Erik Spencer
03-17-2011, 3:11 PM
Hi my name is Erik and I am a wood turner… it has been 6 weeks since my last catch…….
Hi there everyone – I’ve been lurking for a bit – discovered this site about a month ago – WOW! I had no idea there was this much knowledge amassed in a single location – I have been doing some serious thinking and getting a ton of ideas- thanks!
Here’s my background…
I’ve always been into wood-working of some type – as a kid I started with the Gullows rubber band powered airplanes, and moved up from there – I got my first “real” tools of my own when I was eight – I still have the handplane from back then (40 years ago) and while it is probably complete junk by today’s standards, I still use it at least once or twice a month, it works great, and it always brings back memories… (Question – Why do they make kids tools out of plastic? Plastic hammers, pliers, and screwdrivers? What are you supposed to do with those?)
I always wanted a lathe, and about 6 years ago, my wife finally got tired of hearing about it and decided if I wasn’t going to buy myself one, then she wanted one…. So she asked for one for xmas… (subtle right?) I bought her an awesome harbor freight 40 inch wood lathe for $89 bucks and a $12 set of tools (big spender). It sat in the box (in MY shop) for about a year, before I finally decided to put it together for her… she looked at it once…..
I had never seen anyone actually turn something live – I did see the guy at the home show with the shop smith crank out a top once… but he went so fast…. I decided to try out my wife’s lathe… with mixed results. There was a lot of reading the HF manual (these can be pretty entertaining sometimes, but leave a lot to be desired in the way of actual instructions) and trying to figure out how to get everything lined up. There was the issue of how to keep the lathe from walking across the floor (if you are not familiar withthe Harbor frieght lathe, it is made from steel of a slightly heaver gauge than tinfoil and maybe weighs 60 pounds), and with everything wobbling like it did, I had a very hard time understanding how to make everything work. I had some exciting moments with the skew – in the first 3 tries of applying an edge to wood, I managed to catch twice (recovered – as in I didn’t get hurt) and the third time sent the skew into the sheet rock above the work bench (it is still there today, as a reminder) and I think broke a finger (I didn’t tell my wife how it happened or do the ER route– it turned blue, and hurt like the dickens for about a week – the color eventually went from blue to brown to yellow and full functionality has more or less returned ) Until very recently, Skews were banned from my shop.
I had a lot of fun, scary, disappointing, and exhilarating times for the first year. I was trying to work beyond both my ability and capacity of “My Wifes” tools which ultimately resulted in many close encounters, the use of many bandaids, a lot of ice, and a visit to the ER over some broken fingers (yes, this time I told her what happened.... ).
For my wife’s birthday, my wife bought me my very own lathe, a real chuck (wow- how did I go a year without a chuck? I'll never know), some real chisels and a $300 woodcraft gift card… (gotta love a wife that buys you cool stuff on her birthday – dang I love my wife) and told me to get rid of “that hazard” in the shop. We sold her harbor freight lathe in less than 2 minutes on Craig’s list for $75! Seriously, we posted the add and the phone rang – Lathe was picked up and gone less than an hour later!. I have to candidly state, that the HF lathe was a piece of junk compared to the shiny new Nova 1624-44
[In retrospect, that lathe was probably worth every penny of the $89 spent on it – you get what you pay for, and I did not know what I was doing – I am not sure the chisels were worth the $12 though…]
Here it is about 5 years later, and I have to admit I am addicted and a turning fool. I still have never seen another person actually turn anything in real life (thus no feedback loop), I’ve seen some you-tube vids –and am self-taught (you learn fast when pain is your teacher). I mostly do facework – using local materials (Maple, Alder, Apple, Filbert, Walnut, Cedar –stuff that grows out on the back forty) and have not had any serious injuries (oh sure close calls, but we don’t talk about those) since the old lathe is gone. I spend about 10+ hours a week in the shop. I turn for fun, and I turn for me. I have never had visions of this being a money maker, and have no intent on ever selling anything (just so you know where I am coming from)
So there’s a bit of my history, and as you can imagine, after having worked in a vacuum for several years, I do have a few questions…. (these are the two I am thinking on now)
When I am turning, my headstock makes a weird ticking noise. I can disconnect the belt and run the motor, and no ticking from motor. The ticking seems to get louder when I cut straight in towards the headstock (perpendicular to the rotation) with a bit of vibration. If I turn the lathe off, and spin the piece by hand, I also get the ticking, about once per revolution (actually at slow spends, it is more like a “thunk” than a ticking….) so I am wondering… Bad bearings? Anyone else have this issue? And is it a major ordeal to change bearings on the Nova?
Also, I am working on a wooden floor (2x6 joists) and there is some wobble in my whole setup. My lathe bed is made of three pieces (head stock and two extensions). One set of legs at the headstock end, and the other at the end of the third extension – is this the best setup or am I better off with my tailstock end legs being attached to the end of the second extension (see creative graphic below for clarification) given I have a floppy floor? Has anyone tried both configurations? I am hesitant to clean my shop so I can perform this change if it is not worth the effort or detrimental overall.
This is how I have it now
H T
_____ _____ ______
/ \
/ \
Wondering if this may be better with a floppy floor
H T
_____ _____ ______
/ \
/ \
Thanks in advance for all advice…. I am sure I will have many more questions, and if I can contribute experience where applicable, I'll throw in my two cents....
