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Vicmarc VOD question

n7bsn

n7bsn

Joined
Oct 29, 2005
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Location
wetter washington
Website
www.ralphandellen.us
I just got a "retention" bonus at work...and I've been thinking

What do owners (and I know there is at least one here) of the Vicmarc VOD think of it, now that you've had it for a time

TTFN
Ralph
 
Vicmarc VOD

I'm not sure what a Vicmarc VOD is but I currently have a Vicmarc 175 and until recently a 100. For me these are the best lathes you can buy - the quality is superb and the company are always really helpful if you need it.

Regards

Paul in the UK (and a very happy Vicmarc user for 4 years)
 
I did get to see it in use in Portland when the Symposuim was held there 2 years ago. Looks like a fine piece of machinery, well thought out, well built, and sturdy, kind of like their chucks. Very spendy, and you would have to use it a lot to pay for it. I haven't gotten one yet, and may some time in the future, just as a novelty, but might have to win a lottery first. Cutters do have to be on dead center for use because of the oval turning, but the tool junkie in me is drooling.

robo hippy
 
Robo

I looked at the VOD at Portland also, I know that Dale Larson has one, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him last week (he was up from Portland for the local meeting)

Of course it's only been "since then" that I have been thinking seriously about it
 
Does anyone know what they sell for. I've been doing some searching on the net and can't find one for sale.
 
A few years ago while in Las Vegas, I stopped by Woodworkers Emporium. The owner, Christian, took me over to his house / home shop and demoed the VOD on a 3520. I'm sure Christian could answer your questions, and I'll bet it's about a $2000+ investment.
 
Vod

Hi John,
The vicmarc VOD costs $2000. I believe that you may also need a dead-on hollowing rig to run it correctly...not sure about that part. Vicmarc also sells a hollowing rig...I think it's about $5-600 with the laser. Only reason I know how much is because I just bought a new VL300 short bed and, was considering going for "the works" to include the VOD, vacuum chuck stuff...everything. I was only looking in that area code price wise because a very smart man in Australia convinced me to go for a cast iron lathe rather than the big white steel tube. With the difference in price, I could have bought the VOD and still clocked in a good deal cheaper. So, I took some of my "savings" between the two machines and bought a bunch of vic chucks and sets of jaws. It should be here Monday...I can't wait. Best lathe in the world but, that's just my opinion and, that's why I bought one.
If you're interested in more info on the VOD, pull up the Vicmarc web-site and, there is a video of a guy setting a VOD up. It appears pretty complicated to me which honestly is another reason I didn't buy it at this time.
To buy one you can contact Christian at Woodworkers Emporium in Vegas. Really nice and honest guy who will help you any way that he can.
Good luck and, if you try it, let me know what you think. I honestly think that oval turning is going to be a major area of growth in wood turning.
Rgds,
Jay


john lucas said:
Does anyone know what they sell for. I've been doing some searching on the net and can't find one for sale.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Jay. I've been following the development of this rig ever since the article in More Woodturning. I think it would be really fun to play with. Unfortunately that is far beyond my means.
 
I've owned and used a VOD since late in '06. I believe the one I purchased from Craft Supplies may have been the first imported to the US and they gave me outstanding support to get everything hooked up and working on my Stubby S750. I opted to only get the VOD itself and not the elbo-like hollowing tool that they try to include, as I'd been a fan of Johannes Volmer, the man who invented the mechanism, for some time and knew it really wasn't needed. You can see some of what he's done and download his .pdf on oval turning at: http://www.volmer---ovaldrehen.de/englisch.htm I've oval turned with Volmer's light line approach quite well and also used my 'D' handle Jamison rig successfully. About a year after getting the VOD, I raised my Stubby's headstock by 2" to get additional clearance over the bed for oval turning.

Although 'start-up' wasn't all that pretty, I can't say enough about Craft Supplies customer support. Since then, I've not had any problems with the device - it's Vicmarc engineered and solid as a rock. The VOD I saw in Richmond's AAW Symposium with Woodworker's Emporium seemed to have a better finish to it, but was exactly the same as mine otherwise. Since I'm in the East and they don't have a website up, I've not had any other interaction with them other than at Richmond.

I've demonstrated the VOD at several Mid-Atlantic clubs and the Virginia Symposium on a Oneway, a Powermatic and several Jet lathes with no problems. You've got to have a minimum of 16" over the bed, but it's very adaptable otherwise.

Although I've made several bowls and a goblet on it, I primarily make hat blocks for my wife and others. Our web site has some photos of this: http://www.abhats.com/hat_blocks.htm. I also wrote a couple of introductory articles for Fred Holder's More Wood Turing and you can probably find them in his archives: http://www.morewoodturning.net/

Hope this helps!
 
Thought I should add some more info:

The initial problems I had with the early model were mostly about the unit output shaft being threaded for only the included faceplate and a Vicmarc metric thread size. Craft Supplies had a new output spider made with the 1 1/2 x 8 thread all my faceplates have. There also wasn't a manual that is included today.

