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MackD Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
May 26th, 1999 01:15 PM
Can anyone critique the Craftsman 15" 1-Hp wood lathe from actual experience? Is it well built, comparable to the Delta or Jet? The specs are great but how is it in actual use?
stitched Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
July 16th, 2001 09:45 PM
I purchased one in April 2000, and have no complaints. It is made very well and a lot of fun.
Greg Baker Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
April 24th, 2003 08:14 AM
I bought one in January. Overall I am pleased with it, but I do have some complaints.
First would have to be that the motor has burned out already. Of course, Sears is in the process of replacing it, so this is nothing more than an annoyance. It is a little disconcerting that it went so fast though.
Minor complaints are:
There are times that I would like to be able to move the toolrest lower.
It would be really nice to have a handwheel. I didn't think this was important till I seriously started using it. I'd really like one.
I have the fact that the spindle lock is under the plastic cover on the headstock. I use a Supernova chuck for bowl turning and I need to lock the spindle to remove it. It's annoying to have to remove an allen screw everytime.
These are fairly minor complaints. I have turned some really nice things on this lathe including some large bowls. The motor is plenty powerful and the fit and finish are generally very good. I was teetering between this model and the $650 Delta. Considering the price difference, I thought it was a no brainer.
My only real concern is that the motor will go again. I'm probably using it harder than most users since I turn a lot of large bowls, but it should be able to hanlde that with the 1hp motor.
Good luck!
Larry S. Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
June 19th, 2003 02:27 PM
Recently purchased professional variable speed lathe... How do you lock spindle so you can remove the faceplate?
Ed Jones Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
January 2nd, 2004 02:10 AM
I was searching the web and found that Harbor Freight caries a Central Machinery MN 90265, 15 inch VS wood lathe which looks almost the same as my Craftsman MN 351.217170 (without indexing). Does anyone know who made the lathe for Craftsman? After the one year warranty is up how good is the service from Sears?
Greg Baker Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
January 23rd, 2004 01:16 PM
As noted earlier, I bought the Craftsman 15" lathe about a year ago.
I had problems with the original lathe. The motor died within a couple of months. Sears did replace it, though I was without a lathe for several weeks. On a whim, when I got the new one, I bought the service contract.
I hadn't done much turning in the past several months and now the replacement lathe has failed. At low speeds, it won't turn at all and higher speeds are definitely lower than expected.
I called the support number and was told that I would have to take the lathe to a service center. After arguing for a while, I got the operator to agree that I had paid for service in my shop. I had to schedule a half day off of work to get this done and I'm not real happy about it. They're coming next week to fix it and I sure hope they get it fixed.
After a year, I have to say that I'm not happy that this lathe has failed twice. Perhaps I've been unlucky, but it sounds like others are having problems. If this lathe fails for a third time, I'm going to try to get my money back.
Greg Baker Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
January 23rd, 2004 01:25 PM
That harbor freight lathe sure does look similar. There are a few differences, but overall, it looks like the same machine. Fewer accessories. Interestingly, when you do a search for 'lathe' at HFs website, it doesn't come up. You have to search for that specific product id. Price isn't much better than Sears.
GREG JOHNS Craftsman 15" Wood Lathe
April 15th, 2004 03:10 PM
I purchased one of the 15" sears lathes late last fall. I have turned several bowels, boxes and other items. Up to this point I have had only small problems.
The handles to lock down the head and banjo are made of some sort of pot metal. I snapped one off by hard tightening the banjo for a turning project. I had someone make me two new ones out of stainless. The new ones will not break.
The index tab is under the plastic cover. I just removed the flat head screw and left it out. The plastic cover stays closed without the screw and I can open it up whenever I want.
The only other thing that I am not sure about is when the lathe is running under a turning load, it starts to make a very rough running sound like it is running with sand paper around the spindle. When that happens, I stop the lathe, open the plastic motor cover, and turn the round black clutch with the spring in it, several turns and the scraping goes away for a while. Does anyone know what the scraping noise is from?
How easy would it be for the drive shaft on this lathe to become missal lined? Could a significant catch cause a problem? I have had a few while learning. Could the scraping be from a missallinement problem?
If the motor provided on this lathe is a major problem, I wonder how sears will stand behind it. It is a craftsman.
Has anyone had any experience with sears 6" joiner? I am looking to purchase one for my shop.
Thanks, Greg
Adam Sears Wood lathe
February 3rd, 2005 11:12 AM
I don't own that model wood lathe. But, I do own a Shopsmith with variable speed drive.
The warnings on both machines about waiting for the motor to be running before changing speed should definately be followed. I "left off" the red speed changing knob on my store's demo unit. Children are precious aren't they. Even the old Rockwell/Delta variable speed drillpress developed drive train problems when the students failed to read the operating warning in the craftcenter I was maintenance tech for in college.
As for the burned out motor problem, continuously variable speed machines are wonderful. I had a Rockwell 10" swing variable speed metal lathe in the Army.
But, just because you CAN turn a large bowl blank at higher speeds doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Check out your owner's manual. I'm pretty sure it will have a recommended speeds with different diameter bowl blank chart. Keep a posted copy handy infront of the speed control.
I think all the posters can see the value of the protection agreements.
The scheduling person that talked to the poster over the phone had evidently never had to lift that cast iron monster. It took three of us to lift and position the demo lathe at the store. But, with all that dense cast iron, users should not have problems with machine vibration that users of less substantial machines have.
There's something really special about being handed the white cashregister like tape from the Sears tech that shows you what the cost to you "would have been" had you not wisely invested in a Protection Agreement for your machine.
I personally swear by these things. Everything I've got from Sears has either a Protection or Replacement agreement.
I don't always need to use them. But, when a 2 year-plus Kenmore dishwasher with membrane switches had difficulties, there was the Sears service - no cost. I don't even remember what I paid for the agreement. But, I bet it was less than the $350 printed on that little white piece of cashregister type paper the technician handed me, while he was cleaning up the area in preparation for a happy (ecstatic) customer's signature.
Craftsman/Kenmore service at work - boo yuh!!
BobM This lathe is electronic speed controlled...not mechanical
February 3rd, 2005 06:19 PM
The Craftsman is electronic speed controlled...not mechanical.

BobM
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