This lathe is an excellent machine for getting into wood turning. If you decide you do like wood turning, this lathe is good enough to keep you happy for a long time. If you decide you are not interested after all, you have not over-invested. But, it is of high enough quality to let you do very good work and not be disappointed. This is my first wood lathe. All my experience was on metal lathes - so the tolerances for some parts were disappointing at first. But, it is for turning wood, and these tolerances are not detrimental. The spindle runs true, not more than a couple of 0.001s out. The Tailstock is tight and runs true, also. The track in the ways is too wide, and the tail stock is a little difficult to center up left-right, but is fine up-down. The tool rest and tail stock lock in place with simple camming mechanisms, but lock down tight. The entire headstock is rock solid. Two of my first pieces were stepped knot tying mandrels - I was able to get runout in the low 0.001s - turning wood by hand, with almost no experience on a wood lathe. I was very pleased. Changing speeds is a little slow, and I do it often, but it is easy - just be sure to keep the belt aligned on the sheaves or it will get eaten up. The motor has a lot of power, but can be stalled. And, stuff gets on the motor between the ways. The motor is mounted below for saving space, but this machine would be much better if it were outbound. Tons of accessories are available, just not an affordable copy attachment. I have had the lathe seven months. I have turned: Knot tying mandrels, fids, handles, bowls up to 9.5" dia., honey dippers, lots of boxes, rings, beads, wood, aluminum, acrylic, teflon, rolling pins, tea lights and more.

This is a nice starter lathe that allows you to turn nice pieces without having to put a lot of money up front. As others have mentioned the instructions are next to useless. If this is your first lathe you really need to get a book about lathes to answer any questions you may have. Nearly all lathes are the same with the exception of the higher end models. Also, as others have mentioned, changing the speed belt is not the easiest. I would have paid $20 more for a larger belt area to get your hand into.

Before using I would take a drill with a wire brush over the tool rest and other black cast iron areas and then lube them. They come from the factory rough and the black power coating gets all over your fingers. Also a new larger tool rest is not a bad idea.

Quite an impressive lathe for the price, the perfect thing for me to learn on. Ultimately the best choice if you want to get into turning. I ended up buying the extension bed as well, that's a 10 x 39-ish lathe for $375! You can't beat that, but I do have to mention the cons, which in many cases can be avoided depending on what you use the lathe for.

Cons:
1. Motor is weak, not enough power for turnings larger than a certain size (bowls or plates over 4" diameter I'd say). I know you can fit up to 10" diameter pieces, but realize the motor won't be able to handle that. The weak motor issue ultimately led to a burnout for me, as I write this the motor on my Excelsior is dead. Died on a bowl roughing too, wah.
2. Power cord isn't very sturdy, the ground pin broke loose after 4-5 months of use. Broke off way too easily.
3. When adding the extension bed the process of leveling is very difficult, having only two bolt holes makes it difficult to align the extension bed, 4 bolt holes would be more ideal.
4. Very light, expect a great deal of wobble with anything during the roughing phase of turning. Some pieces will produce too much wobble.
5. Some parts aren't very durable, the tightening screw for the tailstock head stripped out the hole very quickly. The tool rest also got roughed up very easily when using flat edged chisels.
6. The instructions for the belt settings were not very clear, I ended up interpreting the speed choices in the opposite ascending order than it actually was.

I highly recommend this lathe for hobbyists who are looking to explore turning for the first time. Just don't expect this lathe to hold up to larger pieces or any kind of 'industrial' level of abuse. Stick to smaller lighter pieces and this lathe will serve you well.

I am updating my post with what just happened to my lathe which stopped working after 5 small turns over a week's time...

today, I went to turn a small piece of already rounded wood. I turned it off to see my progress. When I turned it back on, it turned 1-2 rotations before not moving an inch. The motor was cold to the touch, so I couldn't figure it out. Thought there might be an inline fuse, but not so. I proceeded to attach my drill to the same extension cord and it worked. I was getting nervous. Finally, I plugged the lathe directly into the outlet without my extension cord and it worked like a charm.

Further investigation determined that the end of the extension cord plugged into the outlet had its ground broken off. So I found another extension cord and the lathe worked with no issues. I know other posts have mentioned the lathe dying after not-so-much use. Just wondering if it was due to a similar issue like the outlet they were using was really not well-grounded?

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Great lathe from what I can tell. Like others, I do have to say the motor gets hot, which concerns me. However, I am also smart enough to give the motor a rest while I work on other parts of the same project or a new project entirely.

I am only disappointing with two things, but I need to preface this. I love woodworking as a hobby and I am an artist, so a Lathe just seemed natural. I had a specific budget and all my research (despite flaws) suggested that the Excelsior would be great for a beginner. I know what is said for the box contents BUT:

1) If this truly is good for a novice, the included instructions could be WAY better to help the beginner out.
2) Not knowing much about lathes, it would be great if Rockler would include a few inexpensive turning chisels as, after spending $320 on the lathe, I do not have an additional $150+ for tools to actually turn, BUT i can look at the pretty spinning wood.

I finally used a screwdriver ground to a chisel point (though I no longer have use of that screwdriver for its intended purpose). I also am using a 1/4" wood chisel. I can get some results, for sure, but it is probably less control and more dangerous this way.

The last thing I noticed is that all the training videos on Rockler's site for the beginner usually are using their talon chuck (a $213 option) to do bowl turning. So if you are a novice and looking to turn on a lathe, make sure that if you buy this one, you are actually needing to spen not the $299 +Shipping , but $701 +Shipping. I have to kind of say, "Shame on Rockler, but shame on me for being a little gullible".

Great starter unit. Great customer service. If you are reading this you are looking to buy a mini lathe, buy this one. My son has tried the other brands of mini at school and woodworking class and this is better.