Nova - DVR Galaxi 1644 (Rating: 5)

I received my new Nova Galaxi DVR 1644 wood lathe from Teknatool. This is a Beta Model … one of 20 and not yet on the market.

It came assembled ( except for the legs) in one crate (525#) and was very well packed.
Shipping box Package delivery Motor vehicle Wood Flooring


Wood Rectangle Font Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Gas Hardwood Plywood Rectangle

I installed the 66" bed on my lathe station instead of using the legs that come with it because I have the layout of everything right there. It took just 2 adapter plates on either end to mount it .

Cabinetry Drawer Wood Table Chest of drawers

The crate warmed the barn for 2 days
Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Gas


This is a very fine lathe. I'd put it up against any other 16" lathe on the market. It is a DVR … a Digital Variable speed Reluctance motor which means it is a computer controlled motor with no brushes, belts, Reeves Drive or any wires connected to moving parts in the motor. The motor changes polarity of the magnets in the motor by the computer. It is direct drive from the motor to the arbor and obtains the full speed range with a rheostat !! It is so smooth and quiet, too!!! It has a 1 1/4-8 spindle thread. It also has reverse for sanding!!

It has some changes from the Nova DVR XP. This lathe has the headstock movable anywhere on the bed It locks in place similarly to the tail stock or banjo and can be swiveled for outboard turning. I mounted mine to the right of the end about 8" so I could put a shelf on the bed for my sander .

I thought it was going to have a push/pull on/off switch but it still has the flat panel separate on and off touch buttons which I really don't care for. I would rather have one switch like a paddle switch in the same place for both functions. It also has an emergency push stop switch.

It does have a rheostat for speed control which I really like. It can run from 100 RPM to 5000 RPM with a turn of the knob!!!! You turn it for fine adjustment and you push in and turn for coarse adjustment. The coarse adjustment is all I feel it needs. It has 4 presets and they are nice to jump back to for sanding

The tailstock is set up with the lock handle in the back which is nice because you can unlock it and move it without moving your hand. It is very well built, travels smoothly, and has a compartment for holding some #2 Morse taper items like the drive center and live center. The screw and quill are being replaced because they have a right handed thread and they need to be left handed so it advances when turned clockwise like tightening a bolt!!

It comes with a 1" shank …12" tool rest. I will not be using it because I have three tool rests that I like and they are 7/8" shank, so I bushed the Banjo to accept them.

There is a 24 place index wheel on the left end that is stopped in position by a plunger from the top . The plunger does not go into the detents very far and has some wiggle when the plunger is down. I tried it for some index drilling and it seemed to work just fine. I'm concerned how it will hold when doing fluting which has to hold the part rock solid during the routing. The positions of the index are very hard to read. They are inside the left end cover with a 3/4" hole to look through and I needed a flash light to see them every time. They are also just numbered 1-24 and I would rather have degrees so there is no mistake which notch I'm in.I will build an index wheel to read from the front with a pointer and in degrees.
One other thing I noticed when I had that cover off is there are 3 small holes for every one of the 24 notches- they are .092" diameter and at every 5 degrees. These could be used to do finer indexing but there is no pin to locate them.
With all the sensors for the motor, there is not one for the index plunger being down that would prevent the lathe from being turned on. The user has to be vigilant. I think I'll turn off the power when indexing.

Here is a video we made today on this new addition to my shop.
Enjoy…................ Cheers, Jim