Some of you may have read my thread where I detailed that I had sold my Laguna Revo 24-36 and bought a Vicmarc 240. I detailed there where I had challenges stalling out both of these lathes. This is a follow up to tell you what I discovered--the Revo from Laguna I sold to a fellow who is an industry expert electrician--he works for a firm that maintains and repairs bottling machines for big industry, such as Coca Cola and large dairies, like the one that bottles milk for the Kroger grocery stores--long story short he told me he discovered what the problem was with that lathe--that the contacts for the input voltage to the VFD were not solid--he told me he re-did these connections and it cleared up the problem with the digital readout not being stable, and he hasn't stalled the lathe in any of his work on it.
Now to my Vicmarc--first off my distributor, Woodworkers Emporium and Vicmarc have been great at standing behind the product, and talking things through with me. Long story short, Woodworkers Emporium asked that I check the grub screws on the pulley wheel set on the spindle--these grub screws were not present--I also decided to pull the spindle just to see how everything went together--this is when I discovered what the monkey in the wrench was! There was no key in the spindle key way. I was actually surprised I could do the turning I could without stalling the lathe giving this factor. Fortunately I am a knifemaker and had steel in stock I made a key out of that fit the key slot on the spindle, I haven't stalled the lathe since!
I think this just goes to show any outfit can miss something small like this key, and even if they tested the lathe before they shipped it (not sure if they do or don't) it would likely not be obvious, as it wasn't to me except in extreme turning stress situations. I have turned a good bit on my Vicmarc, and I am really liking it at this point.
The one detail that disappoints me a lot, was one I didn't check into when looking at lathes--this is the shortness of the tailstock quill--it is only 3 inches in travel/length. Thus my post on having a custom tailstock made. I am currently looking into how to get a longer quill/new tailstock for my lathe at this time.
The pivoting headstock works really well, and had helped eliminate back pain from leaning over to hollow bowls over the bed--a real plus--I still wonder if I might should have gone to the bigger swing and 3 HP motor of the Vic 300, but I think I will be satisfied with the 19+ inch swing of the 240, especially since I think I've go my power issues resolved.
Any feedback/questions are welcomed==
Regards--Don
Now to my Vicmarc--first off my distributor, Woodworkers Emporium and Vicmarc have been great at standing behind the product, and talking things through with me. Long story short, Woodworkers Emporium asked that I check the grub screws on the pulley wheel set on the spindle--these grub screws were not present--I also decided to pull the spindle just to see how everything went together--this is when I discovered what the monkey in the wrench was! There was no key in the spindle key way. I was actually surprised I could do the turning I could without stalling the lathe giving this factor. Fortunately I am a knifemaker and had steel in stock I made a key out of that fit the key slot on the spindle, I haven't stalled the lathe since!
I think this just goes to show any outfit can miss something small like this key, and even if they tested the lathe before they shipped it (not sure if they do or don't) it would likely not be obvious, as it wasn't to me except in extreme turning stress situations. I have turned a good bit on my Vicmarc, and I am really liking it at this point.
The one detail that disappoints me a lot, was one I didn't check into when looking at lathes--this is the shortness of the tailstock quill--it is only 3 inches in travel/length. Thus my post on having a custom tailstock made. I am currently looking into how to get a longer quill/new tailstock for my lathe at this time.
The pivoting headstock works really well, and had helped eliminate back pain from leaning over to hollow bowls over the bed--a real plus--I still wonder if I might should have gone to the bigger swing and 3 HP motor of the Vic 300, but I think I will be satisfied with the 19+ inch swing of the 240, especially since I think I've go my power issues resolved.
Any feedback/questions are welcomed==
Regards--Don
In certain woods when I needed to drill deep holes I would keep a spray bottle of water by the lathe to cool the drill bit down after retracting each time during long drilling sessions. Hot drill bits and hot dry wood dust are not a good mix when a lump of hot coal drops into shavings on the floor.
