Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Vega Lathes?? *LINK*
JL work
>I have seen or worked on Jet, Oneway, Delta and Powermatic lathes. I have not seen or worked on any of the Vega lathes. I posted a message or two asking about lathes (and big lathes) and I got a url sent to me with the Vega Woodworking url. OK, so I will ask - does anyone have anything to say about Vega lathes? Especially how they might compare to the Jet 1642EVS?
Vega Woodworking
Re: Vega Lathes??
Joel Hunnicutt
>Mark K will probably chime in. He has one and is very happy with it. Also looking the articles section under tool reviews. Mark and I had the chance to turn on one for the 03 NC symposium and we were both impressed.
I own
Gil
>a Vega Model 24 which they stopped making. I'm happy with it, but I would have been much happier with the larger 2400. The 24 lacks a tailstock, which is a problem when you have a 100lb piece of wood suspended by #10 screws.
-Gil
Re: Vega Lathes??
Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL
>JL,
I am about 90 minutes south of Atlanta, if you want to come by and give one a try. I love my 2400. I am about 1/2 way through a review of it, and had hopped to get it posted this week, but we will see.
In short, if you what a bowl lathe that will turn 26" over the bed. 24" over the banjo, and do not need a long bed, and do not have the $$$ for a VB36, I think the Vega 2400 is the ticket. Only minor things I would like to change, like no spindle lock (has a wrench instead). Plenty of power, good controls, quiet, steady, adjustable height, very well built/strong.
Look for an email from me.
Mark
Power and size?
Shawn - in ID
>Mark, I've been interested in the Vega you have. I'm on a VL100 with 1hp motor now. I've really wondered if the 1.5 hp motor and 1.25" spindle are enough for that 24-26" big swing. Only having worked on a small lathe, I don't know, but it seems liked I'd want more power and size for those big wet blanks. What do you think?
Re: Power and size?
Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL
>Shawn,
The 2400 only weighs 500 pounds, though there is space to add ballast, so it is obviously not the lathe of choice turning a 26" dia, 12" thick wet blank. You could - it has a tailstock for support and a 2HP 220v (1.5hp 110v is an option, though only 1 out of ten is sold that way) Common sense still has to prevail as with any lathe. I have turned 20" dia x 4" Box Elder and Canarywood without problem.
I don't think that the 1.25" spindle is an issue, that is pretty standard, with only a few lathes using bigger. The tool post is also 1.25", again, only a few are bigger.
Hope this helps.
Mark
Re: Power and size?
Lee Dale
>I love my 2400, It does everything I ask of it. I recently turned two Irregular shaped platters with 18 1/4" being the Min diameter and 23 3/4" being the max dia. I have not had to add extra ballast even turning this badly out of balance couple of pieces. email or call if you would like to talk about specefics
Lee
