Vega 1200 ?

[hank dekeyser]

Hi to all, another newb here. Came across a Vega 1200 locally for cheap.(no duplicator:mad:) WHo makes spindle / chuck adapters for it ? I know they built and sold like a million of these , so somebodies gotta have some info on it. Thanks





Elvis isn't dead, he just went home

[Jim Becker]

Hank, what are the specifications of the spindle...size and threading?

[Quinn McCarthy]

Hank

Are you sure you don't mean he 1500? I don't see a 1200 on their web site. I have a 1553. It is a wonderful machine. All of the stuff is pretty standard. Hope that helps you.

Quinn

[hank dekeyser]

Thanks guys,
It has a 3/4" shaft for spindle that you pretty much attach the face or spur to via a "collar" w/ a set screw. Yeah I know kinda' cheesy. At any rate I found a couple place that make adapters for like 60 - 80 bucks. Most likely I'll take a night class at the tech college and make my own. (along w/ some parts for a bowl lathe project I'm working on)
The lathe is a model 1200, 12 x 36 capacity, I spoke w/ Vega and they said they made a ton of 'em up until the time all the import stuff started to flood the market like 10-15 years ago. It's got a Leeson 1/2 hp reversible w/ 8 speeds so I'm good to go for turning between centers, don't know if I trust a 3/4" spindle for bowls of any size though ?? Any comments on that ?
I don't see a whole lot of mention of shop built or home made lathes, kinda' curious why the heck not ? You cant tell me that a decent shop built BIG bowl lathe costs anywhere near what it can be built for ??

I've always wondered why I dont see more shop built stuff on any forums. (probably cuz the guys that do it , dont spend their time on-line) kinda like me, search when I need info then go back in the shop. It may take til next summer to get to building my bowl lathe, but I'll try to post pix when it comes around to being built.

FYI- NOW is the time to buy steel for anyone looking to build one, prices are pretty low this time of year - scrap ALWAYS goes up in the spring time (at least around me in Wisconsin) the only drawback is searching through snow covered piles looking for that final piece...

[Andrew Derhammer]

I posted about homemade lathes not to long ago. Bought a nova 1624 for now put if you go under my profile and search threads started by me there's good info in that one.

[Andrew Derhammer]

Here's the thread
http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=934930#poststop

[hank dekeyser]

Thanks, I checked out that thread a few days ago, like you said lots -o - good stuff. One of the problems I have is I can only get dial up ISP, and some times stuff takes so long to load (plus I find myself doing 4 things at once because otherwise I would fall asleep waiting for pages) I sometimes forget what I was doing or why I was on a particular website, etc.