Experience with Vicmarc 240 lathe

[Don Davis]

I recently purchased a Vicmarc 240 ASM heavy duty lathe. I went with the Vic largely due to the recommendation of my contact at the US distributor of Vicmarc lathes--Woodworkers Emporium. I like many things on the lathe, but am having a few challenges, and I thought I'd ask here for input as I would think there were more Vicmarc users on this forum.

I hollow a bowl typically with an 18mm carbide tipped tool, or a 3/4" round nose scraper. My previous lathe (which I still have) is a NOVA DVR XP, and I have NEVER stalled it using the same technique for Roughing/Hollowing a bowl. BUT, on the first two bowls-only 10" (250mm) pieces, I stalled my 240 totally--this baffled me cause even though it is only 2 HP (1.5 KW) I was told I should have no issues coring a large bowl out with it, and that it's VFD applied higher power/torque in the low speed ranges so it performed like a much higher powered lathe. At this point I am wondering if I made a mistake not buying the 300 as it is available with 3 HP. I have also turned on a lot of Powermatic lathes--3520 B's to be specific, and even though they are only 2HP I have never stalled one of them either. This has me baffled and a wise old boss I had said 'if you change only one thing in a process and you get a different/unacceptable result, the thing you changed must logically be the culprit'. This always made sense to me, and the only thing I've changed recently has been my lathe.

I'm open and would appreciate any feedback/experience -- Thanks--Don

[Paul39]

Don,

Looking at the Vicmarc web site I see this:

The VL240 lathe comes with 3 step pulleys which provide 3 ratios; 1:1 for small to medium size work, 1:1.5 for medium to large work and 1:3 for large work. For extra torque, simply change the Poly V Belt to the 1:3 ratio.

At 1:3 you should have enough torque for ordinary US wood - cherry, walnut, maple. If you are turning 18 inch diameter 100 year old dry locust stumps, you may need to go to a smaller tool.

[Don Davis]

Thanks for the reply Paul, I do in fact have my pulley set at the 1-3 ratio, and the wood I am working with is green spalted maple. So this doesn't seem to lead anywhere as to a reason for what I am experiencing.

I haven't tried a smaller tool since I have not had this problem on my relatively diminutive NOVA DVR XP, which isn't even bolted to the bench it sits on, and it only weighs 185 lbs. (84 kg)

[Paul39]

Don,

Something is not right. You may have a bad lathe, or the variable speed controller is not programmed correctly. I would have a long conversation with the seller, citing the comparisons you have above. I think when one pays top $$ for a lathe, one should get superior performance and service.

[Acco]

I do in fact have my pulley set at the 1-3 ratio

Did you also change the setting on the VFD to match the pulley ratios?

On my Vicmarc 300 I have to match the VFD setting to the selected pulley ratio.

[Woodturnerjosh]

here's a post about my own experience with the VL240 and I did not have any sort of power issues http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/bowl-vicmarc-vl240-203177
with very aggressive cuts I could still get it slow down but I can do the same on my 3hp VL300

[Don Davis]

Thanks for the feedback folks, Acco, I didn't see anything about adjusting the VFD on my lathe in the manual, but I have not adjusted it due to that--I would be very interested to know what adjustments one needs to make--Thank you.

Woodturner Josh, I saw your post and that's one of the reasons I went with a 240 from Vicmarc.

[Bagmann]

Hi Don, just to add my 2 cents worth, I have had a VL240 for about 3 years and love it. I regularly turn large bowls, around 450mm (usually redgum, which, while not the hardest wood around it can be leaning to that end of the scale at times) and have had not problems at all with regard to stalling. The lathe belt is at 1:1 as it was when delivered. So I would suggest there is a fault with your machine.

Cheers
Simon

[Optimark]

Maybe a telephone call to the actual manufacturer may be better; they are very approachable.

Their local hours are: 0600 hours to 1500 hours Monday through to Thursday, they open the same time on Fridays at 0600, but close earlier at 1300 hours. Local to them, is Brisbane Australia.

Whenever I have had an issue and there have been very few, a telephone call has worked very well. I have even used their website for accessory questions in the evenings after work, their reply often came though around 0630 hours the next morning.

Direct international dialing is: 61 7 3283 4656 will get you to them.

Mick.

[Don Davis]

Thanks for the feedback Simon and Optimark, I too a thinking there is an issues with my particular lathe--Marco--a principal at Vicmarc--was not helpful when my distributor I bought the lathe from contacted him, he had not advice other than to state 'well, everybody turns differently...' surprising, since I am not an inexperienced turner, and I have given a direct comparison in that I do not have this issue with my NOVA DVR at all. Someone mentioned that their 300 needed to have its VFD adjusted when he changed pulley sizes--I would like to know what these adjustments might be--there is no information in the owners manual re: this, or for a 300....
I really want to be in love with this lathe, but right now I'm challenged to be so given this issue--I'll keep pushing til I find a reasonable answer to my question.....

[Acco]

I will take some pictures today showing you how to change the settings on my lathe.

The only other thing that I can think of that would affect it, is the belt tension.

[Acco]

Ok, on my lathe, I only have the two pulley steps, not the three steps which the newer machines have.

So first two pics show low and high speed at 10rpm and 1000rpm, of which is the low speed range for when you need the torque.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180917/bcc9e1229a1ad60c32215450005c21fe.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180917/19699da845ec11075d4980c64f713f99.jpg

And the next two show 30rpm and 3000rpm which is for general use.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180917/d918d5413e24b917e8e526c630f46768.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180917/3cd3bccc6f48b260896165d8038b7727.jpg

To change the settings between these functions require me to push the func/data button. On my lathe the cycle is from 30/3000, 10/1000 and then another two to get back to the 30/3000 setting if I remember correctly.

