After 33 years with my Woodfast, a Vicmarc VL240 is now on the way!

[Odie]

Hi Odie, with a 19 1/4" swing the VL240 is right between our banjos for our 16" Sweet 16 and the 25" American Beauty. We can cut down the American Beauty banjo to fit the VL240, and we do that for the PM 3520 (20" swing). We sell a lot of 16" banjos for the Laguna 1524 and 1836. As mentioned by others above, their clamping mechanism relies on pinching the cast iron, and it's very fussy about the exact size of the toolrest post. Our clamping mechanism tolerates a lot more variability. Here's a word-for-word quote from a recent customer:

My S16 Spindle Banjo came today for my Revo 15/24 lathe. I installed it and it went together and mounted very easily. I am very pleased with how easily it tightens to the lathe bed ways and how it clamps the tool rest posts. It easily clamps both my 25.4 [1"] and 25mm tool rest posts securely with very little effort. I also had some 5/8” post tool rests from an old lathe I used to have and with an adapter (split sleeve to take it to 1 inch) those old rests also clamp down. That was totally unexpected.

For the record, I try not to promote my products on this forum, but I thought this reply was warranted to provide clarification. And yes Odie, I agree that the VL240 is a fine lathe. I think woodturners are operating in a "golden age" of turning tool and lathe options. Lots of great things on the market from a great assortment of suppliers.

And Odie, please don't be upset about me not making you a custom S16 with a swiveling headstock. It had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me setting priorities here at the shop. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Brent, you have been so good to me those times when I purchased from you.....how could I possibly be upset!

I'd buy your modified AB banjo in a heartbeat......if it were a dogleg style banjo.

As you'll remember, I also purchased your Sweet 16 standard banjo. I sold that one because it wasn't a dogleg style. I've come to realize that I really do need to have a dogleg banjo. It's very likely that since I'm strictly a faceplate turner who completes bowls in a single mounting, I have to get into the tight spaces on the backside of the bowl.....the banjo needs to help "reach around" to the backside.

There is one other advantage to your Robust style of banjo that I really liked, besides the toolpost locking mechanism.....and that is the removable locking lever to secure the banjo to the lathe. When I was using your Sweet 16 dogleg banjo, it was very useful to my purposes to have two different lengths of handles for it to clear my setups.

Thanks for your response/offer, Brent......

odie

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