24" Midi Duplicator

by Vega

Product Description

For anyone who has to make more than a single turned object, duplicators are almost essential to a good job. Most tables, for example, look more professionally done when all the legs match. If youre making a production run of pens for advertising or other purposes, getting them as close to alike as possible, and doing the job as fast as possible, is important. VEGA duplicators remove stock faster than all but the most experienced woodworkers can, while keeping within very tight tolerances (if the workpiece is heavy enough to not deflect, up to 1/2" can be removed per pass). It works off a template, and can easily work off an original turning (with a 2" maximum turning diameter). Most small-scale lathe duplicating machines do not work well, are poorly made, and the cutters are cheap, often hard or impossible to sharpen, and difficult to replace. And the duplicators will fit only a single machine. VEGA has changed all that. These Lathe Duplicators cover mini and midi lathes. A narrow diamond shaped HSS cutter is included with each duplicator and replacement cutters are available. The Diamond V Kit adapts the duplicator to use solid carbide inserts for production situations where frequent sharpening of the cutter is necessary. Each insert is two-sided and replacement inserts are available. The Midi Duplicator is designed to fit most midi or mini lathe on the market and copies parts up to 10" long. A nice feature of the Vega is that you retain the option to use hand tools to finish the work or to make changes-the Duplicator can either be removed, or mounted on the back of the lathe with the cutter upside down). Not illustrated.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 36 x 9.5 x 5 inches ; 15.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15.6 pounds
• ASIN: B003DL31IQ
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,300 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I was hoping, May 11, 2011

By 

graeme parkin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 24" Midi Duplicator (Misc.)

When the duplicator arrived, I opened the box to find all the components needed to assemble the item just loose and scattered. I know they "test" the item before shipping, but even so guys, put the nuts and bolts etc back in a bag. Took me a while to find all the pieces, but miraculously, they were all there. Assembly isn't too bad and doesn't take long, but like all things requiring assembly, better instructions and diagrams would be helpful. But then where's the challenge in that....right. The real challenge for me was fixing it to the lathe and getting it straight and true. This is more a function of my impatience than anything to do with the duplicator, so no marks lost here. But be aware that you need to spend some time getting this part of the equation right.
I put the duplicator to work right away doing some spindles for a drop leaf table. In theory, this product should have had no problems in doing this simple task, but it did. The cutter is obviously linked to the guide bar and to a manual control to determine depth of cut. My problem lay in the mechanics of this movement. The unit kept sticking, refusing to advance the blade until encouraged with more force. Once this resistance was overcome, the blade advanced too far and jammed into the workpiece, resulting in a horrible cut or worse binding into the spindle, stopping the rotation of the spindle and on one occasion, nearly pulling the duplicator off its mountings.
I am hoping that this issue can be fixed with some judicious cleaning and lubing of the internal mechanism. If I can fix this, then I'm sure I will have a decent duplicator. Until then its's just another expensive mistake collecting dust in my workshop. I am curious though, if they do test prior to dispatch, why did they send me this obviously faulty item? I will post again with my results.