Warning to users of Rikon 70-220VSR lathe

[Jim Eisenstein]

For my first turning project with a new Rikon 70-220VSR lathe
I chose to make the Shaker candle stand which is written up
in Fine Woodworking magazine. The centerpiece of the stand
is a pretty wine bottle shaped post to which three legs are attached
via dovetail slots in the base of the post. Obviously, the slots are
to be spaced 120 degrees apart. Fortunately, the lathe has an indexing
head with 24 numbered holes, each 15 degrees apart.

I had no problem turning the post nor routing the dovetail slots using
a router jig mounted onto the lathe; see the first photo. But, as you can see from the
second photo, the dovetail slots aren't equally spaced. How can this be? I used the numbering
scheme on the indexing head to rotate the spindle, first from location #1,
then to #9, and finally to #17.

The third photo shows the indexing head with position #1 at the top.
In this region of the head, the numbers seem well aligned with the holes.
The fourth photo shows the head with position #9 at top. Again all looks
fine. The problem is the the hole which seems to be #9 is actually #8, i.e.
only 105 degrees rotated away from #1! Finally, the fifth photo shows
that the mixup occur around holes 4-6. The hole nearest the #6 label
is actually only the fifth. A similar mess-up occurs around holes #15 and
#16.

Had I counted actual holes instead of relying on their labels, all would have
been fine. But then what the heck are the number labels for? Be interested to
hear if others have encountered this issue.

[Jason Edwards]

That's just sloppy manufacturing. I think it's important you get that info to Rikon someway.

[Brian Tymchak]

Wow, would not expect that from Rikon..

Are there actually 24 holes? It seems like with the numbering messed up like that, yet the last hole being numbered correctly as 24, then there might be only 23... Disclaimer, still early, caffeine load not yet full, so I could be off on that.

[Bill Howatt]

Bad placement of the 4, 5 holes and numbers. Poor quality.

[Richard Coers]

Of course the saying to measure twice and cut once also applies to turning. You could stepped off 3 lines on the end grain before you ever started cutting to do the double check. I don't see it as totally Rikon's fault. You don't double check the bevel on your table saw before making the cuts?

[Bill Howatt]

No arguing about the measure twice and do an "idiot check" that things look good. However, given the 4-5 alignment, and the fact that the 9 looks like it is in the correct location, I'd say it is primarily Rikon's fault.

[Jim Eisenstein]

No question that I could have avoided the problem by counting the holes (yes, there are 24). Nevertheless, there is
also no question that the manufacturing was sloppy and that the whole purpose of the numbers is avoid counting. BTW, the
4-5 mix-up is cancelled out further along around hole #14.

I've emailed RIKON; be interested to hear what they say. I imagine that the same spindle pulley is used on their other
midi lathes (eg. 70-150vsr, 70-1420vsr)

[Earl McLain]

Checked my 70-220vsr yesterday after reading this--the numbering is spot on with the holes. Mine's probably 6 or 7 years old. Definitely will be interesting to learn of Rikon's response for your case--hope it's good.

[Jim Eisenstein]

Reached tech support at Rikon today after sending them photos of the mislabeled indexing holes on the spindle pulley. They immediately
acknowledged the problem and are sending me a new pulley which they verified was properly labeled. They said that this particular pulley is only used
on the 70-220VSR lathe, not on the 70-150, 70-1420, etc. Couldn't really ask for better customer service.

[Brian Tymchak]

Reached tech support at Rikon today after sending them photos of the mislabeled indexing holes on the spindle pulley. They immediately
acknowledged the problem and are sending me a new pulley which they verified was properly labeled. They said that this particular pulley is only used
on the 70-220VSR lathe, not on the 70-150, 70-1420, etc. Couldn't really ask for better customer service.

Good to hear about the excellent CS. I've not had any reason to use their tech support but I really like that they have a great reputation.

[Bill Howatt]

Great news about their admitting the problem giving a quick resolution.
Hope changing the pulley isn't too much of a problem - lathe spindle pulleys aren't as easy to change as popping one off the non-supported end of a motor.

[Earl McLain]

Great news about their admitting the problem giving a quick resolution.
Hope changing the pulley isn't too much of a problem - lathe spindle pulleys aren't as easy to change as popping one off the non-supported end of a motor.

Agreed. Also, would appreciate hearing your experience with the change, since at some point i'll need to change belt on mine.

[Jim Eisenstein]

Bill, as you suspected, changing out the spindle pulley was not a walk in the park. Minor issues:
There is a snap retaining ring to remove; easy if you have the right tool, which I do not. The manual
simply says "remove it". Next there is the speed sensor to move out of the way. Easy to move out but
very awkward to return to its place at the end. But the real aggravation was getting the spindle out, and back
into, the bearings. The bearing at the left was an incredibly tight fit on the spindle. As the manual
says, you need to hammer it out (with protection obviously). In the end it all worked
out and the machine seems fine, but I did not like this procedure (and I have a fair bit of machine tool
experience).

Unfortunately, this same procedure is required in order to replace the drive belt.

[Earl McLain]

Glad you got it done. Probably 25-30 years ago i used a Sears gift certificate to get the best Craftsman snap ring plier set they had. Very good set, definitely not SnapOn or Mac, but darned good. Every 2 or 3 years i pull that case out for something, and i'm grateful i have it. One of the tools does what it needs to do, and without which...language from other worlds would have spewed from my mouth!!