WEN LA3424 4.5-Amp 12-Inch by 18-Inch 5-Speed Benchtop Wood Lathe , Black

If you can't afford or simply don't have room for a full size wood lathe, this is an excellent starter tool. It's heavy, so very stable (as long as you have a stable benchtop). All adjustment functions are smooth. The motor provides enough torque for most jobs. The pulley system is okay, but it really would be nice to have a variable speed unit. However, even with the pulley approach, it gets the job done. Great value and quality build. Recommended.

This is a fantastic tool and the price is unbeatable. Solid heavy cast iron. No play is any of the parts. Runs great and all the accessories are fantastic. I run this 12 hours a day at least 2 days a week and a couple hours a day every day and it has no problem doing that. The motor gets warm but I put an external duct fan on it and it keeps it running cool all day. I would recommend this machine to anyone wanting a small size lathe that’s big on quality. Plus they stock all the spare parts in the United States and shipping is only a few days. They stock the motors on their web site for like 70 bucks and I even bought a replacement belt for very little. All the parts and part numbers are listed in their manual and they take care of any concerns. A cast iron extension bed is also available for those wanting to do longer spindle work. Just can’t be beat. Wen is such a great brand of affordable, entry level high quality tool.

So, there's a lot of concessions on features at this price point. This is not a Jet lathe. It's not a powermatic, nor is it a laguna. But it's a fantastic way to find out if you enjoy turning. It's a stellar tool that will get you into the hobby and still be a very functional and usable tool for years in the future.This model is not variable speed, I opted to go for the belt driven model, because it's not at all hard to change the speed and I'm not being timed when making a project anyway. I also wager that for this price, you're getting more low end power with a belt system like this than the cheap way they implement variable speed.So far I've turned some very impressive items on this lathe, and am fully happy with it. Realize that you're not getting a top of the line hand crafted super tool, but you're getting a very functional power tool.

The lathe is light enough that I can move it from work bench storage area to the wooden stand I built for it without too much of a problem. I have a very small wood shop and this was important to me. The variable speed can be changed with the switching of the belt from pulley to pulley on top and bottom, and this can be done without much effort. For this price, it would be silly to expect a variable speed setting with a dial, as on very expensive units. The only issue I have so far is that some parts of the unit are very cheaply made plastic-not super important parts, but the doors to the pulleys are cracking/splitting, so I'll probably make a part myself to cover these areas. And the tool rest is painted orange, and this paint comes off onto my tools as I slide the tools down the work piece. I will need to sand off all paint on the rest.

I love this tool. For the price it is amazingly solid. I bought it to make a pair of 1/6th scale row boat ores, they turned out perfect. Now I'm making all kinds of fun stuff.

I'm a beginning turner and didn't want to spend a fortune on a mini lathe to start with. This one works great. Its very solid and runs smooth and quiet. Its a bit difficult to change speeds (moving the drive belt to different pulleys) because there's not much room to make belt adjustments but I don't really need to do it often. I now wish I would have bought the model that comes with a variable rheostate to make easy speed adjustments. Also, I've learned that it would really be nice to have a reversing motor for sanding and polishing my work. Well, those two items really added on really drive the cost up and I wanted to save money on the first lathe so.....lesson learned, its all part of the learning curve.

I'm newer to wood turning, so I wanted to step my way into it without spending a lot of money. Prior to this, I owned the WEN Mini Lathe, which I liked a lot. I was torn between this one and the larger, variable speed model. Ultimately I selected this lathe.PROs: This lathe is larger than I expected and solid. It has good power and is compatible with the majority of lathe accessories on the market.Critiques: This is not a variable speed speed lathe so you have to change the belt position during each stage of your project (actually much less of a hassle than I was concerned with). Oddly, the spindle belt door is on the back? Being on the front, like most lathes, would make things easier. The belt doors are very thin plastic so I'm wondering if that will be a problem down the road.All in all, this is a good lathe for the price and I'm glad I bought it. I bought the WEN lathe stand along with it, which I highly recommend. As long as the quality and durability remain, I'll be using this for a while.UPDATE: My concerns unfortunately came to fruition, ended up returning this model twice due to a bad headstock bearing. I purchased the next size up WEN and it's a world of difference.

This lathe is well built and works well.