Bill Grumbine
07-25-2005, 10:52 AM
Greetings all
Last Friday I took a field trip to Baltimore. I had a couple of reasons for going, but the bonus event was to spend some time turning on a Vega 2400 bowl lathe.
This whole thing arose from the thread I had started on the Jet 1642 vs Nova DVR lathe last week. A friend of mine on another forum threw in a curve, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in another friend's shop in front of a lathe I had never seen before except for a few pictures. It was very impressive.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe02.jpg">
Here is a shot of the lathe after I had made a mess of the place throwing chips all over the room. It will probably never win a beauty contest, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up in power and performance. It boasts 26" of swing over the bed, 17" spindle capacity, a 2 HP 3 phase motor, and 500 lbs of steel and concrete to hold it on the floor. I did manage to get it rocking a time or two, but I was there to push it for all it was worth.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe03.jpg">
Here I am turning the "warmup" bowl, a small piece of curly maple that needed to be roughed before it turned into pen blanks and kindling wood. If you compare pictures, you can see that the tailstock is not in the way. It comes off (and goes back on) in a matter of seconds, allowing complete access to a bowl or hollow form.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe01.jpg">
Here is the "main event" bowl. This is another piece of curly maple from the same tree, but it is much larger, approximately 14" x 8" to start, and it was waaay out of balance. We started it out between centers, but I drilled the hole out a couple of times with the spur center and my 3/4" Glaser gouge, so we ended up grinding a flat and putting a faceplate on. I think I ended up with a better shape as a result.
Like I wrote above, I got it to rock a couple of times, and I squealed the belt, but what can I say? I'm just not used to those old fashioned belt drives anymore. :o Overall it did a great job, and I was very impressed, impressed enough that I will be on the phone with the folks at Vega Monday. Of course, I may have to sell a few more bowls first, but this lathe just made it into first place for that empty space in my shop.
If anyone has any questions about it, I would be glad to try and answer them.
Bill
Last Friday I took a field trip to Baltimore. I had a couple of reasons for going, but the bonus event was to spend some time turning on a Vega 2400 bowl lathe.
This whole thing arose from the thread I had started on the Jet 1642 vs Nova DVR lathe last week. A friend of mine on another forum threw in a curve, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in another friend's shop in front of a lathe I had never seen before except for a few pictures. It was very impressive.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe02.jpg">
Here is a shot of the lathe after I had made a mess of the place throwing chips all over the room. It will probably never win a beauty contest, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up in power and performance. It boasts 26" of swing over the bed, 17" spindle capacity, a 2 HP 3 phase motor, and 500 lbs of steel and concrete to hold it on the floor. I did manage to get it rocking a time or two, but I was there to push it for all it was worth.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe03.jpg">
Here I am turning the "warmup" bowl, a small piece of curly maple that needed to be roughed before it turned into pen blanks and kindling wood. If you compare pictures, you can see that the tailstock is not in the way. It comes off (and goes back on) in a matter of seconds, allowing complete access to a bowl or hollow form.
<img src="http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/vegalathe01.jpg">
Here is the "main event" bowl. This is another piece of curly maple from the same tree, but it is much larger, approximately 14" x 8" to start, and it was waaay out of balance. We started it out between centers, but I drilled the hole out a couple of times with the spur center and my 3/4" Glaser gouge, so we ended up grinding a flat and putting a faceplate on. I think I ended up with a better shape as a result.
Like I wrote above, I got it to rock a couple of times, and I squealed the belt, but what can I say? I'm just not used to those old fashioned belt drives anymore. :o Overall it did a great job, and I was very impressed, impressed enough that I will be on the phone with the folks at Vega Monday. Of course, I may have to sell a few more bowls first, but this lathe just made it into first place for that empty space in my shop.
If anyone has any questions about it, I would be glad to try and answer them.
Bill