NOVA 46302 Comet II Bench Lathe Package with 48232 Chuck and 9033 Turning Tools

This compact lathe is a great accessory to my workshop. Everything showed up as advertised and assembled very easily. Make sure to read the owner’s manual as there is some important information, especially the 30 minutes of run time to break in the motor before you put any load on it. The lathe is light enough to move around and the Morse Taper 2 allows for a wide array of accessories you can purchase. The 1” 8TPI headstock is pretty standard for most accessories as well. The chuck is great to learn with. I’ve not purchased any pen jaws for it yet (pens are what I make mostly) but i did use the chuck to turn my first bowl and it was very easy to use. The jaws have a slight dovetail to them which gives a nice grab on your piece. The mini chisels that come along are ok. If you find the need to complete very detailed work they should work well for you. I tend to stay away from them though as they are quite small.The lathe has a huge range of turning speed from about 300 RPM all the way up to 4000. This gives you a huge range of applications. The dial speed control is very nice. There are three pulley settings, but I usually keep mine on the highest speed and then dial down for applying finishes.For a tabletop, midi lathe, I don’t really think you could find one better.

This lathe could have easily been a five star rating, except for quality control. I received the lathe in a pristine box and with undamaged packing material, but the cover to the pully housing was cracked. It was obviously done at the factory. There is a large sticker that goes on the housing and it was undamaged, so it must have been put on the cracked housing. I decided to epoxy the crack and keep the lathe to avoid the return hassle. It does run smooth and seems solid. The other problem is with the labeling of the rheostat that controls speed. There is a sticker that has the estimated turning speeds for each pully, but it is nearly impossible to read without bending down and looking up close. I will have to make my own readable label. The chisels that came with the lathe are ultra light weight and tiny and, like I have read from many other reviews, not very useful. I did give them a try for some small detail work on a toy and they were OK for that, but not much else. They also do not hold an edge and are so small that they will be a pain to sharpen. They are not factored into my review. The real problem is lack of quality control at the factory.

Absolutely love my Comet. Arrived as described.

None

everything is as advertised

Great reviews. I have not used it yet. Just received it. I was disappointed with the chisel set. I thought they were bigger. 6 inch wood handles+4 inch chisel=10 inch tool. Not as great of a value in this package. Could have purchased items individually for the same price by waiting a little bit. Now I have to go purchase another 17 inch chisel set somewhere. This chisel set could be used for very fine work so it is not a total loss.

I’ve had this lathe for several years. Within the first 6 months I had a surging issue. Turned out that the bearings in the headstock were bad. NOVA customer service helped me ID the issue and send me a new headstock. At the time I asked if I should be concerned about the motor. Over the next year I probably used the machine for a total of 5 hours. A little over a year after the headstock issue, the surging was back. Took me 6 months to carve out time to document and call. NOVA Service is very responsive – and yet – they notified me that b/c of the age of the unit there’s nothing for them to do but sell me a new motor (on a lathe that has only worked right for a handful of months in the time that I have owned it. I agreed to buy a new motor for 180 and sent in my speed controller so that it could be tested with the new motor. When nova received my controller they informed me that their motors and controllers are not back compatible and that to get a new motor I also need a new controller – total bill now is 323. While the lathe is working it’s a good tool. While it’s under warrantee NOVA service is great. For an extended issue that exacerbated by their design of the tool – not great. I could have nearly purchased a full size lathe for what I’ve invested in the comet, the extension, a new bench, and repairs.