The major difference between the VOD (based on Volmer's design) and either the sliding plate type (Michelangelo's design), or a Rose engine is the size and mass you can oval turn on it. The VOD's counter balancing weights don't completely cancel out swinging 5 or more pounds of wood & faceplate about, but they do a considerable amount. I've even put an expanding jaw chuck with bowl jaws to finish the bottom of pieces with no problems. Johannes would probably throw things at me if he knew how much mass I was putting on it, but the VOD took it all in stride.
 
Thanks for the info, I'd read Volmer's stuff a couple of years ago and have Springett's video on his small-light-weight system (which appears to me to be more suitable for the treadle lather I am building)

But my interest continues and I expect I will be buying one
 
Vicmar oval turning chuck

I have been selling those since the AAW Portland symposium. I can answer some question since I have been experimenting with mine. The price is around 2000.00 and come with a Vicmarc adaptor to fit the lathe spindle, the nose can be the standart M33 or 1-1/4 by 8 though I think the M40 is the better one since it allows to thread a VM100 or a VM90 directly without an adaptor. The weight of the chuck has to be taken in account in the calculation of setting up the counter weight and the lighter the chuck the more there is for the piece.
A hollowing device is not necessary but can be of some help. All cutting has to be done in the horizontal plane that is in the center of the spindle lathe. I have used a laser line projected around the tail stock to help in placing the gouge. After Dale Larson told me he did not use one I gave it a try and it is fairly easy to find that sweet spot that does not bounce your tool.
I think Jay is right that this tool could expend the design possibilities of the lathe. The ratio of the ellipse can be changed and also the ellipse can be rotated.
I always thought that this kind of tool because of the price would be better bought by clubs and then loaned to the members after a little bit of training
 
Cascayou, can you give us an approximate rpm limit for use of the VOD? Granted this can vary considerably with the size/weight of the workpiece, but am just asking for a sort of average, "ballpark" number. Am considering building one of the sliding plate design, which of course would be limited to a much slower speed.
 
Cascayou

I purty much knew the price-class

Since my lathe is 1-1/4x8 that's the way I would have to go.

I've been reading Vicmarc's guide and working at understanding the instructions.

I really do wish I had talked to Dale when he was here last month....

TTFN
Ralph
 
Speed on the VOD

In response to Texian. I have turned some platters using a VM100 chuck about 12" in the longest dimension around 900 rpm and I believed I could have spun a little bit faster. The manual does not give a rpm limit but a weight limit of 5kg ( about 11 lbs).
 
In my experience weight and speed limits are both driven by the amount of offset/'ovalness' the VOD is set for, and also how well its balanced. Given that your output shaft speed is 1/2 of the input, if the offset is at zero, it shouldn't matter too much how fast its going, and it'll carry much more than twenty pounds. I've turned about fifteen pounds with the offset at the five mark (don't ask me what that actually means) without any difficulties. I wouldn't ever try that with the offset out to the fifteen or twenty mark. The balancing part is something else. If I can get it very close to start, the amount of weight and setting obviously will change as I remove wood, meaning I've got to continually re-adjust it.

A different aspect is how close to the mechanism the weight is. I don't use the very close and thin faceplate that came with my VOD and probably would have less wear and tear on the mechanism if I did. (I've tons of 1 1/4 x 8tpi faceplates for my Stubby that I'd rather use.)
 
Web Resources

n7bsn said:
Thanks for the info, I'd read Volmer's stuff a couple of years ago and have Springett's video on his small-light-weight system (which appears to me to be more suitable for the treadle lather I am building)

But my interest continues and I expect I will be buying one
Click to expand...

Do you have a web site for this info?

John
 
I probably mentioned it early on this thread, but I also demonstrate the VOD for clubs, etc., and provide hands on time as well. Anyone near Northern Virginia is welcome to come by to see how it works as well. Instruction time can be had as well.
 

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VOD Manual

If anyone is interested in the manual I will be happy to forward it to them. i believe the first VOD did not have a manual available. Now it has graphs allowing to set up the counterweights. The marks for the offset are millimeters and will translate in a difference between the minor and major axis of 4 times this amount. For example at mark 10 the major axis will be 40mm longer than the minor axis or about 1.5".
 
I hope this is an updated version that has been corrected from the first release. I believe I mentioned earlier that I forwarded a copy to Volmer and he said the tables were off a bit. Not enough to cause major problems, but enough to be bothersome.
 
I think that's the same version I sent him. If you're using it to set a VOD, the tables are far better than what I had to do without the manual - guess! Don't expect perfection though. Johannes is an engineer, so he wants things very precise, especially if it's something he invented.

The greatest advantage of the VOD is that the weights can close to completely counterbalance the wood and fixing device being thrown about on the output shaft. This is what allows larger and heavier things to be oval turned than with anything other method.

The challenge is that the total weight on the output shaft changes as wood is removed and the weights can only be correct for a very short period of time. One completely empirical method I've used to determine this is to make the legs of my Stubby very slightly out of stable position and readjust the weights whenever it starts making noise. If I'm making something like one of my wife's hat blocks, this isn't really much of a consideration and I can go from start to finish without touching them.
 
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