Vega 2400 Bowl Lathe Commentaries

by Mark Kauder and Joe Hunnicut

Mark Kauder. I had the opportunity two weekends ago at the North Carolina Woodturning Symposium to turn for a few minutes on the Vega 2400 Bowl Lathe, fool with it for 10-20 minutes, and observe 2.5 hours of demonstrators using it. Here are my observations and comments.

Right up front: this lathe is not a Oneway 2436, this lathe is not a VB36, this lathe is not a Powermatic 4224. What this lathe is, is a good 24" bowl lathe for $2600!!

The first thing that struck me was the relatively small (19"x24") footprint of this lathe - roughly the size of the average refrigerator. It has height adjustable legs, that allow the spindle height to go from 37"-45", which is a nice feature. I like a high spindle height. Even with the small footprint, the lathe weighs 500 pounds, and though I did not look too far inside, I am sure that there is room for additional ballast. Nearly 1/3 of the weight is in the headstock area. The headstock is a 64 pound rectangle of steel, that is filled with concrete. According to the Vega website, concrete is 20 times better at vibration dampening than Iron.

It has a removable tailstock. The tail stock does allow for spindle turning up to 17" long, though it will only go down to within 6" of the headstock. The removal of the tailstock is accomplished by turning a handle on the end of the lathe, and the assembly is easily removed. This was one of three issues that demonstrators had problems with. Apparently, the tailstock bolt had been over tightened, and when the handle was turned, the steel handle came off the treaded bolt holding the tailstock on. A couple of minutes with a wrench, and everything was off. One of the Packard Woodworks guys at the show, who owns one of these lathes, stated that he had the same problem when he first got his lathe, but it was solved with a little cleanup of the threads on the bolt and the handle, and the application of some Loctite. I talked to the owner of Vega Woodworking today, and he stated that this problem has been corrected on the current production run by welding the handle to the bolt.

The Spindle is 1 1/4"x8tpi, pretty much a standard for this size lathe. Both the Headstock and Tailstock have #2 MT. The spindle presented another issue. The spindle on this one seemed a little long. At least one demonstrator had to put a spacer on the spindle so that his chucks and faceplates would register against the spacer, otherwise the spindle was registering against the inside of the faceplate or chuck. Again, something that I think could be easily fixed. The owner of Vega was a little perplexed at this, and he stated that the spindle is 1" long on current models.

The model that we played with was equipped with a 2hp 220v DC variable speed, reversing motor. Also available is a 1.5hp 220v DC Variable speed reversing motor, or a 1.5 hp 220v/110v AC motor with reversing, and manual speed control. One really nice feature is that the motor control is on a movable pendant arm - much like on the big Oneway. For the AC motor, the controls contain the On/Off and Reverse switches, and the speed is control by a hand crank. I did not see this model, so I am going by the literature on this one.

The controls proved a problem for the first demonstrator. He would turn on the lathe, and then immediately turn up the speed control. When nothing happened, he would turn the speed down, shut off the lathe, then turn it on, turn the speed up, nothing, turn the lathe off. etc. Finally it would come on, but when he wanted to stop the lathe, he would shut off the power switch again, and next time he wanted it on, he would go through the whole routine again. I finally suggested to him that he turn the lathe on, wait a couple of seconds, and then turn up the speed, and when he wanted the lathe off, he should just turn the speed down to zero. Once he started doing that, everything went well. All other demonstrators followed this routine, and everything was good. My conversation with the owner of Vega confirmed that the delay start feature is in fact programable.

Like the new Powermatics and the Jets, this lathe comes equipped with a steel wire mesh safety guard which is the first thing the demonstrators take off. However, I did think that the guard bracket would be a good place for a light, or dust collection hookup.

One thing that everybody hated, was the steel tool rest. It is 12" of angled sheet steel on top of a 1 1/4" post. It works, but being steel, it was noisy - rang like a bell, compared to most cast tool rests. I am not sure what I didn't like about it, neither was anybody else (some of our reaction was probably that it was different from what we are used to). I think Vega would do well to talk to one of the independent tool rest makers, like Best Wood Tools, and come up with something else. It works, but it would be the first thing changed by most users. Vega stated that they were looking into alternatives.

All in all, I was impressed. I do not need, nor can I afford a big lathe right now. This would fit the bill for me, and it would fit in the footprint of the cabinet that I currently have my Jet Mini lathe on. I am not trying to offend VB or Nichols lathe owners when I say, that this is a poor mans VB or Nichols. I am praising a lower price, dedicated bowl lathe.

Joe Hunnicut. I spent a couple of hours turning on the 2400 and concur with Mark. It is a quiet and solid machine. This is the first "bowl lathe" that I've ever turned on, and I truly loved being able to get right in front of my work. I had no design quibbles with the lathe at all. The banjo locking mechanism was unusual in that it protruded from underneath the lathe bed. At first I found it a bit awkward, but after using it for a bit, I liked the ability to move it front or back out of my way.

I've done some searches on this machine and find very little information on the web. I think it is definitely a contender in the under $3000 catagory.