JET 1220VS Mini Lathe Review – Lathing All The Way

This JET 1220VS Mini Lathe is one of the highest quality mini lathes you can get and is backed by the Jet name which is highly trusted and respected due to their dedication to quality. If you are ready to invest in of the best mini lathes on the market, perfect for everything from beginning projects to professional products, this is the lathe for you.

 

 

The Jet brand was founded in 1958 by Leslie P. Sussman after taking the first Boeing Jet Airplane flight from Seattle, Washington to Japan.  It started out as a small dealer that only sold air hosts and trolleys in a little hardware store in Seattle.  Since then, Jet has expanded into many different markets, including woodworking in the 1980s, when they started making some of the best lathes in the industry.

Price and Main Feature list

The lathe isn’t cheap, and it will set you back $699.99, which is a lot for a mini lathe.  However, it makes up for the price with its extremely high quality and ample features, including:

• The lathe operates with a continuously variable speed which as adjustable from 270-4200 rpm.
• Thanks to a very heavy duty cast iron lathe bed, it is very sturdy and limits much of the vibration during use.
• The lathe has an easy to use indexing mechanism which allows beautiful fluting and veining.
• The tailstock is self ejecting so that is it easy and safe to remove the tooling.
• The controls are very simple and user friendly so that anyone can use them with ease.

Who is it for?

It is perfect for anyone that wants to create really high quality wood working products.  It isn’t cheap, so you have to be serious about want a high quality lathe, but it is easy enough to use for a complete beginner and good enough to satisfy the needs of a professional.

Pros and Cons

The thing that makes this lathe stand out above the rest is that it is just jam packed with features.  Pretty much everything you could possibly want on your mini lathe is included so that you can really get the best results.  It isn’t a budget lathe, but that’s because you get so incredibly much.

The lathe is as attractive as all Jet lathes are and will be a great visual addition to every garage and wood shop.  It weighs in at an impressive 130 pounds, which is a lot for a mini lathe.  The dimensions are 39 inches long, 15 inches tall, and 11 inches wide, making it fairly large for a small lathe.

The upsides to the Lathe are that it is made by a very high quality brand, has adjustable controls that let you get precise results, and is simple and easy to use.  The biggest downside is that it is at the high end of its class in terms of price.

Why you should buy it?

The biggest reason to buy this lathe is just that it is super high quality and will give you years of flawless performance.

Verdict

Overall, if you are ready to invest in a high end mini lathe, it would be hard to beat this Lathe.