Erik Spencer
Hi there everyone – I’ve been lurking for a bit – discovered this site about a month ago – WOW! I had no idea there was this much knowledge amassed in a single location – I have been doing some serious thinking and getting a ton of ideas- thanks!
Here’s my background…
I’ve always been into wood-working of some type – as a kid I started with the Gullows rubber band powered airplanes, and moved up from there – I got my first “real” tools of my own when I was eight – I still have the handplane from back then (40 years ago) and while it is probably complete junk by today’s standards, I still use it at least once or twice a month, it works great, and it always brings back memories… (Question – Why do they make kids tools out of plastic? Plastic hammers, pliers, and screwdrivers? What are you supposed to do with those?)
I always wanted a lathe, and about 6 years ago, my wife finally got tired of hearing about it and decided if I wasn’t going to buy myself one, then she wanted one…. So she asked for one for xmas… (subtle right?) I bought her an awesome harbor freight 40 inch wood lathe for $89 bucks and a $12 set of tools (big spender). It sat in the box (in MY shop) for about a year, before I finally decided to put it together for her… she looked at it once…..
I had never seen anyone actually turn something live – I did see the guy at the home show with the shop smith crank out a top once… but he went so fast…. I decided to try out my wife’s lathe… with mixed results. There was a lot of reading the HF manual (these can be pretty entertaining sometimes, but leave a lot to be desired in the way of actual instructions) and trying to figure out how to get everything lined up. There was the issue of how to keep the lathe from walking across the floor (if you are not familiar withthe Harbor frieght lathe, it is made from steel of a slightly heaver gauge than tinfoil and maybe weighs 60 pounds), and with everything wobbling like it did, I had a very hard time understanding how to make everything work. I had some exciting moments with the skew – in the first 3 tries of applying an edge to wood, I managed to catch twice (recovered – as in I didn’t get hurt) and the third time sent the skew into the sheet rock above the work bench (it is still there today, as a reminder) and I think broke a finger (I didn’t tell my wife how it happened or do the ER route– it turned blue, and hurt like the dickens for about a week – the color eventually went from blue to brown to yellow and full functionality has more or less returned ) Until very recently, Skews were banned from my shop.
I had a lot of fun, scary, disappointing, and exhilarating times for the first year. I was trying to work beyond both my ability and capacity of “My Wifes” tools which ultimately resulted in many close encounters, the use of many bandaids, a lot of ice, and a visit to the ER over some broken fingers (yes, this time I told her what happened.... ).
For my wife’s birthday, my wife bought me my very own lathe, a real chuck (wow- how did I go a year without a chuck? I'll never know), some real chisels and a $300 woodcraft gift card… (gotta love a wife that buys you cool stuff on her birthday – dang I love my wife) and told me to get rid of “that hazard” in the shop. We sold her harbor freight lathe in less than 2 minutes on Craig’s list for $75! Seriously, we posted the add and the phone rang – Lathe was picked up and gone less than an hour later!. I have to candidly state, that the HF lathe was a piece of junk compared to the shiny new Nova 1624-44
[In retrospect, that lathe was probably worth every penny of the $89 spent on it – you get what you pay for, and I did not know what I was doing – I am not sure the chisels were worth the $12 though…]
Here it is about 5 years later, and I have to admit I am addicted and a turning fool. I still have never seen another person actually turn anything in real life (thus no feedback loop), I’ve seen some you-tube vids –and am self-taught (you learn fast when pain is your teacher). I mostly do facework – using local materials (Maple, Alder, Apple, Filbert, Walnut, Cedar –stuff that grows out on the back forty) and have not had any serious injuries (oh sure close calls, but we don’t talk about those) since the old lathe is gone. I spend about 10+ hours a week in the shop. I turn for fun, and I turn for me. I have never had visions of this being a money maker, and have no intent on ever selling anything (just so you know where I am coming from)
So there’s a bit of my history, and as you can imagine, after having worked in a vacuum for several years, I do have a few questions…. (these are the two I am thinking on now)
When I am turning, my headstock makes a weird ticking noise. I can disconnect the belt and run the motor, and no ticking from motor. The ticking seems to get louder when I cut straight in towards the headstock (perpendicular to the rotation) with a bit of vibration. If I turn the lathe off, and spin the piece by hand, I also get the ticking, about once per revolution (actually at slow spends, it is more like a “thunk” than a ticking….) so I am wondering… Bad bearings? Anyone else have this issue? And is it a major ordeal to change bearings on the Nova?
Also, I am working on a wooden floor (2x6 joists) and there is some wobble in my whole setup. My lathe bed is made of three pieces (head stock and two extensions). One set of legs at the headstock end, and the other at the end of the third extension – is this the best setup or am I better off with my tailstock end legs being attached to the end of the second extension (see creative graphic below for clarification) given I have a floppy floor? Has anyone tried both configurations? I am hesitant to clean my shop so I can perform this change if it is not worth the effort or detrimental overall.
This is how I have it now
H T
_____ _____ ______
/ \
/ \
Wondering if this may be better with a floppy floor
H T
_____ _____ ______
/ \
/ \
Thanks in advance for all advice…. I am sure I will have many more questions, and if I can contribute experience where applicable, I'll throw in my two cents....
Erik Spencer