WEN 3420 8" by 12" Variable Speed Benchtop Wood Lathe

It's been more than a year an this little lathe still purrs.I learned turning on this machine, and didn't treat it with kit gloves.I added a 4 jaw collet about a month ago, as my skill increased and the extra money was worth it.Without the collet, this 3420 has helped me make magic wands for kids, Christmas ornaments, bells, vases, bowls, toys, and an oddly asymmetrical chess set. Not an issue with the lathe on the chess set, just my skills. I've made a boatload of chips from many types of wood and the lathe keeps on going.If it stalls, I either dug in a tool, used a really dull tool, or used too soft of wood, (green pine usually,) either way it's user error. I will rush the roughing most often when causing a stall. A more powerful lathe might just have snapped the tool or taken it from my grasp instead. In other words, use it right and it will treat you right.I have never gotten around to trying very small pieces likes pens. I'm sure they will work fine, as some of the Christmas ornaments were slender. I knew upfront that large bowls were outside of the range, so no disappointment there. I'm not convinced a beginner on a very limited budget should try large bowls right off anyway.If I were to do it again, I might have looked for an option to attach a drill chuck in the tail stock. It is the sole unfilled and realistic want for this small garage hobbyist.

Awesome starter lathe, won't break the bank! Just getting started with pens and didn't want to spend a fortune on a lathe till I knew I would stick with it. This turned into a great find. Completed about 30 pens, not a single issue. If I don't have the mandrel locked in tight it does give the illusion that there's not enough power and things seem to "stop", but I found the wood stops turning but mandrill keeps spinning (my fault for not tightening things up enough). Added a nova G3 chuck and even turned a few bowls, no issues with power. I've also not found motor to run hot, even when running it for 1-2 hours straight.My only complaint, would like a better handle with crank on right and left sides.

This suited my needs perfectly as a bench top tool. It is light enough to stow when you’re done with a project. This also means you will have to clamp or bolt it down when in use.So far I have used mine to turn mallet heads and handles as well as a few minor projects and it has worked fine.The motor is only 1/3 HP which means it can stall out easily if you load it up. This is a trade off for the price and portability. This also makes it safer for beginners. And is an effective means to encourage you to keep your tools sharp.For my unit when I flip the switch the motor takes a few seconds to start turning. I am not sure if this is due to the variable speed function or if the control unit is faulty. This is another price trade off and for me isn’t a big deal.The tailstock will extend slightly, but it doesn’t crank out easily and so is not suited for horizontal drilling. I give the rubber end of the tailstock a whack with a mallet to set it into my work piece before clamping the tailstock down (a not uncommon alternative to cranking it).As with most lathes it doesn’t come with cutting tools or personal protective gear, other than that it comes with the equipment you need to get started.With all that it is still a great tool for the price.

I’m mixed. For the price it’s really sturdy and for a couple months I’ve been pretty happy with it. The tool rest is too high for carbide tools, which is dangerous. I’ve been making it work with bigger projects but as I am trying new projects with more detail it makes me nervous. I also was very frustrated till I got a nova chuck that would hold on to pieces and I didn’t have to try and get the spur center to engage. Don’t waste your time, just get the chuck. I’ve made quite a few items and it’s been working well, but suddenly the banjo/tool rest locking handle won’t lock in place, which is really dangerous. I’ll call in the morning and hope to get better service than I’ve been reading about. Will update if I find out more info.Update: I called their customer service and was talking to a person in less than five minutes. He was very helpful. He suggested taking the banjo apart and giving it a good cleaning and sure enough, that did the trick. Good to know it is easy to take care of. I upped my rating from 2 to 3 stars because of that. Still concerned that the tool rest won't go lower, though.Update #2: Called Wen again about the tool rest not going low enough and they offered no help. Down to 1 star. I think this is really pretty dangerous when working on very thin items like finials/ornaments. In order to get the tool to contact the wood it has to be pointed down. Scary. It's too bad because it has the potential to be a really good lathe, there's just some QA stuff that needs to be addressed. Not willing to get impaled by a flying skew so will be purchasing another brand of lathe.

For the price, it's a pretty good lathe. It does have a couple of problems, though. As noted by others, the tail stock doesn't work well and is the weak link in the chain. If you can't tighten it down, pen turning is far more difficult. The second issue is that the tool rest doesn't go low enough for some work. However, I can grind down the tool rest shaft to get around this if I decide to keep this lathe. However, at this point I'm still unsure. I'll give it another week and see if I can fix the tailstock.