SILVERDRIVE
STATESMAN 280
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Wheelchair
Woodturners is the Website of Isaac Curran Last update
05 August 2007
Web Site Construction by Isaac Curran
Let me say from the beginning that I do not work for anyone, I report on an item in the best light I can but as honestly as I can. My responsibility is to the reader and the future buyer. I always send a draft report to the manufacturer or retail outlet of the item and request comments on any inaccuracies or mistakes. Steven of Silverdrive contacted me by phone on the 7th May 2007 and told me that he thought I had been "unfair" in my report. I asked him to send me an email detailing any inaccuracies or mistakes, Silverdrive have failed to do that. IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS LATHE PLEASE MAKE CONTACT.
I HAVE SPLIT THIS REPORT INTO TWO PAGES: JUST CLICK ON THE ONE YOU WANT BRIEF REPORT is on this page The short version which rants a little FULL REPORT The long version which rants a little
SUMMARY This company were not easy to deal with, customer service is almost non existent. Delivery time was delayed and extended to 5 MONTHS from payment. There are, in my humble and unqualified opinion, design faults in the headstock area and I believe the controls are dangerous. The paint finish is pretty soft and scratches easily. For the money that is being asked for the Silverdrive Statesman 280 and the bad service I received I cannot honestly recommend this lathe.
To navigate if its in blue and underlined (although it will change colour once you have been there) then you can click on it and go to that section, just use your back button to return HERE
SECTIONS YOU CAN NAVIGATE TO:
ORDERING & DELIVERY DESIGN HEADSTOCK BEARINGS & DRIVE COUPLING MOTOR CONTROLS STOPPING THE MACHINE BANJO & TOOLREST TAILSTOCK OUTBOARD TURNING ASSEMBLY PAINTWORK THE BASE
PLEASE BEAR IN MIND FROM THE START THAT I PURCHASED THIS LATHE TO PUT SOME SERIOUS LUMPS OF WOOD ON AND SOME WHICH WOULD NOT BE THAT BALANCED.
Price as at 24th April 2007 £2850 plus delivery.
My initial contact was march 2006, when I requested info on the 280, by phone, Fax, Email and after being completely ignored I ordered a DVSL lathe from Poolewood which was built to my spec and delivered in 3 weeks. August 2007 Tony Wilson convinced me all would be well if I ordered a lathe through him. 15 September 2007 I sent Tony a cheque. FIVE months later I received my Statesman 280 lathe after approximately 5 failed completion and delivery times and almost 80 phone calls. Silverdrive forgot to include the instructions with the lathe After I had used the lathe for a few hours the drive shaft was moving around approx 1/2 mm in each direction, when I phoned Simon would not speak to me and passed messages through Richard, “Didn’t Tony tell you that you had to run the lathe for 2 hours then tighten the bearings!”, you have to ask the question, why isn’t that done at the factory?. PS I am still having bearing problems, I have been told to tighten them up till they don’t move because they are “Torque Bearings”.
The main design feature is the way that the headstock is split, the concept as I understand it, is that the bolt down foot area gives greater stability and the split in the headstock allows for swinging over the bed. This works fine for small or well balanced pieces of wood, but heavier or off balance wood and it becomes a weakness. It is very hard to get the headstock to remain vibration free, for sure the foot remains still but the join in the headstock rattles about.
As described in Design lockdown can be a problem, I believe it is a major fault in this machine, the swivel point will cause major vibration when using for heavy or unbalanced pieces. Because the bearings need bedding in I must admit I dont have a great confidence in them, I am still hoping that they will settle down. I ordered the lathe with the swivel lockdown handle at the front of the machine, I did this because I use the lathe from a chair, however given the lockdown problems I would recommend that ALL the lathes arrive this way. The Indexing system is really good and I find myself using that a lot, it does away with the need for a separate indexing arm. The THREAD PROTECTOR arrived without having been bored out to a 2 Morse taper and I had to ream that out myself.
A small hex bolt holds the cover on and a good robust looking coupling is revealed, there is a castellation nut which holds the bearing in and a lock washer. As mentioned before when delivered the bearing needs to be run in for 2 hours before tightening the castellation nut. Now normally I would have tightened the nut till the shaft begins to bind and then take it back say 10%, however when I did this the bearings just loosened again. I received a message through Richard, from Simon that these were torque bearings (being a wooden top I have not the faintest what they are) and they should be tightened down till they bind then run the motor, or is this just a ploy for sloppy bearing?
This unit looks a bit basic, the buttons are FAR TOO SMALL at 8mm across, consider if you will that my fingers are over a centimetre wide. After speaking with a factory employee I was informed that the rest of the buttons SHOULD NOT BE TOUCHED AT ALL COSTS as this mucks up the programming! so why have them on the outside? The back of the control has a magnet on it so that it can be held on the rest (optional extra) or the lathe bed, the magnet is so weak that I have resorted to a high tech elastic band.
The speed control goes from Zero to 2800 revs in less than one revolution, be VERY CAREFUL that you don't brush up against it! you will switch the machine on and find it takes off!. I CONSIDER THIS DANGEROUS
The emergency stop button located on the front right of the machine (as you face it) This is a large positive button and it is used to switch the machine on and off on a daily basis. I am a little concerned that there is NO APPARENT positive braking when you hit this switch. The same applies to the motor control off switch, I was under the impression that it was a requirement these days.
This is a dream, good construction and slides easily across the bed, lockdown is positive and easy, although I dont do a lot of spindle turning this is probably one of the best tailstocks I have come across.
This is a well thought out and constructed system, it locks down very well and that fact that you can insert the bar at two pints along the bed is a great help in overcoming the distance the main base juts out. What a shame it arrives with only one set of lockdowns,
Note the bubbling type paintwork holes in the headstock, they were there on delivery.
Well constructed, it comes in two sections. I would say that it is a must to fill these steel boxes with bagged sand, one to hold it down and the second to cut out the drumming that you would otherwise get. What a shame the openings are in the bottom and not the top, it would have made it easier to fill. Note how far forward of the bed the main base protrudes while it makes for a very stable base, it does get in the way and although I asked for this one to be cut short so I could get the chair in, it still sticks out a fair way
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I
have to say that the paintwork and finish on this lathe leaves a lot to
be desired. The paint finish is very fragile and will even come off if
you scrape your fingernail across it, it is almost as if there is no
decent primer coat on the metal. 