Steve,
I was shopping on the Vicmarc Machinery website. Their address is
52 Grice Street,
Clontarf, Queensland 4019 Australia
That's why I referenced the Australian Dollar to United States Dollar exchange rate. Sorry for the confusion.
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vicmarc jaws
- Thread starter Ed Jarvis
- Start date
I was shopping on the Vicmarc Machinery website. Their address is
52 Grice Street,
Clontarf, Queensland 4019 Australia
That's why I referenced the Australian Dollar to United States Dollar exchange rate. Sorry for the confusion.
Hi Jim, no confusion at all. Thanks for posting what you'd found in both messages.
I just heard back from Branches To Bowls. The USD prices on the VM 120 Shark Jaws is pretty good, for the jaws themselves. Shipping and the new import duties (Trump nixxed the sub-$800 exemption from Canada back in August, which had been part of his first term NAFTA-re-work, go figure), if I bought all 5 jaw sizes, it would be $42 to ship, and $86 in tariffs. I'd like to get the 4 sizes I don't have, but I think I'll have to scale it back to maybe 2.
Inquired on a Sunday morning, and they responded on a Sunday morning. Sweet! I think I'll budget the two largest sizes for now, and see what happens after the next election. (Boy, is that sad to say, my hobby being upset by politics.)
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I just had a great phone conversation with Ken at Branches To Bowls in Calgary, and he's sending me the 3 largest Shark jaws for the Vicmarc VM120 chuck. 83mm, 105mm, and 130mm, if I recall those numbers.
He said he's got a big Vicmarc shipment arriving this week. So if you need it, he'll probably have it. Last week Packard told me their next Vicmarc delivery would probably be mid-winter sometime. Life is short, I struck while the iron was hot and someone had the parts in stock.
He said he's got a big Vicmarc shipment arriving this week. So if you need it, he'll probably have it. Last week Packard told me their next Vicmarc delivery would probably be mid-winter sometime. Life is short, I struck while the iron was hot and someone had the parts in stock.
André, I used those jaws last Thursday, whilst doing, so I thought about the one slight negative of this particular jaw set from Vicmarc.
I generally do very small depth wise tenons. To maintain the integrity of the tenon I try as much as possible to get the jaws to be in a perfect gripping circle when they are gripping the tenon.
The design of these jaws has a missing part of gripping surface where the bolt holes are placed. As long as one is aware of that gripping limitation, then these jaws are a delight to work with.
The first picture shows the half finished piece, ready to be gripped by the two step jaw set.
The second picture shows the jaw set on the chuck, with the bolt holes obvious.
The third picture shows the piece being held with the chuck, if you look carefully, you can see the part of the tenon not being held through the bolt hole.
The fourth picture shows the tenon depth, admittedly not the most accurate Vernier, but for woodworking it suffices. This tenon has a gripping depth of 1.15mm, the people from the USA can illuminate me to the correct inch depth as I'm not certain what that is, but it looks like 5/128th of an inch, I think.
Yeah, on my iPad you have to move the frame to the left. I never would have seen this had it not been mentioned specifically.
Thanks, Tom
Order placed last Sunday Dec 7 from https://branchestobowls.com/ in Calgary, Alberta, CA, a couple days later through Customs in Montana, arrived at my house after only 6 days, Sat Dec 13. Wow, I was prepared for a much longer wait.
Speaking of wait, or rather weight, that box with the 83mm, 105mm, and 130mm Vicmarc Shark Jaws compared to a boat anchor. The naked VM120 chuck weighs 7lb. Mount the 130mm jaws at 4.75lb, and there's some flywheel effect going on bringing the lathe speed to zero. No problem for my 1.5hp DC drive Vicmarc VL200 lathe, but this drives home the point of programmable deceleration rates for VFD 3-phase systems.
I love this old (Feb 1985 postage rates) postage scale, a pristine find in an antique shop for about $20. Goes well with the similar 16oz mechanical postal scale I've had for over 20 years. Bought that for weighing shellac flakes. No cords, no batteries, no problems.
I've had the one pair of polished steel Shark Jaws forever. Now I'll have to get used to the black of these new jaws.
Speaking of wait, or rather weight, that box with the 83mm, 105mm, and 130mm Vicmarc Shark Jaws compared to a boat anchor. The naked VM120 chuck weighs 7lb. Mount the 130mm jaws at 4.75lb, and there's some flywheel effect going on bringing the lathe speed to zero. No problem for my 1.5hp DC drive Vicmarc VL200 lathe, but this drives home the point of programmable deceleration rates for VFD 3-phase systems.
I love this old (Feb 1985 postage rates) postage scale, a pristine find in an antique shop for about $20. Goes well with the similar 16oz mechanical postal scale I've had for over 20 years. Bought that for weighing shellac flakes. No cords, no batteries, no problems.
I've had the one pair of polished steel Shark Jaws forever. Now I'll have to get used to the black of these new jaws.
I too just placed an order for some Vicmarc jaws with Branches to Bowls. Everything in stock, my order shipped within hours of my inquiry, all over the weekend. I am getting used to this exceptional service from Ken: he carries a good inventory and processes orders very promptly.
Roger Wiegand
Beta Tester
I was very impressed with the service buying direct from Vicmarc, my new VM120 chuck arrived in about 10 days, five of those were someplace between "released from US Customs to USPS" and actually showing up in the US mail tracking. Including customs and shipping I saved about $60 USD vs buying from Canada and $100 from any US supplier (none of who could supply the direct thread chuck I wanted).
Good to know, Roger. Thanks for that report.
I haven't thought of this at any time over the years because I've never worried about tenons matching the true inner or outer jaw circumference. But now with a pile of different jaw sizes, I will now be matching tenon sizes to the jaws. For that purpose, does anyone make the effort to relieve the sharp tips of the jaw sections (inside and outside circumf.), just a few strokes to soften that corner? This would lessen any chance to put the little prick marks on the tenon when using it as a finished foot. Thanks.
I haven't thought of this at any time over the years because I've never worried about tenons matching the true inner or outer jaw circumference. But now with a pile of different jaw sizes, I will now be matching tenon sizes to the jaws. For that purpose, does anyone make the effort to relieve the sharp tips of the jaw sections (inside and outside circumf.), just a few strokes to soften that corner? This would lessen any chance to put the little prick marks on the tenon when using it as a finished foot. Thanks.
Wow Steve. I’m going to inspect all my jaws for the burr you’re showing that looks it came when cutting the jaws. Thanks for the info.
The one 90 degrees counterclockwise looks even worse.
The one 90 degrees counterclockwise looks even worse.
Hard to call those burrs, but I know what and how you're seeing in the photo. It's missing black paint from 10000 miles of shipping right on those tips, the steel is fine. Assuming jaws are made in a circle then quartered into the jaw segments, these are finished very well. (I do like the plated/polished steel look of their old jaw finish better than the black paint.) And I had plenty of intimate bench time with these three sets of jaws this afternoon cleaning the heavy coating of oil from them. No snags or tears on blue shop paper towel or cotton rags.