[NeilS]

I hollow a bowl typically with an 18mm carbide tipped tool, or a 3/4" round nose scraper. My previous lathe (which I still have) is a NOVA DVR XP, and I have NEVER stalled it using the same technique for Roughing/Hollowing a bowl. BUT, on the first two bowls-only 10" (250mm) pieces, I stalled my 240 totally--this baffled me cause even though it is only 2 HP (1.5 KW) I was told I should have no issues coring a large bowl out with it, and that it's VFD applied higher power/torque in the low speed ranges so it performed like a much higher powered lathe. At this point I am wondering if I made a mistake not buying the 300 as it is available with 3 HP.

Don, while others with experience on Vicmarc lathes are helping you out I will come in with some general comments. The following comments are not specific to Vicmarc, but lathes in general in relation to scraping 'cuts'.

I core on a 1.1kW/1.5HP lathe with blanks up to 20"diam. It can be done, just, but only because the scraper tip on the coring bar is no more than 12mm wide. There is no way I could do it with an 18 or 19mm scraper tip and definitely not with seasoned wood. As Josh has pointed out, even a 3HP motor can struggle if the demands are too great.

Heavy scraping roughing-out 'cuts' demand very high torque. The slicing cuts made with bowl gouges are far less demanding.

I can't explain why other 2HP lathes that you have used have coped with your roughing out of larger bowls with a large scraper and not the VM240. Other than perhaps the Nova lathes that are designed to maintain their torgue in response to the demand on the lathe spindle. It may well be that once your VM240 is reprogrammed its VFD may also do the same for you.

I have just come back after a week in the company of Richard Raffan, Glenn Lucas and Nick Agar, who all use Vicmarc lathes in their workshops. I didn't hear any comments from them about them being under powered. Brendan Stemp, another professional woodturner, among others here, also uses them. These turners would not have a make of lathe taking up valuable space in their workshops if they were not up to any reasonable task that they are going to use them for.

[Don Davis]

I appreciate the input folks, I am still not sure if I should mess with my VFD, I'm not going to at this point. My distributor I purchased the lathe from has been very supportive, and I hoping he will come up with some options for me. Marco at Vicmarc I spoke to one time--didn't realize it but my phone company charge me $108 for a 13 minute or so call :oo: so I'll not be calling Vicmarc again until the get an 800 number, Marco was very pleasant to speak with, but he has not been very supportive on this issue as I stated previously. I'll let folks know if I come up with something that helps my issue, and anyone with any other input is welcome to share with me!!

[Treecycle]

Is the lathe new or secondhand?
Not being an Electrician of any sort this might be a dumb question, but has the lathe been set up to your voltage? I have no idea if it would even run on 110V if set up for our 240V.

[Don Davis]

Treecycle, this is a brand new lathe and it is made for the USA market by Vicmarc and therefore it is set up to run on our higher voltage residential circuits at 220 volts, so in short it is definitely set up for our voltage...I'm open to all thoughts though, and appreciate your thinking!

[Colin62]

I appreciate the input folks, I am still not sure if I should mess with my VFD, I'm not going to at this point.
For what it’s worth, I agree with you. In fact, so does Vicmarc - their manual says that tampering with the invertor unit will invalidate any warranty claims.

The change in setting that acco mentioned above is to get the display adjusted for the gearing, and as the manual shows that on the 240 the rpm display shows the actual spindle rpm, not VFD frequency, which means that your lathe does not need the VFD to be adjusted for different belt settings - there is certainly no mention of any adjustment that I’ve been able to find in the manual.

In the interests of eliminating the obvious, I’d try it on a different power outlet just to make sure that it is getting its full 220V that it needs, but that’s a really long shot.

Does your supplier have a demo machine that you can compare the torque with your one? Alternatively, if they have another customer who has bought one, maybe they’ll be prepared to contact them and ask if they’re willing to chat to you about it’s torque? I know that if I had one I’d be happy to allow someone with an issue to do a few comparisons. If a comparison shows that yours does have a problem, ask the supplier to swap it for a new one.



For the record, I don’t own a Vicmarc, but I would love to, and have been looking at their specs and pricing to see just how much I’d need to sell my firstborn for to be able to afford to import one. So I downloaded the manual and read through it - in the event of me actually being able to buy one, I’d have no recourse to a local supplier and would need to be pretty certain that I wasn’t going to make a warranty claim, as the shipping costs will approach the cost of the lathe itself.

[Don Davis]

Hey Colin, thanks for the post--I had narrowed my choices down to a Robust-an American Beauty, a Oneway and the Vicmarc-it may sound silly but I felt like a digital speed readout was an essential feature--neither Robust or Oneway would even consider installing one on a lathe for me--even though the parts for one only would cost around $8 US, just silly they don't offer this feature IMO--now any number of woodworkers will tell you being comfortable with whatever speed you're turning at is more important than getting to a specific speed--I just don't agree with that, especially when drilling with large drill bits, i.e. Forstner bits. And the one thing I've learned for certain is that I don't have a good estimating skill for guessing what speed my lathe is turning at!! This nitty detail desire by me and the fact that my contact at Woodworkers Emporium--who import Vicmarc products--told me his personal last lathe will be a Vicmarc, and that he has turned on all of the above lathes and the Vicmarcs stood out to him as the best--I will keep trying to understand what is going on with my lathe--I am strongly considering trading up to a 300 since it is available with 3HP....next I plan to core a few bowl blanks and see what my 240 does on them, that will be a big indicator of whether I feel that I need a different lathe.