Trouble turning small parts

[Robert Parrish]

I'm building a wooden railroad which has a lot of very small turnings, some as small as 1/16 inch. They are breaking often when they get real small in diameter. I'm using a scroll chuck and live center. I've tried a skew, scraper, parting tools for the turning but I get the same results. What is the best method for turning small diameter parts?

[Brian Brown]

I assume that you mean 1/16 diameter. I don't know how long they are, but my choice would be to not use a tailstock. Just hold them with a chuck, and carefully use your fingers behind them to stabilize them when turning. I find this is the best way to do delicate finials.

[Thom Sturgill]

Also not knowing how long the pieces are, google 'string steady rest' and you will find several solutions to holding long thin spindles.

[Robert Parrish]

Brian, they are small pins with a 1/8 inch diameter head then a 1/16 inch body. I tried turning them without the tailstock but they whip a lot. I tried turning several at once but usually only get one useable. I thought about making them from a 1/8 inch dowel and a 1/16 inch dowel then gluing them together.

[Bob Hamilton]

Would something like this work for you?:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3CA528EBEE61AB7A

That is what I used to turn the perches for my acorn birdhouses, starting with 1/8" stock and turning a 1/16" tenon on the end.

Take care
Bob

[Thom Sturgill]

As usual, great video Bob! another tool to add to the arsenal.

[dan petroski]

if you have a lot of them to do get an pencil sharpener and modify it to leave a 1/16 in dowel. grind the end of the cutter to leave the dia you want. or find an old drafting pencil sharpener. they were modified to leave the lead. dating myself again

[Robert Parrish]

Bob, that looks like what I need. I have a collet chuck and I was thinking about using a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock for support. Is that safe? I also have 16 1 1/2 inch wheels that I will have to turn without tailstock support. The hub gets cut out than holes are drilled for spokes then a wheel is parted off. That should be fun!

[Paul Atkins]

What is your material? Rock maple works well for small parts as does boxwood. Ask George about that.

[Bob Hamilton]

Hi, Robert:
I guess I don't understand what you are making. What would the Jacobs chuck be doing? I would not have more than an inch or so extending out of the collet. Turn that to your finished diameter and if your piece needs to be longer then loosen the collet and extend some more for turning. If your piece is going to be so long that the free end can start to whip then turn a plug that will fit into the tailstock bore with a centered hole sized to allow the part to turn freely while restraining the whip. Probably 1/8" or so would work. Then you can feed the stock out of the collet and into the tailstock as you work.

This assumes your collet chuck is open ended so you can have your original sized stock extending through the collet into the heastock bore. You will also need to select your stock carefully with an eye to having the grain run straight down the length if you don't want to see a lot of breakage.

It certainly sounds like a lot of work. :)

Take care
Bob

[Jim Sebring]

One of the demonstrators at our club a few months ago turns very thin and detailed finials. He chucks the base in a scroll chuck, then uses a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock to put a little tension on the thin top end of the blank. This guy sells his boxes in the up to $2k + range. His demo blank was a piece of Ebony, so I guess he knows what he is talking about :) Were I to use his approach, I would use a drawbar to make sure the Jacobs chuck doesn't come loose.

I thought this novel approach was akin to using a japanese pull saw, rather than pushing a european style (wet noodle) saw like lots of folks still do.

[Jack Brown]

Jim, All this sounds very interesting,but the Jacobs chuck in the tailstock to add tension has me very confused. A Jacobs chuck in a tailstock does not rotate. Do you have any pictures? Who was this demonstrator? I would like to know him as I turn many long thin pieces similar to Jean Fransico Esculone's trembleur's.
Jack

[Robert Parrish]

Jim, that is basically what I was doing. I use the Jacobs chuck to help center the 1/4 inch stock in the scroll chuck because its almost impossible to use the live center without splitting the dowel. The Jacobs chuck is not tighten down so the part spins freely. Bob, I think I'll try the collet chuck today and see how that works. I have never turned anything this small before.

[Jim Underwood]

Turning small stuff between centers just doesn't work very well.

I've been turning some lace bobbins the past few months, and the best way I've found is to chuck the drive end up in a small jawed chuck, and use some kind of cup in the live center. In my Jet tailstock centers the center pin can be removed and a substitute cup can be turned to fit your stock. This way I don't have the splitting problem, and the thin turning isn't being bowed out of shape which causes all kinds of problems.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Robert I use the collet chuck from PSI to do basically what Bob was doing. I generally don't extend more the maybe a 1" to 1 1/2" out of the collet. I then use my index finger on the back side of the turning and use a 1/4" skew.

[Robert Parrish]

I used my Beall collet chuck this morning and it worked great! Thanks guys!

[Jim Sebring]

I realized after I had shut down last night that I had failed to mention that the tailstock Jacobs chuck is bearing equipped. It's available from Penn State in MT1 and MT2 persuasions. It is not tapped for a drawbar. I'm still pondering on how to hold the MT2 shaft so I can drill and tap it on my drill press.

The turner who demoed this technique is Dan Ackerman. Here's a link to our clubs newsletter that better describes what he does: http://www.northwestwashingtonwoodturners.org/june08.pdf