New Laguna 2436

[Randy Anderson]

I finally pulled the trigger today on a new Laguna 2436. In my journey of making large hollow forms I've pushed the limits of my current Jet 1642 well beyond what I likely should have. It's held up well but it's time to move on. I recently picked up a large load of some very large black walnut and have some very large ash that finally convinced me that I can't keep sizing down pieces to make them fit my lathe. I ordered the 12" swing away bed extension so that gives me 48" center to center. That's should be plenty. If not, they make a longer extension.

For anyone else interested Laguna is having a 10% sale starting Oct 1st. My local wood store was able to order it with the discount. Should be here by first of October. Free shipping if I go pick it up.

Now to deal with the downstream changes of a bigger machine. Run a 220V line across the shop, resize the support posts on my deep hollowing rig to the new center height, get a riser for my steady rest to the new center.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Congratulations on your choice, I've had mine for about 6 years.

Something to think about, I purchased mine and pretty much got every accessory. The only accessory that didn't work, or at least I have been unable to get it to work satisfactorily, is the swing away rest.

All of the accessories for the 24/36 were designed for the much smaller 18/36. The tailstock on the 2436 is massive compared to the 18/36 and no matter how hard I tried, it was just too iffy. There is the possibility they may have changed things since, but.....

As for the bed extension, best accessory out there and if you are going to do largish stuff, I would suggest the bed extension is worth it. With the bed extension you also get a tailstock riser, as well as a tool post riser. You can see the tailstock and tool post risers in these pictures.

You can attach the bed extension to the front, slide the headstock down and by changing the banjo from the lathe bed to the bed extension, you can finish off the rear of large bowls/platters without needing to de-chuck the piece.

In case you are wondering, the chuck is a VM120 with Vicmarc's largest faceplate ring.

You may notice my homemade spindle locking mechanism. Two rare earth magnets, a bit of steel and hey presto, you have two hands to manage placing stock onto the lathe. Some people have suggested to use the indent system, but compared to this simple method/tool, doing that is fiddly as anything.

I also have two accessory lights, fabulous, just fabulous with these aging eyes.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Mick, thanks for the info and pictures. I take the tail stock off a number of times during the process for large hollow forms. Sliding the banjo off to slide the steady rest up in place, then back, etc. I'm hoping it's substantial enough to support what I do since yes, lifting the tail stock up and down off the bed would be a challenge. Their videos of it claim you can treat it just like the rest of the bed but, it's only really fastened by the latch. Will see.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Randy, I see where you are coming from more clearly now. With the bed extension, you also get the tailstock riser. This is kitted out with it's own locking lever; meaning you can easily slide it up and down the bed extension until it literally joins up to the lathe beds.

If the swing-away doesn't work out as you hope it will, then this is possibly something to consider.

I generally leave the bed extension in the bottom position with the tailstock riser permanently on it. When I wish to remove the banjo or do anything else, I just slide the tailstock riser to the bed end, slide the tailstock onto it, then slide the whole lot to the end of the bed extension, which is 508mm in length. Once you have the bed extension perfectly aligned with the bed rails, life is simple.

I found that with the tailstock positioned right on the right at the rear of the lathe bed while on the swing-away, the tailstock just seemed to get in the road of doing things. This is apart from the fact the weight of the 24/36 tailstock is massive and I think it pushes the swing-away to its limit. It's also not helped by me having the remote unit on the tailstock arm, as well as my second light.

Ps: you are going to love the two sets of switches. I primarily use the remote switch, but just this week I've been doing green turning a batch of ten bowls. Switching between gouging out the bowl inner, I use the remote, I move the tool rest a smidge for the outside and switch to the main switch; so nice to use and so quick.

I just went into the garage and took these pictures.

 

[William Rogers]

Congrats on your new lathe.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Congrats on the new lathe, Randy!

 

[Randy Anderson]

Mick, your info and pics have me rethinking my plan but still not sure. Like a lot of things, no simple one size fits all answer. One big concern is when I have a massive log mounted and the tail stock is partially or totally on the swing away will it be able to take the load. It's only fastened in place with that clip. I asked Laguna tech support but didn't get a solid answer on the ability of the swing away to support a large heavy load. The initial blank will be very very heavy (pushing 200lbs) and the tail stock can take quite a lot of weight and stress, especially in the beginning. During hollowing I'll need to mount the support frame for the hollowing rig on the 12" extension which means, no matter which way I go, I will have to manually lift the tail stock off the lathe and set it aside. There's just no way around that step. The hollowing rig support frame takes a lot of mostly upward force when deep hollowing, downward is directed to the tool rest. I'm trying to visualize the steps to be sure. I still have time to change to the fixed extension if I decide to.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Congrats on your new lathe.

Thanks...

 

[Randy Anderson]

Congrats on the new lathe, Randy!

Thanks...

 

[Dave Hulett]

I finally pulled the trigger today on a new Laguna 2436. In my journey of making large hollow forms I've pushed the limits of my current Jet 1642 well beyond what I likely should have. It's held up well but it's time to move on. I recently picked up a large load of some very large black walnut and have some very large ash that finally convinced me that I can't keep sizing down pieces to make them fit my lathe. I ordered the 12" swing away bed extension so that gives me 48" center to center. That's should be plenty. If not, they make a longer extension.

For anyone else interested Laguna is having a 10% sale starting Oct 1st. My local wood store was able to order it with the discount. Should be here by first of October. Free shipping if I go pick it up.

Now to deal with the downstream changes of a bigger machine. Run a 220V line across the shop, resize the support posts on my deep hollowing rig to the new center height, get a riser for my steady rest to the new center.

Congratulations Randy! Several of our club members have the Laguna and love 'em.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Congratulations Randy! Several of our club members have the Laguna and love 'em.

Thanks Dave. Now need to find a home for a still great but very well used Jet 1642.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Thanks Dave. Now need to find a home for a still great but very well used Jet 1642.

Curious, I Googled "used Jet 1642" and got this: https://www.lalsoft.com/?ggcid=3308707

Clearly a dodgy site. But you can get a 1642 for $50!

 

[Mick Fagan]

One thing you may need to do, is to fiddle with certain tools you may have manufactured, or possibly re-model them.

When I moved up from my Nova lathe, my steady wouldn't fit, so a new base needed to be made to fit the old steady onto the new lathe.

 

[Tim Hanus]

I finally pulled the trigger today on a new Laguna 2436. In my journey of making large hollow forms I've pushed the limits of my current Jet 1642 well beyond what I likely should have. It's held up well but it's time to move on. I recently picked up a large load of some very large black walnut and have some very large ash that finally convinced me that I can't keep sizing down pieces to make them fit my lathe. I ordered the 12" swing away bed extension so that gives me 48" center to center. That's should be plenty. If not, they make a longer extension.

For anyone else interested Laguna is having a 10% sale starting Oct 1st. My local wood store was able to order it with the discount. Should be here by first of October. Free shipping if I go pick it up.

Now to deal with the downstream changes of a bigger machine. Run a 220V line across the shop, resize the support posts on my deep hollowing rig to the new center height, get a riser for my steady rest to the new center.

I think you are going to love the 24/36. I recently got mine after using the Jet 1442 for 20+ years. This thing is really nice. Congrats on the purchase.