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Rotating Headstock

Oh man, the list is long, and my memory is bad. Vicmarc has a beauty. Titan is surely the most amazing, with a 30" swing, a sophisticated tank of a machine. Another British model at around 16" swing, too.

I have a General, and I think they went out of business, but it's a great 16" model for the price 5 years ago. I've seen a number for sale used, as low as $1500 in new condition!

Yesterday I had an 18" platter on the lathe, with the headstock turned, but the Robust banjo and rest still gave pretty good access. I have pretty much outgrown my lathe, but I persist...
 
Jet, Grizzly, Powermatic, Harbor Freight, And I think all the higher end lathes. What size are you looking for? Some of the rotating headstocks have indexing to relocate the headstock. Some have difficulty getting points centered or at least take some effort.
 
I can't understand why any one would want a rotating head since sliding the head to the outboard end and working off the end is a much better way to work oversize ( larger diameters than the lathe will accept ) pieces.
 
Don Wattenhofer said:
I can't understand why any one would want a rotating head since sliding the head to the outboard end and working off the end is a much better way to work oversize ( larger diameters than the lathe will accept ) pieces.
Click to expand...

A lot of the rotating head stocks did not slide. they provided a way to get a few more inches swing and still have the banjo on the ways - key feature.

When you turn a large piece off the end with a slider or on outboard side, You have to invest in a place to hang the tool rest.
I have the big outboard table on my ONEWAY and it is rock solid. However that add-on is an investment.
 
Don Wattenhofer said:
I can't understand why any one would want a rotating head since sliding the head to the outboard end and working off the end is a much better way to work oversize ( larger diameters than the lathe will accept ) pieces.
Click to expand...

In my shop rotating is the best option. I'd have to have the headstock up against the wall to have enough room to turn off the tailstock end.
 
My first lathe, the Delta 1440 Boat Anchor, has a headstock that both rotates and slides ... and one locking lever. :eek:

Sliding the headstock meant that I would need o spend a lot of time getting it lined up with the tailstock. The bottom line was that eventually locked the headstock down and never moved it again. :rolleyes:
 
a bridge too far....u want but physic it just bad design....to quote Bill boat anchor
 
Rotating the headstock for hollowing bowls is really nice. You do need either a long banjo or a banjo extension. The cantilever extensions add chatter however. I added a.rod that went from the extension to the floor and stabilized the set up. Sliding the headstock to the end of the lathe on my Powermatic is a lot of work. That thing is heavy. It also means that you need the room at the end of the lathe to be able to stand there. Rotating the headstock means you dont need the extra space. Nova.sells.a.double ended Morse taper that makes re alignment of the head stock a breeze.
 
Just to clarify, this was the question: "Nova and Rikon have models with rotating headstocks. Is anyone aware of any other brands with this offering?"

So it looks like Vicmarc and Grizzly also have models. The Colt Stratos and Titan are two more, but don't appear to be available in the US. If there are an others I would be happy to hear about them.
 
unless you brace the tool holder no matter how tight u have it, your tool rest is pulled into turning

Putting a big piece of wood rotated to the side is like riding sidesaddle....its unbalanced
 
I picked up a Vicmarc 240 at the Oregon Woodturning Symposium last March, and have turned 50+ bowls on it, so still getting used to it. Only way I could figure out just what it was about the Vic lathes that a lot of turners like. This is the pivoting head stock done the way I would do it. Pull a pin and rotate to 30 degrees which allows you to use the banjo on the lathe, and avoid the leaning and/or arm extension that you have to use for bowl turning on a long bed lathe. Pull the pin and rotate to 90 degrees for turning over sized pieces, and you have to use the outboard banjo set up which is a but cumbersome, but works if you are not doing production work. Pull the pin, and it goes back to 0 degrees and lines up spot on. I do really like this lathe, and don't like long bed lathes for bowl turning. Oh, it has 3 speed ranges, which I love, and minimum rpm is maybe 5....

robo hippy
 
Hello Mark, I have a Jet 1640 and it has a rotating headstock. It came with an extension arm for the banjo which comes in handy. I use the rotating head quite often.
 
I also have a Jet 1640 EVS with a rotating headstock. One of the factors that I chose this lathe was for it's rotating headstock. It works great and I find it very easy to realign accurately when rotating it back to align with the tail stock. Dan B., in an earlier comment to this post stated that Jet no longer provides the rotating head with this model. I wasn't aware of this change. My lathe is only 9 months old so you might want to contact Jet Customer Service to confirm this change.
 
Reed, although not in the same class as a Vicmarc, the rotating head Jet 1640evs operates with a similar pull pin design you describe. I find that it lines up pretty darn close when I tried returning it to 0 degrees.

In any event, I have never used the rotating head feature for turning. I am pleased to have it in case I need it.
 
Yes, I wish to make a list of manufacturers who offer the feature. At this point the list includes: Nova, Rikon, Vicmarc, Grizzly, Jet, Colt-Stratos, and Titan.
 
Considerations of space use are one of the reasons people prefer the pivoting feature to the sliding headstock. It seems that this is mostly for a lathe that is in a slot and not much room on either end for outboard or sliding headstocks. For years, my lathe was in a corner, which is part of why I never considered outboard turning. Well, that and they really didn't have much in the way of an efficient set up for outboard banjos. I just found bowl turning to be much more 'ergonomically' efficient with the pivoting or sliding headstock compared to turning on a long bed lathe. There are a number of production turners who use the long bed Vicmarc lathes. If I was to turn a thousand or three bowls on one, I might be able to get used to that technique, but might not.....

robo hippy
 
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