Vicmarc 300 short benchtop lathe

[Bart Leetch]

Is this lathe long enough to use a bowl coring system on?

 

[Clifton C]

vicmarc

Bart,
I do not have a Vicmarc but…

I use the Mcnaughton, and have it positioned about an inch or two away from the front of a bowl blank so I think a Mcnaughton would work. I’m thinking, 4 inches for a Stronghold chuck, 8 inches if you had a really thick bowl blank and 4 more for the banjo coming up with 16, which leaves 4 inches to play with.
The banjo and tool post take a lot of stress but according to Vicmarc the tool post on a VL300 is 30mm so that would not be a problem,

Oneway has its own banjo as part of their system and looks like it uses about the same
amount of real estate as the Mcnaughton..

I think motor strength would be more of an issue.
I remember reading an article about a guy who used the “pulse method†on a mini lathe.
He would start the cut and as the lathe slowed down he would stop, let the speed build back up and do it again.
Took a little while but apparently it worked for him.
Of course you could always buy a bigger…ah never mind…
c

 

[hughie]

The VL300 Short Adjustable Stand Mount EVS (Electronic Variable Speed) lathe has been designed to suit most professional wood turners. The electronic variable speed drive gives up to 200% torque on low rpm and it comes with a powerful 2.2kw motor . The three-step pulleys 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.

Taken from Vicmarc Australia web site

I would imagine that any coring system would easily be accomdated on a Vicmarc 300 and a 2.2kw or 3hp+ motor should do fine.

 

[Sam Gubler]

The McNaughton Center Saver, Woodcut Bowl Saver, and the Oneway Easy Core will all fit the VL300 Shortbed.

 

[Clifton C]

Taken from Vicmarc Australia web site

I would imagine that any coring system would easily be accomdated on a Vicmarc 300 and a 2.2kw or 3hp+ motor should do fine.

Right you are Hughie, no slight intended for Vicmarc nor the boys down under.
I seem to remember an earlier post by Bart about a 300 with no motor…
Bart, please take no offense, I know you know you need more than a rubber band to power a lathe for coring purposes…
c

 

[hughie]

all good

Yeah thats true they advertise down here with out a motor. I assume that you guys would get a motor included. Generally speaking you need 1hp or greater and the short bed sometimes is a real gain as you can get around the blank much better. I have a short bed and a long bed, love the short bed for bowls and hollow vessels and would not be with out it.

Slight? Nah! none noticed and none taken, just adding my nickel and dimes worth 🙂

 

[Jim Carroll]

As hughie has indicated the lathe can cope quite easily with any bowl coring system

When we demo these at the Timber And Working with wood shows with the Woodcut bowl saving jig on the VL300 we set it up on the low speed so to give maximun torque.
Never a problem
We have a 3hp 240v EVS motor here in Aus so you would be wise to find an applicable motor.

Minimum reccomendations are a 1hp motor which will do the job just a bit slower as you need to feed in a bit quieter, this is a proper motor not one of the asian motors that have ponies instead of horses.

 

[Bart Leetch]

I have a Baldor 2 HP motor with VFD attached That I've been using on a small Delta lathe that will go on the VL 300.

 

[dbonertz]

Bart,

That baldor 2hp should work fine. When you set up your lathe may I suggest wiring for a remote control box. You will love the versatility it gives you especially when coring, hollowing and etc. Mine has the on/off, forward/reverse and speed control in a remote box. Really don't know how I got along so long without it. What a luxury.

 

[Nate Hawkes]

Is this lathe long enough to use a bowl coring system on?

Bart, I think one detail that is being left out is that you definitely will have to remove the tailstock from the lathe or get a swinging platform to keep it out of the way while coring. I have a Powermatic 3520, and with the McNaughton system, while hollowing a deep bowl, the tailstock would sometimes be in the way at the very beginning of the cut if I did not have the bed extension to slide it just a little further to the right.
The points about the motor are dead on. I would say though that if you're trying to do production-scale turning and coring, opt for the 3HP motor instead of 2HP. I have no trouble whatsoever stopping the PM3520's 2HP motor while shaping the exterior of a bowl. Coring is no different.

Edit; I didn't read very carefully; the 2HP that you have should work just fine--until you turn on someone's 3HP machine. 😉