Axminster Trade Series Precision Pro Lathe chuck

Woodworking Woodturning
1

I am a model ship builder and now pen kit enthusiast after purchasing this beast of a small yet powerful lathe. It has been a real asset in turning the masts for my builds yet it could do so much more! what I mean is when I started looking for a small lathe to help with my modeling needs there was a few choices available to me, I could either buy the Proxxon DB 250 Micro, a Charnwood W815 Mini Woodturning Lathe or the Axminster Trade Series Precision Pro Lathe. Now the Proxxon only has a 10mm diameter and some of the masts I make are 12.5mm so its a no there, the Charnwood W815 has everything I need but the Precision Pro has a bigger motor and a better speed ratio, but it doesn’t come with a chuck
I was pulling my hair out by this time as I just couldn’t decide which one I wanted so I popped down to my local branch where I was greeted by a really nice guy who seemed to have all the time in the world to help me, I discussed my needs and with that he introduced me to the Precision Pro which I had already been looking at, this guy knows his stuff. Anyway, I did inform him that I don’t always work with round stock, does this lathe have a chuck, it was at this point he informed me that Axminster was currently working on making one for this model, I asked him three times if he was sure this was the case and roughly how long before it would be available, he informed me that it could take a good year but was adamant that one was being made, with that I was sure this was the lathe for me.

It has now been 20 months since I purchased this lathe yet still no signs of the chuck becoming available, so after reading my essay my question is this, Are you really working on a chuck for this model or was it just a sales pitch? Let me just say this though, if you do create a chuck for this model it will knock the socks off any other lathe currently available for the pen/modelmaker in my opinion.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long winded story to finally get to the question, Have a great day.

2

Just an update, I have had a reply from the great people at Axminster and I’m happy with the response.

3

Hi Red.

Shame “they” didn’t reply here, on their medium, to explain to a wider audience. This ties in to my last posting, there is very little interaction between us users, and the staff at Ax and given this is their site there should be more.

Come on all you ‘guys*’ at Ax. * non binary/gender neutral!!

4

It would have been nice but I think I read somewhere that because its a sales enquiry etc they only answer those questions direct. Anyway they basically said that they are planning on making a chuck for the precision pro lathe but couldn’t give me a timeline due to all the other projects they have in place right now.

I do have another question for the engineering team if someone could help. This Precision Pro Lathe is advertised as a * Precision pen and small project lathe for serious pen and project making* would you be willing to work on making a dedicated blank holding chuck so that us pen makers who bought the lathe for this advertised purpose can at least drill our blanks on the lathe?

5

Well it’s now 2020 and as far as I can make out, still no chuck for this lathe? Come on Axminster, give the customers what they want :slight_smile: or stop the sales staff at branches from making false promises.