vacuum chuck part

[curtis rosche]

i got my pump yesterday. i emailed the guy that Steve noted in his how to article, and his company doesnt make a fitting that will fit my spindle. i need to find the fiting to go from the spindle to the hose. my spindle is 3/4 dia outside, and 3/8 inside. does any one know where a fitting can be found?

[Jason Clark2]

Make your own, mine is made from some scrap walnut, a double sealed bearing from Lowes, a 1/4" NPT to 1/2" NPT bushing, a couple of rubber o rings, a 90 degree elbow and 1/4" NPT to 3/8" hose barb. I have about $20 invested in mine.

I started by drilling a 1/4" through hole in center of my scrap walnut. I also drilled a recess for the bearing. I then turned the front shaft of the walnut to fit inside the 5/8" through hole on my headstock. 2 small coves were turned to fit the 5/8" OD O rings. The threads were then turned off of the 1/4" NPT to 1/2" NPT bushing to fit the inner bore on the double sealed bearing and the bearing was epoxied into the recess. The elbow and 1/4" NPT to 3/8" hose barb were then threaded in place and the hose hooked up.

PM me if you have any questions.

Jason

[Chris Haas]

nice job jason, i made mine out of some scrap corian from a cabinet shop, works like a charm and it only cost about 10 bucks to build. definetly easy and rewarding.

[Ryan Baker]

Tom is making an adapter for me too.

What lathe do you have? Is the outboard spindle threaded or smooth?

[curtis rosche]

i have an old old craftsman 101.something it is threaded on the outboard side, but he said it was to small

[Dave Schell]

Curtis, Tom couldn't help me out either because my Vicmarc was internally threaded. I instead made the adapter myself using a plan similiar to the one already posted, but instead of a morse taper with two o-rings, I used a bolt with the same thead as my lathe, drilled a hole through it, and attached it through the adapter. Worked fine. Although for version 2 of the adapter, I bought a Bealls tap to match my outside threading and directly threaded the adapter body itself - works even better.

[curtis rosche]

i think i will put a peice of pvc over the threads and epoxy the bearing to the pvc, the inner hole is to small to put something in

[Ryan Baker]

That is almost surely a 3/4-16 thread ... which is what all the Craftsman lathe spindles seem to be. You can pick up a standard 3/4-16 threaded hex nut at the hardware store and epoxy your adapter onto that. It makes a much nicer and more secure attachment.

[curtis rosche]

thats a much better idea , thanks Ryan.

[curtis rosche]

i just thought about it aand i dont think the hardware store carries reverse thread nuts

[Ryan Baker]

My local ACE/ACO has them (left hand thread). Look in the little drawers and I bet you will find them. Or you could try something like Lowes.