Bill Bolen
12-15-2009, 11:21 AM
First off, thanks again to Bob Hamilton for his excellent videos on vacuum chucking using his shop vac. Got me moving in the right direction.
Seems as if Nova has stopped making their vacuum adapter. The one pictured I made by gluing up several layers of left over quarts counter top material. I’m sure a good hardwood like cherry or maple could easily be used for this purpose, but I was having fun playing and always wanted to try turning this stuff. The adapter is turned to a “suction fit” to seat firmly inside the hand wheel. Once seated a set screw (included with the Nova) locks the adapter in place. I bought an $8 sealed bearing from my local hardware store with 5/8” bore and turned a plug to fit inside the bore out of the same counter top material. Into this plug I drilled a 3/8” hole to accept the lamp rod I used to serve as an axle and as a vacuum tube going into the spindle. Made a few chucks and presto chango I was vacuum chucking. I usually use a home made Longworth chuck for cleaning up the bottoms of bowls. But now I can see what everyone is raving about using a vacuum chuck. This is sweet! Of the 2 chucks I made I prefer the disc shaped one over the cupped one. I used 12MM thick foam (a waterproof sleeping bag mat from Wal-mart) and this stuff seems to stop the piece from shifting if you smack it with your hand. The 2MM foamies offer a stong seal but I can shift a work piece if I hit it kinda hard with my hand. I spent a good afternoon Saturday making the whole set up and consider it well worth my time and effort. I don’t fool myself thinking that this is as strong as a system using a vacuum pump but for now it works well for me. Hope this inspires some of you…Bill..
Seems as if Nova has stopped making their vacuum adapter. The one pictured I made by gluing up several layers of left over quarts counter top material. I’m sure a good hardwood like cherry or maple could easily be used for this purpose, but I was having fun playing and always wanted to try turning this stuff. The adapter is turned to a “suction fit” to seat firmly inside the hand wheel. Once seated a set screw (included with the Nova) locks the adapter in place. I bought an $8 sealed bearing from my local hardware store with 5/8” bore and turned a plug to fit inside the bore out of the same counter top material. Into this plug I drilled a 3/8” hole to accept the lamp rod I used to serve as an axle and as a vacuum tube going into the spindle. Made a few chucks and presto chango I was vacuum chucking. I usually use a home made Longworth chuck for cleaning up the bottoms of bowls. But now I can see what everyone is raving about using a vacuum chuck. This is sweet! Of the 2 chucks I made I prefer the disc shaped one over the cupped one. I used 12MM thick foam (a waterproof sleeping bag mat from Wal-mart) and this stuff seems to stop the piece from shifting if you smack it with your hand. The 2MM foamies offer a stong seal but I can shift a work piece if I hit it kinda hard with my hand. I spent a good afternoon Saturday making the whole set up and consider it well worth my time and effort. I don’t fool myself thinking that this is as strong as a system using a vacuum pump but for now it works well for me. Hope this inspires some of you…Bill..