Turncrafter Plus Review - Lathe By Psi
A friend of mine, Chuck, is a very experienced and skilled wood turner, and every so often I get a chance to experiment with his lathe, and I always enjoy the experience. He"s alway happy to let me use it and willing to teach me anything I want to know, but I feel bad for imposing on him.I never really got serious and did my research on wood lathes since I always felt that it was too expensive a hobby, and I couldn"t really afford it. I knew that Chuck"s lathe, a large model from General, cost him several thousand dollars and just figured that was the normal price range. This kept me away from wood turning for several years!
Recently I started looking at Wood Lathe prices, only to discover there"s a large market for much smaller less expensive lathes. After looking at several reviews online and finding most of them positive, I decided to invest in A Turncrafter Plus from PSI.
This lathe was marketed as an inexpensive beginner lathe, and that"s what really stood out for me. It cost a little over 150$, so I wasn"t expecting too much. I was thrilled with the purchase anyway, since I would finally be able to get into wood turning, and if it didn"t work out then it wasn"t as if I had made a big investment.
When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The Turncrafter came nicely packaged and looked great out of the box. It was very small, only about two feet long and half a foot deep, but that was perfect since I don"t have a lot of room in my shop. I was impressed with how heavy and solid it seamed, since I was worried that for the money I would get something flimsy or easy to break.
I attached a small piece of wood using the included live center and turned it on. It runs very quietly and smoothly, whether you have it on the slowest or fastest speed. I bought a set of lathe tools with it, and they cut into my spindle as smooth as butter!
I"ve turned a handful of pens and a candleholder on it so far, and I haven"t had a single problem. It holds the spindle very well, and spins without slipping or choking. I couldn"t be happier with this lathe. There are some limitations, mostly because of the small side, so maybe at some point I will want to upgrade to a bigger lathe, but for now it"s perfect.
If you"re looking to get into wood turning I highly recommend the PSI Turncrafter as an inexpensive alternative.