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I got the HF 34706 assembled last night. Actually it was surprisingly easy to set up, and mostly complete out of the box. I only used the Chinglish instructions as a basic sanity / safety check. (Did I REALLY do that part right?).
It was simply a matter of setting up the leg stand, which was painfully obvious how it went on. Setting the lathe up on the stand (not easy to do solo with a bad back, but doable if you use your brains, and a canoe lift assembly in the ceiling!), bolt the lathe down, snug all that up so it is solid. Finally, assemble the handles onto the various controls, adjust, notice the live center and the spur don't 100% line up, fiddle some more, notice they do line up... (The head lock mechanism is a bit finicky, a complaint I see about the Jet 1236 as well...). And lastly install the extension bed piece. (Some folks say to not use this. I installed it, can't really see how it would be useful, but it came with the lathe...)
The folks that say the leg stand leaves a bit to be desired are NOT underestimating this. This lathe REALLY needs a cabinet under it for mass sake if nothing else...
I stuck the face plate on it, double checked that EVERYTHING was properly snugged down, and there were no extra nuts, bolts washers or that sort of thing.
Lastly I plugged it in, and spun it up dry, then ran it through the speed settings. Unloaded at least, this lathe is nice and quiet, with surprisingly very little vibration.
I was reading through "Learn To Turn" last night, and this looks pretty straight forward, at least getting started does. I will be trying to get together with the Gulf Coast Woodturners to try to get some hands on pointers on how to go from I don't barely recall how to do this from HS wood shop, back to having fun at the lathe and producing some round goodies for this, that, or the other purpose...
It was simply a matter of setting up the leg stand, which was painfully obvious how it went on. Setting the lathe up on the stand (not easy to do solo with a bad back, but doable if you use your brains, and a canoe lift assembly in the ceiling!), bolt the lathe down, snug all that up so it is solid. Finally, assemble the handles onto the various controls, adjust, notice the live center and the spur don't 100% line up, fiddle some more, notice they do line up... (The head lock mechanism is a bit finicky, a complaint I see about the Jet 1236 as well...). And lastly install the extension bed piece. (Some folks say to not use this. I installed it, can't really see how it would be useful, but it came with the lathe...)
The folks that say the leg stand leaves a bit to be desired are NOT underestimating this. This lathe REALLY needs a cabinet under it for mass sake if nothing else...
I stuck the face plate on it, double checked that EVERYTHING was properly snugged down, and there were no extra nuts, bolts washers or that sort of thing.
Lastly I plugged it in, and spun it up dry, then ran it through the speed settings. Unloaded at least, this lathe is nice and quiet, with surprisingly very little vibration.
I was reading through "Learn To Turn" last night, and this looks pretty straight forward, at least getting started does. I will be trying to get together with the Gulf Coast Woodturners to try to get some hands on pointers on how to go from I don't barely recall how to do this from HS wood shop, back to having fun at the lathe and producing some round goodies for this, that, or the other purpose...
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