A little help with faceplate

[Todd Bin]

Hello all, Here is a dumb question. I recently got the Easy Wood 3 inch face plate. Well I screwed it to a piece of purple heart and turned it round. It is about 5 in in diameter. I can't get the thing off the lathe. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have one of the craftsman "rubber belt" wrenches and that doesn't work either. the face plate has a couple of threaded holes that I sprayed some WD40 into. No go.

I have considered drilling a hole through the wood and putting in a pry bar but I don't exactly want to do that.

THanks,
Todd

[John Keeton]

The Easy Wood faceplate is aluminum, and I suspect you had some roughness or grit on the face of your spindle that has "bitten" into the faceplate, since it is softer. If you have a spindle lock, I would lock it, and try to set a punch in one of the set screw holes at about a 45* angle, and give it a tap or two with a hammer. It may bung up the first thread, but you can chase that out with a tap later.

[David T gray]

are you using a lever bar idk what its called ? i used a 4 1/2 faceplate on a 14'' bowl and it got stuck good but came off quite easy with a few hits from a small mallet.

[Todd Bin]

Finally got it off. John's idea was a good one but it didn't work. The Aluminum is too soft and it just deformed using the punch. I drilled a hole completely through the wood :( and used my knock out bar to twist it off. I had to stand over the lathe to get enough leverage. And I am not exactly some weakliing.

I don't like ot bash tools and I do like the Easy wood turning tools but based on this I would not recommend the faceplates. The real issue is they didn't mill two "flats" in the edge so that you could use a wrench to twist it off.

Thanks,
Todd

[Thomas Canfield]

Todd,

I made a strap wrench using the handles from the Harbor Freight rubber strap wrenches and some 3/4" wide leather strap about 40" long to work with larger diameter pieces attached to my screw in the chuck. I sometimes have to use a piece of the rubber shelf liner to get a stronger grip for removal. Might be something for future reference.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Todd,
Despite that fact that most turners don't like nylon shims between the spindle shoulder and the faceplate, I find it necessary whenever using an aluminum attachment. My vacuum chuck is aluminum and I always use a washer with it. The aluminum is very soft and can easily bind against the lathe spindle. It doesn't even require roughness on the spindle. Having said that, my vacuum chuck is the only aluminum attachment I own. My face plates are steel and require no washer.

[Curt Fuller]

I'm late to comment but I had to look up these faceplate just out of curiosity. I found this on the CSUSA website.."5/16" Spanner hole allows for easy removal with lever bar (lever bar not included)" Seems like they ought to include the lever bar???? But even still, could you just use a piece of 1/4 or 5/16 rod to get it off?

[Todd Bin]

Do you think they are talking about the little hole in the side for the set screw. I don't see how I could have possibly got enough leverage with that. The rod would have bent before this thing broke loose. I agree that they should at least sell a spanner capable of providing enough torque without bending it or damaging the faceplate

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[Thom Sturgill]

This is interesting as EWT does not list faceplates on their site. I wonder if these are Don Pencil's being re-sold - he does sell them through Robust.
His have a hole in the rim for a 5/16 breaker and he advertises the use of his center marker as doubling as the breaker bar.

[Todd Bin]

Yes it is interesting. I bought mine at woodcraft. On the EWT webpage they don't have them under products but under purchase. I don't think these are the same as the Don Pencil.

[David T gray]

your doesn't have a hole like in my pic ?

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