Went looking for something and a few other things followed me home

[Ed.]

I went looking for a wood lathe chuck as the large wood lathe I made a few years ago has been designated to continue working as a drum sander (with an attachment I made to fit it) and will continue to do so as I don't have any large trunks to turn on it.

As there are a few smaller jobs that pop up occasionally and it is a bit of a hassle to remove the sander attachment, I started to build a smaller longer wood lathe, have most of the bits and steel laying around in the shed (apart from the chuck) gathering dust.

Dropped by to see a bloke up the coast from me who was selling off a few old wood tools, machines etc., from his shed, and although he didn't have a wood lathe chuck he did have a Dewalt 1251 radial arm saw, so negotiated a price of $50, been after one of these for ages as I wanted to convert one to cut granite and stone with a diamond saw. He did have an old home made wood lathe for sale but it was too "home made" for me.

Whilst I was chatting to him he did mention he had a better wood lathe in the other shed which he wasn't using but hadn't even thought about selling. So he showed it to me, turns out it was a 1997 Vicmark VL300. it holds a 1.2m spindle 300mm height off the bed and has a 2006 dual 1 and 3 phase 1.5HP motor on it. The spindle thread is 30mm x 3.5mm so any tooling bits that I get for it will directly fit on to the big wood lathe. Made him
an offer of $250 which he accepted and so that also followed me home.

Saves me time making a lathe from scratch, although I may make another one eventually and sell it off to help pay for some of the tools and bits that I will buy for this one. Overall I think I got a good deal on these two machines even though I still have to get a lathe chuck for it.

 

[zzr1200]

Bargain and a good find.

 

[Jim Davey]

Nice haul that.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I have the same RAS, a really useful piece of kit and one of the first bits of woodworking machinery I bought. Before I expanded my machinery collection I did everything on the RAS, cross cutting, ripping, tenons, finger joints and mitres. It's amazing what you can do with a radial arm saw.

 

[julianf]

I have the dw125 (ive never been able to work out the difference between the 125 and the 1251!)

Just waiting on some new blades and then i shall be attempting some more work with it.

Seems a shame to use it to cut stone. I would imagine that the slide will start to fail fairly quickly from dust etc.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I would imagine that the slide will start to fail fairly quickly from dust etc.

Even with water damping [or whatever the technical term is ]?

 

[julianf]

Then it will just be cutting paste, instead of dust! : ) The water will help the material get right into the bearings.

I wonder if the electrics could be made safe for wet cutting.

All i know is that, when i wet cut with my husky 2 stroke, everything turns grey. Me, the saw, the surrounding area, the whole lot.

Sadly ive got some 6 foot x 2'6 slate slabs to cut today or tomorrow. Its not a job im looking forward to.

 

[dobbslc]

Love the Bamboo!

 

[julianf]

Yeah, i wasn't saying that wet was worse (dry is far worst) but that it still gets all over the place.

Last time i cut a reasonable amount, there was dried dust all down the hill for about a week after, from where the run-off had carried it!

 

[Ed.]

If that's for the motor you put a pic of the data plate - that's not "1 and 3 phase"...

It's dual voltage, but only 3 phase.

Thanks for clarifying as I am not too sure about these sorts of things.


Anyway the Radial arm saw has had a change of home again after a couple of days with me, got an offer on it from someone who wanted it more than I did and so I couldn't refuse. Thereby collecting some cash to buy the wood lathe chuck that I wanted, it is a Vicmark VM-120.

I had tried out the radial arm saw but decided it wasn't what I wanted as it was a 10" and I would have preferred a 12" blade with a bigger motor, I threw a red gum sleeper in it and it didn't seem to cut it fast enough for me and also the motor body hit the sleeper due to the clearance issue of a 10" blade.
My missus bought me a Bosch 12" sliding bevel saw last Christmas so I wasn't that really disappointed in parting with the radial arm saw, at least selling it paid for the chuck which I have wanted for several years to fit my big wood lathe, now it will fit both as they use the same spindle thread size. The guy who bought it wanted to do some renovations around his house so it suited his purpose well.

I have a few things I will do to this wood lathe such as making a set of wheels so I can roll it out side the shed to use it and the motor may be getting an upgrade as well, it appears the original standard motor was 3HP and this one is 1.5HP, although having said that, as this lathe was bought to do smallish turning the existing motor may still suffice. I will machine up a one or two sets of different jaws for it on my metal lathe, but that will be pretty straight forward so shouldn't be too hard to do.

 

[Ed.]

Love the Bamboo!

Thanks but I am starting to get over them, I have about 100+ plants on my property and getting fed up with all the sheaf coverings that they drop, every dry spell they drop leaves and when it rains they drop the sheaf's with new growth, they are everywhere. Open my shed door on a windy day and it fills up with them as well, but they are great as a wind/storm break and look nice when there is plenty of water and they turn green.

Then it will just be cutting paste, instead of dust! : ) The water will help the material get right into the bearings.

I wonder if the electrics could be made safe for wet cutting.

The motor bearing should be safe from the dust as it is a sealed motor, don't know about the wiring, switch and the slide bearings though.

 

[bigegg]

I have the dw125 (ive never been able to work out the difference between the 125 and the 1251!)

Just waiting on some new blades and then i shall be attempting some more work with it.

Seems a shame to use it to cut stone. I would imagine that the slide will start to fail fairly quickly from dust etc.

That's the same RAS as mine.
The difference between the 125 and 1251 is the colour.