# My new lathe



## Edgar (Dec 28, 2015)

I stopped off at my local Woodcraft a couple of weeks ago and saw that they still had 3 of these Nova DVR XP lathes leftover from their Black Friday sale. I went home & told my wife about the $800 discount & $300 worth of free tools and without hesitation, she said "sounds like you better jump on that deal".

I am so blessed to have a wife who not only tolerates this obsession, but also enthusiastically supports it. 

My son & I got the lathe set up, cleaned & adjusted yesterday. I still need to install a surge protector (this thing has a microprocessor for load sensing & speed control) and extend my DC ducts before I do any serious turning, but boy is it smooth & quiet.


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## stonepecker (Dec 28, 2015)

She sounds like a gem..................and the lathe looks good also.


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## lorbay (Dec 28, 2015)

Ed is that the 16" or the 20". Nice score.
Lin.


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## Jack Parker (Dec 28, 2015)

It is wonderful having a supportive wife, mine agreed to a new lathe as well. We have a new Delta 46-460 on the way, should be here Wednesday. Congrats on the new lathe, that was a great find.


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## Indiana_Parrothead (Dec 28, 2015)

Very nice Edgar congrats!!

Mike


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## plantman (Dec 28, 2015)

Edgar; Now I see why the smiley face was so big in your last thread !!! Enjoy!!! You might want to check into having a surge protector installed in your main panel to protect everything in your shop.  Happy New Year also, as you already had a merry Christmas !!!     Jim  S


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## JimB (Dec 28, 2015)

Congrats Edgar! I wish I had gotten one of those for Christmas!


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## Charlie_W (Dec 28, 2015)

Congrats on the Nova! It will serve you well. Smart to jump on the deal. 

I see a Jacobs chuck in the headstock with some wood. Can't tell from the pic but I hope you have a draw bar to keep the chuck in place. We don't want to hear about any injuries.

Enjoy the new lathe!


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## Edgar (Dec 28, 2015)

Charlie_W said:


> Congrats on the Nova! It will serve you well. Smart to jump on the deal.
> 
> I see a Jacobs chuck in the headstock with some wood. Can't tell from the pic but I hope you have a draw bar to keep the chuck in place. We don't want to hear about any injuries.
> 
> Enjoy the new lathe!



Yep! There is definitely a drawbar on that chuck!


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## Edgar (Dec 28, 2015)

lorbay said:


> Ed is that the 16" or the 20". Nice score.
> Lin.



Thanks Lin - it's the 16" version. The 20" one wasn't on sale, so the price difference between the two was about $1,800.


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## Edgar (Dec 28, 2015)

plantman said:


> Edgar; Now I see why the smiley face was so big in your last thread !!! Enjoy!!! You might want to check into having a surge protector installed in your main panel to protect everything in your shop.  Happy New Year also, as you already had a merry Christmas !!!     Jim  S



I'll check into that, Jim. Sounds like a good idea - thanks.


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## keithbyrd (Dec 28, 2015)

I got one of those about 3 years ago!  You are gonna love it!  The bells and whistles will inspire you to be turning some awesome bowls in a very short time!!


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## Mrs. Charlie_W (Dec 28, 2015)

Sounds like your wife and I share something in common...we like to see our hubbies enjoy turning on solid equipment and we were instrumental in getting our hubbies Nova lathes.  Happy and safe turnings.


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## Edgar (Dec 28, 2015)

Mrs. Charlie_W said:


> Sounds like your wife and I share something in common...we like to see our hubbies enjoy turning on solid equipment and we were instrumental in getting our hubbies Nova lathes.  Happy and safe turnings.



Thanks, Robin - you & Janis have a lot more in common. She was also a teacher & also enjoys sewing and stitchery.


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## oneleggimp (Dec 29, 2015)

Congratulations on your very supportive wife and also on  your new lathe.  May you have many years of happiness turning beautiful work on that wonderful lathe. 

 I too added to my shop - thanks to my wife and a couple of pen sales for Christmas.  I have wanted a small drill press for a variety of odd jobs around the shop (not including drilling pen blanks which I do on the lathe and intend to continue doing so) so I got a small 10 inch drill press for Christmas .I've had a couple of occasions when using a hand held drill motor where the drill bit skated and almost bit my finger - once when it did and since I take blood thinners I had a hard time stopping the  bleeding so my wife encouraged me to get a drill press where work pieces can be drilled safely.  It's due tomorrow.


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## Edgar (Dec 29, 2015)

Thanks Ernie & congratulations on that new drill press. Hand held drills have their place & I have several of them, but you can't beat a drill press for some jobs.


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## wingnut720 (Dec 29, 2015)

*"Ditto"*

Edgar...your posting sounds exactly like my experience from the Black Friday sale at Woodcraft.  My wife encouraged me to take advantage of the $800 discount...I jumped at the chance...got that beautiful piece of machinery set up...and absolutely love turning on the smoothest lathe I have ever experienced.  What a blessing it is to have wives who support our turning enjoyment.  I'm looking forward to many years of DVR enjoyment, and I imagine you are as well.  God bless and happy turning!!!


