• Thanks for visiting The Penturners Forum today.

    There are many features and resources that currently you are unable to see or access, either because you're not yet registered, or if you're already registered, because you're not logged in.

    To gain full access to the forum, please log in or register now. Registration is completely free, it only takes a few seconds, and you can join our well established community of like-minded pen makers.

Charnwood lathes

Skil Phil

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Posts
226
Location
South Africa
One of the local suppliers now has Charnwood lathes on their website.

Over here you can get Nova, Jet at great expense and lots of cheap rubbish.

I am not in the market for another lathe but would appreciate comments about quality.
Nice to see another manufacturer but like to know where it slots in.

Cheers
Phil
 

Graham_C

Fellow
Joined
Feb 1, 2017
Posts
1,153
Location
Tywyn
First Name
Graham
I have only experienced a Charnwood spindle moulder - but as others have said, the quality was pretty average
 

Skil Phil

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Posts
226
Location
South Africa
Thanks all for the comments.
Just another bit of mediocre Eastern steel.
At least I know a bit more when asked for an opinion.

Cheers
Phil
 

Colin

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2017
Posts
13
Location
Forfar
First Name
Colin
They are cheap and cheerful, I have one and it does what I need it to do,
I got it and have had no issues with it, Came with a useful 3 jaw chuck.
When I was looking at them they were all the same just different colours and prices from different manufacturers ??
Hope to be able to post some pics of pens I have made on it soon
 

ni9eofse7en

Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2015
Posts
1,786
Location
Morley
First Name
John
Interesting, I have just bought a Charnwood W850 bench saw which having reviewed others fit my needs and budget, so far so good. Charnwood have just celebrated 40 years in business so must have sold a lot of machines over the years. Yes they have budget tools but so does Axminster and others, each to their own. As a side note a guy locally had a Lada with a V8 engine shoe horned in, and yes it was stock looking outside in the usual beige colour, it left many a rich car owner with egg on their face. So here's hoping my Lada keeps going for years to come. And no I don't work for them, I am just a tight ar***, sorry frugal Yorkshireman.:thumbs:
 

Skil Phil

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Posts
226
Location
South Africa
Phil what are import regs to your part of the country. For quality seems to be made elsewhere.

Not sure of the regs but I think it is a case of 'you can bring in whatever you like as long as an official gets a backhand.
We used to have a Bureau of Standards that kept good control of junk coming into the country and maintained production standards within.
This has been replaced by a Bureau of Corruption. The bigger the bribe the worse the product can be. So the consumer suffers.
The majority of the machines are eastern except for a few European (Felder and Hammer) and American branded but made elsewhere (Jet) and Nova
Surprisingly a Felder bandsaw is cheaper than a Jet and better quality.

Phil
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Not sure of the regs but I think it is a case of 'you can bring in whatever you like as long as an official gets a backhand.
We used to have a Bureau of Standards that kept good control of junk coming into the country and maintained production standards within.
This has been replaced by a Bureau of Corruption. The bigger the bribe the worse the product can be. So the consumer suffers.
The majority of the machines are eastern except for a few European (Felder and Hammer) and American branded but made elsewhere (Jet) and Nova
Surprisingly a Felder bandsaw is cheaper than a Jet and better quality.

Phil

IMHO Felder stuff can be superb however our Wood Guild bought the big Felder Band Saw and regretted it was awful.

Kind regards Peter.
 
Warning! This thread has not had any replies for over a year. You are welcome to post a reply here, but it might be better to start a new thread (and maybe include a link to this one if you need to).
Top