After drooling over the looks of the Powermatic 3520a for a few years as it was displayed in a local woodworking store, I finally got a chance to use one at a friend's house in Salem Oregon. What a dream machine! On the way home to the San Francisco Bay Area my wife slipped from her usual conservative nature and said the magic words, "I guess you can buy one". Needless to say it was ordered within minutes of walking in the house from that trip.

Why do I like the Powermatic 3520a? Well if a new lathe is on your wish list you have to list the things you feel you need in an ideal lathe. For me, speed control with even power starting at zero RPMs to 1000 RPMs is number one. Number two is the lathe must serve as a bowl lathe that means, a turner can stand directly in front of a turning and not have to lean over the bed and tailstock. Third is the weight of the lathe must keep it from walking across the shop floor with heavy turnings. Fourth, the lathe needs to be able to turn diameters of at least 48" (may never do it, but I want it). Fifth is the cost should not break the bank. Other things that are important are quality of the castings, knobs, switches, machining, etc. For the dollar spent I have not seen a lathe that feels this good, even the more expensive lathes I have looked at and used.

So far, I have found only one modifications necessary on the Powermatic 3520a with the exception of discarding the "cage", which I am sure is only provided to satisfy a lawyer somewhere. I made an indexing wheel for inboard the headstock. This indexing wheel allows fixed position settings. The indexing wheel I made has 24 positions, with any number of fixed position settings with different wheels.

I have modified tooling for my older lathe to use on the 3520a. The steady rest used for deep hollowing had to be raised for the larger diameter lathe. Curved tool rests needed longer posts for the larger lathe. In place of the "cage" I have mounted a dust collection port that can be moved along the lathe bed as needed only for sanding dust. Recently I built a 12" and a 24" bed extension which when installed will allow turnings of up to 70". I also have installed a tool rest support on the tailstock end of the lathe for larger diameter turnings. (Note, all the attachments are painted to match the Powermatic Lathe.)