Prices incl. VAT plus shipping costs
Ready to ship today,
Delivery time appr. 1-3 workdays
| Motor | 1,1 kW / 1,5 HP (230 V) |
| Centre Height | 180 mm / Dia-Ø: 350 mm |
| - with optional Extension | Dia-Ø: 800 mm |
| Between Centres | 560 mm |
| Pulley 1 and 2 | 50 - 1230 / 150 - 3700 rpm |
| Spindle and tailstock taper | M33x3,5 with 2MT |
| Tailstock | 2MT with quill measurement |
| Tool post size | Ø = 1" (25,4 mm) |
| Dimensions | L x W x H: 1345 x 530 x 1240 mm |
| Weight | approx. 144 kg |
5-year German warranty
Technical data:
- Centre height 180 mm
- 560 mm between centres
- Spindle M33 x 3.5
- Spindle and tailstock taper MT2
- Pulley 1, 50 to 1330 rpm
- Pulley 2 150 to 3700 rpm
- Motor 1,5 hp (230 V)
- Weight 144 kg
- L x W x H: 1345 x 530 x 1240 mm
The shipping costs for this lathe is for UK mainland only. If you live outside of mainland England please contact me for a delivery cost.
Click here for English Manual: Twister_FU-180-updated-English23-7-18
Overall very pleased
After 27 years of using a couple of bench top lathes and now doing mostly turning rather than furniture making, I decided it was time to reorganise my workshop and buy something a bit bigger and freestanding. I turn mostly small items so the Twister FU 180 seemed to be a good choice.
I don't live far from Hope Woodturning so I called in to collect it. As everyone comments, Simon is very helpful and friendly and this makes a big difference when deciding where to buy from.
Assembly was quite straightforward, although the components are necessarily heavy so care must be taken, especially if working alone, as I was. I have now owned it for nearly two months and used it almost daily so here are my thoughts so far:
The stand is very sturdy and heavy, giving good stability. The headstock not only rotates to 45 and 90 degrees but also slides along the lathe bed giving more working options. It comes with a double morse taper for realignment after using this feature. The 1100watt motor delivers plenty of power and runs smoothly and quietly. There are only 2 speeds but I have only needed to use the higher ratio so far, which is great compared to how often I used to have to change belt positions on my old lathes. There is a light on the control box that shows if you have the lathe in reverse, which I find useful.
A couple of minor niggles; the indexing knob I find quite fiddly to push and screw in to lock the spindle in the chosen position and although there are numbers to 24 within the housing, it isn't really possible to look through the little window to see which one you are on and no mark to align them to. Also, numerous times I have locked the tailstock in position only to have to unlock it because the quill locking lever needs to be lifted first otherwise it won't pass.
I will be getting the bed extension to give me the greatest capacity and to be able to get the tailstock out of the way without having to remove it completely. It is worth bearing in mind this lathe comes with a 350mm tool rest, nearly 14 inches, so you may want to consider buying a shorter one too if you don't already own one.
Overall a very capable and solid lathe that I can recommend.
Excellent machine & tools
After a lot of (more than 2 years) research, I bought this lathe plus chuck, tools & slow-speed grinder.
I wanted a compact, but capable, lathe for bench mounting in a small workspace. My expectations have been exceeded over the past year of ownership.
This is my first ever lathe, but the quality of it and the tools are first class. Therefore I am confident that any shortcomings in turning are down to lack of skill on my part.
Simon was very helpful during selection of the lathe, tools & grinder.
Delivery took a matter of a few days.
As the manual is available to download & study, setup was smooth & simple after unpacking from the pallet.
I can heartily recommend this lathe & ancillary tools, as well as Simon Hope for his help & service.
An excellent compact lathe
I have found this to be an excellent lathe for a beginner with capability to grow into. I was looking at the Midi Pro, but for a relatively modest increase in cost, (in a package with legs included) you get a much more substantial and capable lathe. Everything works nicely, the bed is smooth and the tailstock and banjo move and lock easily. Machining quality is good with accurate alignment of the centres and no play in the tailstock quill, for example. The motor runs quietly and smoothly and is powerful; this is especially useful as belt changing is a bit of a fiddle but in reality the higher speed has sufficed for everything I have done so far. It has 'bigger' lathe features like a movable head whilst being compact. It can still accommodate an 18 inch blank between centres but with lots of expansion options if you need them. Whilst not the cheapest lathe on the market for this capacity I think it is a solid, good quality lathe inspiring confidence and in my opinion offering excellent value. As everyone else has said Simon is on hand to help and has provided an excellent service.
Very pleased but
Very pleased with the machine, nice study build. All metalwork feels solid and well made. Service and advice from Simon was honest and helpful. Only slight niggle is the paintwork, the magnetic lock pin has chipped what seems very thin paintwork. Other than that great machine would recommend.
Wonderful lathe, wonderful service.
I ordered this lathe having done months of research, it’s my first lathe and I didn’t want to spend more money in a few years on a bigger machine.
First thing great customer service from Simon, I ordered on a Friday afternoon and it arrived Tuesday am. The packaging was extremely good and the product was very well protected and it took me a few hours to set it up. The double tapered tool made aligning the headstock spindle and tail stock spindle super easy and I was ready to go.
I’m really pleased that I decided on this machine it’s extremely heavy(I have the legs) the bed is ultra smooth and the banjo and stock just glide very smoothly and locks easily and firmly in place.
I whole heartily recommend this lathe and give the lathe and customer service five out of five.
Excellent
Got this lathe and some of Simons tools....... I did a lot of research and made the right decision
Great well built machine
I purchased this lathe after doing a fair bit of homework! It arrived next day, on a pallet.
It was easy to assemble on my own, and it was obvious on putting together, that it was a quality product.
You can download the full English instruction manual from Simon’s website!
I have carried out some turning on it, and am extremely pleased with both the product and the help and after sales service given by Simon.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced but well built lathe with a 5 year parts warranty, I feel sure this will suit your needs.
Very pleased
The machine has impressive build quality and is exactly as I envisioned I did a lot of homework as my workshop is small I am very pleased