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## Bobostro61 (Dec 29, 2015)

Awesome!  Very nice!  Congrats on the deal you got.  I've been looking at those for a while now.  I have a Jet VS1221 which is serving me well.  It's only a year old now and I'm not really ready to sink more money into a new lathe just yet.  I might wait for a while and maybe get the new Nova Galaxy 1644.  Time will tell.  Enjoy that new lathe.  I've heard nothing but all thumbs up about them.


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## 76winger (Dec 29, 2015)

Awesome! I've had my eyes on one of those for some time now.


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## duncsuss (Dec 29, 2015)

Congratulations on your new lathe, Ed -- I couldn't spring for the DVR when I was ready to upgrade from a HarborFright unit, but got the 1624-44 when it was on sale at Woodcraft. Nova makes great lathes IMO.

One accessory I find invaluable -- the Acruline double-ended Morse taper. It makes realignment of the head & tailstock really simple, whether it's after you rotated the headstock or simply want to make sure the tailstock alignment plate hasn't drifted.

Link to Amazon ... HERE


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## triw51 (Dec 29, 2015)

How do you spell jealous?


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## robutacion (Dec 29, 2015)

G'day Edgar,

Deals like that, are rare to see, I'm glad that, a couple of IAP members (as far as I'm aware) have grabbed that opportunity, congrats...!

One day, I will own one of those...!

Cheers
George


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## Edgar (Dec 29, 2015)

Thanks for that link, Duncan - I am going to order one tonight! I did my initial alignments with my 60 deg centers, but that alignment tool should make it a lot easier & more accurate.


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## duncsuss (Dec 29, 2015)

edohmann said:


> Thanks for that link, Duncan - I am going to order one tonight! I did my initial alignments with my 60 deg centers, but that alignment tool should make it a lot easier & more accurate.



You're welcome!

I still use 60 degree centers as a quick check to see if things are still aligned: just trap a Stanley cutter blade between the points, if the blade stays square everything is good.

The way I do it ... take the centers out, loosen the 4 hex bolts on the plate under the tailstock, and loosen the bolt that locks down the headstock. Put the Acruline into the tailstock and slide it all the way into the headstock. Tighten all the bolts, et voila :biggrin:


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## jsolie (Dec 29, 2015)

Congrats on the new lathe!  It looks too clean.  Be sure to post an "after" photo.


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## Edgar (Dec 29, 2015)

jsolie said:


> Congrats on the new lathe!  It looks too clean.  Be sure to post an "after" photo.



Thanks - I will.

I finished that bottle stopper that's in the photo & made a plywood shelf for the bottom of the stand today. I need to extend my DC ducts over to the lathe before I do any serious turning though & I'm going to install a couple more light fixtures. I can really tell that I'm going to enjoy it - hard to believe how smooth & quiet it is.


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## Charlie_W (Dec 30, 2015)

Won't be long till we see some pecan bowls and platters coming off that DVR!


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## Edgar (Dec 30, 2015)

Charlie_W said:


> Won't be long till we see some pecan bowls and platters coming off that DVR!



Part of my motivation for a lathe upgrade is my abundance of pecan wood. Thanks to the 5-year drought we have experienced here in Texas, almost every one of our large (300-500 yr old) pecan trees has lost at least one huge limb. Each of those limbs is big as a tree themselves - 18"-30" in dia at the break and 30-40' long. I do have a lot of good sized logs stacked up.


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## TimS124 (Dec 30, 2015)

Congrats!  I picked up a Nova 3000 about 15 years or so ago as my first "real" lathe and enjoyed every minute with that lathe!  Yours is about three generations newer/fancier/better...wishing you many many years of enjoyment from it!


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## mrburls (Dec 30, 2015)

You're going to love that lathe. It's the same one I've had for years and love it.
Keith "mrburls"


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## roddesigner (Dec 30, 2015)

love mine my wife got it for me at the AAW convention in Tampa a couple of years ago great investment beautiful machine hope you have the same luck and fun I have been having with it


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## bobleibo (Dec 30, 2015)

Edgar, 
Congrats on the new lathe !!! We're jealous but what's up with that shop? It is *W A Y* too clean! 
Cheers
Bob


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## Edgar (Dec 30, 2015)

bobleibo said:


> Edgar,
> Congrats on the new lathe !!! We're jealous but what's up with that shop? It is *W A Y* too clean!
> Cheers
> Bob



I spent 2 days cleaning up & reorganizing my shop to clear a good location for the lathe - I can actually walk all the way around it & there is plenty of room to work from either side of the lathe. This is probably the cleanest my shop has been since I built it.


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## TellicoTurning (Dec 31, 2015)

Congratulations on the new Nova... that was the lathe I went down to buy about 8 years ago... the owner of the Woodcraft store in K'ville said she had only sold one the previous year and the customer had returned it... he kept breaking the spindle ???? .. it's a direct drive I think... at any rate, she talked me into the Jet1442 which I love, even with having to replace the innerds of the headstock... I've run it over 8 years and still going...

I've a friend that has one and he thinks it's the cats meow. Only complaint I have of my Jet is the Reeves speed control... would rather have had the EVS control.


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## Edgar (Dec 31, 2015)

Thanks Chuck. I had been eyeing one of those larger Jet lathes until this sale opportunity on the Nova popped up. The digital variable reluctance direct drive is what really sold me on it. I design & program microcontroller circuit boards for a living, so the idea of smart technology in a lathe motor drive really appealed to me.


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