New Turner Sensory/Accesory Overload

[alex grams]

OK, so apparently lathe accessories are like asking politicians a question. Ask enough and read enough articles and you will always get an answer you want to hear, but never truly answers your question.

As a prologue, I have purchased the Delta 46-460, Nova G3-D, and the Benjamin's best HSS turning tool set:

I am looking/reading my best options for mounting and turning bowls.

I can faceplate mount the blank, turn the bottom with a recess, then remount the bowl against the G3-D in the recess to turn the hollow. However, to refine the bottom of the bowl, there seem to be a few hundred options.

The most economical option looks to be to make a donut chuck, but I am leary making one without having a good appreciation of its application, for fear i will make its size limiting to what I will eventually want to do with it, and only have to remake another one.

The other options are Jumbo Jaws (though I can't seem to find any that work well with the G3-d (either mounting bolt pattern, or the swing on the jaws and the hole spacing leaves gaps in range of sizes it can mount.

Would the donut chuck be the best route to start with? It looks like a fairly simple jig to start with? I presume i will need a dedicated faceplate for each donut chuck I make? To maintain a true center?

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Rinehart]

good start it sounds like. I don't use a donut chuck, but I have some cole jaws for my G3D chuck and larger jumbo jaws for full size lathe.
I know alot of people use them, and they will give you the best initial control if you want to get the bottom cleaned up nicely. Some just jam chuck which is an option, but bottom work can get tricky.

Hey...make a donut chuck...that'll do it!!

[Scott Hackler]

Alex, the most economical and easiest to "get right to it" way to turn off the tenon and finish the bottom is a jam chuck. I use this method almost every single time. Here's how, turn a piece of dry scrap with a tenon on one end. Reverse it into the chuck and true it up. I will either completely square off the end or concave it. Now, flipping your bowl around backwards, place a folded paper towel on the jame chuck or use a small sponge (like I do) b ring up the tail stock to the center mark of the tenon on the bowl. Dont over pressure the tail stock or you might damage the bowl. Using light cuts, remove the tenon and concave the bottom of the bowl leaving between a 1/4 and 1/2" tenon in the center (where the live center is supplying the "Jam" pressure. Sand bottom are, by hand on the lathe if you like. Remove bowl, cut off small tenon with a fine tooth saw and remove the nub with a power sander. Finish the bowl. Thats what I do and it works pretty good.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Alex........you can make several different outer rings for a donut chuck....each with a different size opening. Economically....the donut chuck is cheap and you can buy an adapter that screws into your chuck. Then place the outer donut chuck ring over the tailstock quill......put the bowl and chuck with the adapter in the quill. Bring the tailstock up to the rest of the mounted donut chuck....insert the bowls.....remove the chuck and adapter and finish the bottom. This allows for a centered bowl every time when finishing the bottom.

[charlie knighton]

+1 for Scott's method

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I skip the faceplate in the beginning, I start between centers. There are 2 reasons I do this. 1) it's faster, 2) you can adjust the blank to balance out your bowl. Even out the sapwood, turn off a rotten spot etc. A faceplate is safer, but I usually rough with my guard down.

+1 for using a jam chuck at the end. It works, it's free. Start between centers and end between centers. I have a skew that I ground to a really shallow angle just to turn off that last part of the bowl.

That being said, I recently got and use a Longworth Chuck I got off the bay. Pricey, but I like it. The one on the bay is very well made and solid.

[Reed Gray]

You can skip the face plate and drill a recess with the proper sized forstner bit the size of your chuck jaws, and expand into that. No face plate, no center spur to insert or remove, and the chuck does not have to come off the lathe.

As for the bottoms, you can use a recess, and if neatly made, you can leave it on.

You can use a jam chuck as the simplest way to turn off the bottom. A rounded piece of wood (actually, several of different sizes to fit different bowls) on the chuck, with padding (router mat pad, carpet pad, etc), bring up the tailstock, and very gently turn off the tenon or recess, and power sand out the remains. Doughnut chucks look to be rather time consuming.

robo hippy

[alex grams]

Another quick question I am trying to confirm is in regards to tailstock diameter for accepting a drill chuck. Are these diameter for accepting a center/chuck a universal size?

Would this Chuck work in the 46-460? (http://www.amazon.com/PSI-Woodworking-Products-TM32-Diameter/dp/B004CVJC20/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1319212317&sr=1-1)

[John Keeton]

Alex, that one will work, and PSI also has a keyless chuck that I have - works well, too.

Edit - your headstock and tailstock are a #2 Morse Taper, so any accessory of that size will work.

[Jeff Fagen]

Yea,what the other guys said.I start by turning between centers only the little spur center that came with the Delta tends to dig in and spin,I bought a larger one.When I jam the bowl I put a piece of thick soft leather between the chuck and the bowl and use a pointed live center in the tail stock turning to a 1/4" nub then cut it off with a chisel.Noone gave me this info when I started,I had to ask a lot of quetions and practice.

[Tom Winship]

[QUOTE=alex grams;

Would this Chuck work in the 46-460? (http://www.amazon.com/PSI-Woodworking-Products-TM32-Diameter/dp/B004CVJC20/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1319212317&sr=1-1)[/QUOTE]

HF sells them work just fine for me.