• Congratulations to Rick Moreton, People's Choice in the July 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Jaramiah Severns for "Stacked Forms II" being selected as Turning of the Week for August 4, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Vicmarc Lathe

Emiliano Achaval

Emiliano Achaval

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 14, 2015
Messages
3,360
Likes
4,586
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Website
hawaiiankoaturner.com
I have noticed the forum is kind of slow... So, let's talk about something I saw today... I saw Glen Lucas standing next to a behemoth of a Vicmarc lathe!! I just checked their web site, I dont see it listed there. Maybe its a prototype! Sure looks nice. But... Not as versatile as my Stubby, lol Aloha from Maui
 
Vicmarc lathes have not been as popular here as in the rest of the world.
The Vicmarc chuck is quite popular. Not sure why the lathes lag so far behind Oneway and Powermatic. Maybe the Vicmarc cost goes Too high with exchange rates and import costs added on. Now Robust has a big market share.

When demonstrators request lathes to use at the symposium.
Vicmarcs are asked for a lot by our demonstrators from overseas.
Woodworkers emporium can often loan us only one.

Oneway is the most asked for followed by Powermatic.

I recently demoed for a club that had an old Vicmarc. It was a nice machine that aged well.

A really big lathe has a small niche market. The big Oneway seems to own the production market. ( the Vb3 is in the production market too) Then folks go to custom made lathes. Nichols used to have it...
 
Last edited:
The one Vicmarc feature I wish other lathes had was the ability to shut the lathe off with my knee - the red bar shut off. It would be great when holding the work with the left hand while cutting of that nib with the tool in the right. Does Vicmarc have a pantent on that? Is that why we don't see it?
 
Frank F said:
The one Vicmarc feature I wish other lathes had was the ability to shut the lathe off with my knee - the red bar shut off. It would be great when holding the work with the left hand while cutting of that nib with the tool in the right. Does Vicmarc have a pantent on that? Is that why we don't see it?
Click to expand...

The Robust scout has such a bar. There may be others.
I can do a knee or hip shut of with my remote Magnetic switch on the Oneway. It has a proud shutoff button easy to hit with a hip.

I have to keep my switch out of reach of my hip unless I plan to turn it off that way or I will turn off the lathe inadvertently as I tend to work close to the lathe bed especially on the headstock side of a bowl or hollow form.
It would be a learning curve for me to work with a bar shut off and not hit it while working.
 
The Oneways that have worked on had the remote switch at shoulder height. Not disputing you Al but maybe your lathe is different. My thoughts when I relocate my 3520A switches to a remote box is to #1 always put the box in the same 2 places on the lathe, either the headstock for spindle turning or right at the end for hollowing. Either place I plan to put it low enough that I could hit the switch with hip if my hands are tied up trying to keep my alive.
 
john lucas said:
The Oneways that have worked on had the remote switch at shoulder height. Not disputing you Al but maybe your lathe is different. My thoughts when I relocate my 3520A switches to a remote box is to #1 always put the box in the same 2 places on the lathe, either the headstock for spindle turning or right at the end for hollowing. Either place I plan to put it low enough that I could hit the switch with hip if my hands are tied up trying to keep my alive.
Click to expand...
I also have an optional remote that is a box with a magnetic base. It has just the on/off. The off is a big red button the sticks out so it is easy to hit with anything. The on switch recesses slightly so that It cannot be hit accidentally very easily. I move it around similar to the way you describe.

I also have the standard controls on a swinging mount at eye level. This can be set up on either side of the bed and it swings from head stock to tailstock and pivots. This set of controls has a big off button you can hit without looking. Once I got used to these controls I would not want any other set up. No reaching or bending over easy to see when hollowing

I do a lot work where I turn from headstock side and then tailstock side without turning the lathe off.
So it is handy to have an off/on both places.

I encourage anyone who does hollow forms to have a switch at the tailstock They can turn off without letting go of the tools.
IMG_4220.jpg
 
Last edited:
Still waiting for the emergency stop switch that is activated by your sphincter.
That is usually the first set of muscles that respond when things go bad. :-)
Too many people freeze or lock up when things go bad on rotating lathe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top