Review of the Nova DVR XP Lathe

About a month ago I woke up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning...on purpose. We were in the middle of one of the worst heat-waves southern Ontario had ever faced and I was driving my AC-less van (aka The Sweat Machine) to Montreal. My destination? The home, studio and shop of Andre Martel. My goal? To pick up my new lathe, a Nova DVR XP to replace my Nova 1624.

Let me tell you something... Driving from Ajax, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec is not a fun way to spend a day. To do that drive in 38 degrees Celsius with no air conditioning is a special version of hell.




I bought my lathe from Andre Martel. He had it partially set up in his studio so he could demonstrate it to clients. As such, the headstock was attached to the first section of the bed. The bed of the DVR XP (and Nova's 1624 lathe) comes in 2 pieces. I propped the bed sections up on a pair of sawhorses and connected the two ends. Alignment was dead easy with the tailstock bridging the joint. Next, I attached Nova's cast iron leg set. Again, everything lined up perfectly, just as it should.

The legs have holes at the feet so levellers can be added or the entire lathe can be bolted to the floor. I am lucky in that my shop floor is nice and flat so I have no need for leveling. There is some debate among woodturners about whether a lathe ought to be bolted to the floor. My simplified approach is this... If you NEED to bolt your lathe down because it is moving or walking around on you, YOU are doing something wrong. If the piece you are working on is too off-balance, trim it or slow down. If your lathe is too light, add a ballast box. Bolting it to the floor is going to put strain on the bearings that they are not meant to handle. I am not an engineer, but this just makes sense to me.

Ok, after getting it set up, it was time to get some wood spinning. The first thing I noticed was how smooth it was. I put my hand on the headstock and couldn't feel anything at 1000 rpm's. Since that time whether I have been rough turning a log, working on pen parts of finish turning a bowl, I have been very, very impressed. Any vibration I have encountered has been because I either had the tool overhanging the rest too far or a badly mounted workpiece. In other words, my fault.




This smoothness can be attributed to two things: quality bearings and the fact that the lathe spindle is actually part of the lathe motor. Most lathes have a motor hanging off the headtstock or slung under the bed. Power is transferred to the spindle via a series of belts and pulleys. This has lead to vibration in other lathes I have owned or used. Some are worse than others and I think the DVR is better than most.

One of the reasons I opted for this new lathe was because of my Nova 1624. I knew all the parts like the banjo and tailstock were easy to operate, locked down solid and weren't so heavy that I would need a crane to remove them. The DVR XP shares these same parts so there was a comfortable knowledge with them. Seriously, the one-handed-tailstock-removal is a sweet thing!

Oh, I also added the Nova Outrigger accessory. This will allow me to turn significantly larger than the 16" inboard swing of the lathe (29" diameter I think). I am pleasantly surprised by it. It's a heavy-duty brute, is easy to adjust and is pretty darned solid. I may find a way to add support under the arm that goes to the floor to eliminate all vibration but it is not really necessary. The thing I like to use this rig for is finish-turning of my work, especially the outside of a bowl. I have using it so that I have better access to the bottom of a bowl so I can take one continuous push-cut from base to rim. Sweeeeet!!! This really cuts down on sanding.

This lathe uses up to 80% less power than other lathes of similar size and power. I cannot explain how it does this because I do not speak "electron". It's all Greek to me, as the saying goes. Nova's website has a series of videos which explain all of this along with other features of the lathe. Check it out.

Ok, what don't I like... Well, the most obvious thing is the tool rest. I really think it is a piece of crap. Oh, it's solid enough but it is designed in such a way that shear scraping or shear slicing cuts are next to impossible. You can't drop the handle of the tools nearly far enough. Also, it is cast iron which is prone to dings and nicks which transfer to your tools and thus your work. I never even took the bubble wrap off of mine. For now I use a 1" round tool rest which a friend welded for me (but I have a Robust tool rest on the way that I am looking forward to).

I am firmly in the camp that believes the controls for a lathe ought to be at the tailstock end. This puts the operator out of the line of fire when starting the lathe and for most operations. If things go badly, there should be a kill switch where the user is standing, which more often of not, is closer to the tailstock end. I am no electronics guru but as I see it, a wiring harness would allow the controls to be mounted where they belong. Having said all of that, this fall Nova is introducing a remote control which can be placed anywhere along the lathe bed (or even on your wrist like a watch). This is a welcome development and I will be at the head of the line when it is released. As far as I know, it is a simple retrofit for all existing Nova DVR's.




More mass would be a nice thing in any lathe but that costs money in terms of materials, manufacturing and shipping. Plus, mass can be added by the user fairly easily. On mine, I added lengths of steel to the legs, forming a shelf. One this shelf I added approximately 300lbs of old bricks. The shelf is around 10-12" off the floor, bringing the added weight close to the spindle height where it belongs for maximum effect. Since adding this, the lathe hasn't budged unless I have done something stupid like use too much speed on an out of balance piece.

All right, more inboard swing would be nice, but not necessary. I see it like this... A salad bowl measuring 14" or larger is a big freakin' bowl! And, how do you pass it around the table? I know there are turners who specialize in larger turnings, bowls in the 18"-22" range but most of us do not. If you see yourself making a load of pieces in that size, the Nova DVR XP is not for you. Save your pennies and get a Vicmarc VL300 or a Robust American Beauty. For the rest of us, the Nova is just perfect and with the money you save you can outfit yourself with a vacuum chuck, coring rig, additional sanding and finishing supplies etc.

Now, if you work with green wood and turn-to-finish (I twice-turn most of my work), the Nova would work fine if you had a vacuum chuck. Swing the headstock and turn outboard. No problem.

In a nutshell, the Nova DVR XP is an excellent lathe for most woodturners. In North America, it retails for around $2000-$2200 which is in line with other lathes in this class and quite a bit nicer than the big yellow one. Honestly, I cannot imagine a smoother, quieter machine.




Thanks for stopping by.



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