"Hobby woodwork can be contagious."

I have always been interested in working with wood as a hobby and for home maintenance. However, after I retired I became more serious about learning the wonders of woodwork in its many forms: turning, carving, scroll saw work, etc. I joined the Bayside Wood Club at Manly and a whole new world of wood opened up to me. A great bunch of people, they were only too willing to share their knowledge and teach any newcomer to the club. I also attended the first Turnfest, a woodturning symposium at Coolum, where I really caught the bug for woodturning. With my limited space in my home workshop, I purchased a midi-lathe and got stuck into all forms of turning objects suitable to the size of my lathe (i.e. small lidded boxes, pens and pencils, pepper grinders etc). Lots of fun, but a bit limiting due to the capacity of my lathe. My goal was to have a full size lathe and extend my range of turning skills and projects.

A mate had recommended the Nova as he had owned a Nova then up graded to a DVR. His work is exceptionally good and varied in design, plus he raved about the ease of speed control and just the general joy of using a quality machine. The Nova has 600mm between centres and can swing up to 400mm over the bed, much more the sort of capacity I was looking for. A key aspect for me was that the lathe comfortably fitted into my small workshop and on my existing bench where the previous midi-lathe was installed.

The Nova DVR is sold without a stand so that suited me fine - an obvious cost saving. I was able to change the insert on my Vicmarc VM100 chuck to suit the Nova and as I had a fair range of turning tools, away I went with my first projects. I started with a few pens and a supply of pepper and salt grinders as I was comfortable with these items, also they make excellent Christmas presents. The joy and ease of speed control by pressing a couple of buttons is amazing. The lathe comes pre-programmed with a range of set speeds from 250, 500, 750, 1020, 1250 rpm with 500 rpm the default speed each time the lathe is turned on. The full speed range is from 100rpm to 3500 rpm. This speed range easily allows the use of large capacity Forstner-style bits for drilling and also has the high speed range suitable for various sanding tasks. Reverse speed direction is also available for sanding. The various speeds are accessible by pressing a couple of buttons on the control panel. The instruction manual supplied with the lathe is basic, however it gives all the necessary guidance to use the machine. As the lathe is pre-programmed the manual details how to change the pre-set speeds to suit individual turner's preferences.

I also purchased a 100mm tool rest to go with the 300mm tool rest supplied. The smaller rest is terrific for the pens and smaller objects. I also filed the top edge of each tool rest smoother as I had a few minor catches sliding the skew along the rest, a minor task but worthwhile. The knock out bar is supplied as a 1/2" straight bar. I have since fitted a turned handle to make it more user friendly. I also made an extra 3/8" knock out bar to suit the opening on the handwheel. I confess the NOVA DVR is all and more that I expected it to be, a powerful, vibration free joy to use. I now look forward to planning some major platters and bowls to test the machine and my skills.