Roger Chandler
08-24-2010, 7:29 PM
Today I turned a black walnut bowl 9-5/8 inches across, and 4 inches deep.
After removing some punky wood, and getting the shape pretty much where I wanted, and sanded, I took it out of the SuperNova 2 chuck and put it into my new Hold Fast Vacuum Chuck [the first time I have used it]
I would like to report that the vacuum chuck performed flawlessly on this bowl and on the G0698 lathe. The vacuum gauge registered 22 hg, and I turned the bottom off at 960 rpm, and the bowl never moved at all. I used the 6 inch chuck head for this bowl, and I have to say, that I was impressed with the functionality of this system, and the way it was so easy to set up and use on my 18x47 lathe.
If anyone has a compressor that will give 4 or more cfm, then you should not have any problems at all with the Hold Fast system. The makers of the unit say 3 cfm, but I added one just to be safe.
The only thing I had to do to make it fit my G0698 lathe was what any other lathe owner would have to do, and that is cut the threaded rod to length that goes through the spindle to correct length, and remove the plastic dust cover off the center of the outboard spindle hole. Piece of cake!
I did put a coat of sanding sealer on the inside of the bowl before I removed it from the SN2 chuck, to avoid air leakage through the end grain, and the vacuum was maintained at a high [22hg] level, the minimum requirement is about 11 or 12 hg.
Hope this helps anyone with a 18x47 lathe and is considering a vacuum chuck system..........this one really works well.
After removing some punky wood, and getting the shape pretty much where I wanted, and sanded, I took it out of the SuperNova 2 chuck and put it into my new Hold Fast Vacuum Chuck [the first time I have used it]
I would like to report that the vacuum chuck performed flawlessly on this bowl and on the G0698 lathe. The vacuum gauge registered 22 hg, and I turned the bottom off at 960 rpm, and the bowl never moved at all. I used the 6 inch chuck head for this bowl, and I have to say, that I was impressed with the functionality of this system, and the way it was so easy to set up and use on my 18x47 lathe.
If anyone has a compressor that will give 4 or more cfm, then you should not have any problems at all with the Hold Fast system. The makers of the unit say 3 cfm, but I added one just to be safe.
The only thing I had to do to make it fit my G0698 lathe was what any other lathe owner would have to do, and that is cut the threaded rod to length that goes through the spindle to correct length, and remove the plastic dust cover off the center of the outboard spindle hole. Piece of cake!
I did put a coat of sanding sealer on the inside of the bowl before I removed it from the SN2 chuck, to avoid air leakage through the end grain, and the vacuum was maintained at a high [22hg] level, the minimum requirement is about 11 or 12 hg.
Hope this helps anyone with a 18x47 lathe and is considering a vacuum chuck system..........this one really works well.