of them in that direction.

.............

For most all turning applications, standard rotation is all you need. Some people who do a lot of spindle work may purchase a duplicator. There are a variety of duplicators. Some mount to the front and must be installed to use and then removed when you switch back to traditional turning. A nicer setup is to have a rear mounted duplicator; these stay out of the way when you need to do traditional turning so they can be set up once and left on even when not being used. Some rear mounted duplicators mount the tool upside down and can be used with forward rotation, others mount the tool facing up and require a lathe that turns in reverse.

Unless you're considering something like this, all you really need is variable speed.