Newbie with a gloat and ????'s

[Terry Ventorini]

Bought a used mortiser of CL and walking out the door asked if he anything else for sale he said a lathe. Long story short I got a 12" craftsman lathe and 8 tools for $25. :)
i'm really interested in turning bowls, the manual shows making a plug chuck? for such items. can I upgrade the chuck? I know this is'nt the best lathe for what I want to do (rpms way to fast) I figure with a little modifying it'll get me started. Thanks to all this site is great.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Terry - Welcome to the Creek!

I started out on a Craftsman mono-tube lathe and even though it was old - was good enough to learn on! The slowest speed on my lathe was 875 rpm - which is seriously way to fast for roughing out bowls - and even though I launched more than a few - it can be done.

My lathe had a 3/4" x 16 tpi spindle and I bought a Talon chuck that worked great! Still use the chuck on my new lathe after replacing the threaded adapter. There are a number of fine chucks out there - so do a little research and find which one meets your needs and pocketbook.

Also suggest getting with your local turnings club - lots of great folks willing to give you a hand getting started in turning!

Have fun! Looking forward to seeing some of your turnings real soon!