With no exaggeration, the VB36 has been designed to equip you with ultimate potential to take on any wood-turning project — and enjoy it! In his work, "The Lathe Book", American author and turner Ernie Conover (who writes for Fine Woodworking Magazine) entitles one chapter "Dream Lathes". In fact there is only one machine described — the VB36.
Of course we are very familiar with manufacturers claiming "uniqueness" for their products, but the VB is truly unique in the best possible way.

 
The larger VB36 Mainshaft Compared to a
Wadkin Industrial Lathe shaft

Ball or roller bearings have theoretical point or line contact with their tracks and the actual contact area is therefore very small. The boundary film provided by the lubricant breaks down and generates wear and noise which worsen as the bearing ages.  In contrast, in the plain bearing, the curvature of the adjacent surfaces is practically identical. Plain bearings are capable of carrying hugely increased loads dispersed over a large surface area and not in a line like roller bearings.

 We give the VB bearings a 10 year guarantee but firmly believe that they will last forever! (In contrast, service life of ball bearings in lathes might typically be limited to 5000 hours, or significantly less, according to load and speed factors as well as the quality of the original bearings and accuracy of housing alignment.

 

 CLEAR PATH ACCESS

Unlike many other lathes on the market which have bulky tailstock beds which get in the way of comfortably tuning on you project VB gives you the option of removable tailstocks to allow you get front and center on the work piece.

The design of the VB allows you to make the cuts required for your work with your weight balanced directly over your feet; elbows pulled into your sides to gain maximum control inertia from your body. Here again the VB is unique in allowing complete freedom of movement while you work on your project.

 Controls

 VB controls are fed in 6ft cord to a magnetically backed box that can be stuck on any flat metal surface precisely where needed to comfortably have control wherever the operator stands. Switches are provided for starting and stopping the lathe; running in forward or reverse ; choosing fast or slow acceleration and braking times; and setting or varying the speed by means of a ten revolution dial.