wood lathe

Of all the delights that await you at the end of your long workday perhaps none is ever so compelling as woodturning on your SL2542. Isnt it time you get Serious?

Serious Toolworks, Inc. takes pride in producing the premier lathe for serious woodturners. There is no other consumer lathe with the engineering, mass, power, stability, and finishes that make up the SL2542. Think of owning the finest wood lathe in the world: it is powerful enough to fill you with a sense of accomplishment every time you present a tool to the wood. A lot of useful mass below the center line, large swing and length capacity, and soft start with dynamic braking allow you to handle the large and dramatic pieces with style and ease.

The new headstock design incorporates spindle speed digital read out, index position digital read out, variable speed control, forward and reverse switch, and emergency stop button.

The Precision Spindle Cartridge continues to weigh 70 pounds and utilizes 4 heavy bearings; but now 48 position indexing, a power lock out safety switch, and outboard 1 ? x 8 spindle threads have been added. 

The new SL2542 Wood Lathe is now available to order! Please see ordering information below.

The 1580 pound cast iron frame with a glass smooth metallic charcoal finish, our Poly-V drive train with 4:1 speed reduction, fast rack and pinion tail stock, 3 hp premium efficiency motor, and magnetic remote emergency stop button are just part of what sets us apart from other lathes in the world market.

The 3 HP TEFC premium motor in the SL2542 sits on a hinged platform 6" above the floor. This positioning requires more engineering, more parts, and a longer belt than lathes with the motor near the spindle. In summary this design feature again adds cost to the SL2542. However, a low positioned motor means a lower center of gravity for the SL2542 and a smoother turning experience. In addition, this motor position delivers great accessibility, good motor ventilation and dust protection, and excellent power transmission. We recognize that some woodturners prefer to face the workpiece from the outboard side of the lathe, and for this reason we will be offering a heavy duty outboard turning kit in the winter of 2010. This will expand the swing of the lathe to 44 inches.

Eventually woodturners cut into imbedded bolts, nails, insulators, and rocks. These events produce a lot of trauma for the woodturner and the lathe! Welded lathe beds can and occasionally do break apart with traumatic catches. The SL2542 has a frame constructed with 5 pieces of seamless cast iron bolted together, so the shock waves can not stress welds or bonds and again dissolve into the ground. Gray cast iron also delivers lower residual stress levels than fabricated steel.

Lathe bed vibration is the enemy of every woodturner. This problem is caused by uneven centrifugal force due to out of balance workpieces, and wood workpieces that are true are still often out of balance because the wood is not of even density. Gray cast iron remains as one of the most effective vibration dampening materials used in the construction of precision machinery. Workpiece vibration from unbalanced or wet wood does not reach the bed ways and the tool rest of the SL2542, it simply dissipates into the floor, so the SL2542 operates quieter, smoother, and with less energy than much lighter fabricated steel wood lathes.

The 1530 pound SL2542 is built with a very different design and it is a 100% cast iron machine, which carries a higher material cost than other full size lathes. The 1-3/4" thick bed ways gain the woodturner incomparable rigidity and the tremendous bottom mass of the SL2542 produces unmatched stability. When the owner screws the four 6" x 3/4" feet down to raise the three 6" wheels off the concrete, this lathe is not moving anywhere!

It appears that most of the modern wood lathe producers are building machines with two central design features, which are a fabricated steel body and a motor placed high and near the spindle.

While most wood lathes weigh 100 to 400 pounds, the Serious Wood Lathe (SL2542) weighs in at over 1580 pounds including enough power, control, and capacity to handle any project.

First developed in 1999, our premium wood lathe offers an unmatched combination of engineering, finish, power, and stability.