my workshop

[Rich Stewart]

Hi everybody,


I was out turning wood today on my deck. Took a few pictures. Made a little weed pot vase type thing. Black walnut. Trying to get up the courage to turn that cocobolo. Trying to give yall an idea of my "workshop".

Haha

[Bart Leetch]

Lotsa room, air conditioned, plenty of good light & fresh air, a little breaze & great chip removal. Whats not to like. :D

[Rich Stewart]

how do you get more than one pic on the same post? I hate to keep posting one at a time. Ok,l think I figured it out. Here is Saturdays stuff.

[Rich Stewart]

I told you you wouldn't be able to shut me up. Here is some more stuff i been fooling around with. I do have aquestion about this lathe. Does anybody recognize the headstock and am I able to get some other kind of chuck so I can turn bowls and bowl bottoms and such? or will I have to make anything like that. I got the mechanical aptitude of a chimpanzee so making stuff doesn't come too easy.

[Dawn Sunkle]

Rick, for this to be some of your first turnings I'm very jealous. I love what you have done and even more impressed that you attemped, and were very successful at a floating ring. One of these days I'll venture away from pens and try something like this too.
Keep up the great work and also keep the pictures coming.

Dawn

[Jim Becker]

Rick...nothing wrong with that workshop!! Great light. Nice air. Good tunes if you happen to feed the birds. And if there is a breeze...the chips will just blow away!
What's not to like about that??

BTW, suggestion: Put a stout board under that lathe to give it better support. It appears it may be distorting based on observing the pictures. You want to keep the centers centered! Better and smoother cutting will be the result.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

As far as that cocobolo goes, be sure to wear some good dust protection when you tackle it!

I really like your shop! It is nice and airy. I'd bet it isn't the best in the rain though!

[David Fried]

Man, a barbaque in the shop! That's living right.
I hear Jim Becker has a cappacino machine in his!
( just a rumor I'm starting ).

Nice work. I haven't tried the floating ring. Was it hard?

Dave Fried

[Jim Becker]

I hear Jim Becker has a cappacino machine in his!
( just a rumor I'm starting ).

LOL! Not a working one, but our "old" machine is upstairs in the shop in the FreeCycle pile!! (I upgraded to "really nice" machine this winter as the old one is on its last legs--and it's only about 30 steps way in the kitchen back at the house)

[Rich Stewart]

Thanks for the nice words all.

Dawn, The floating rings are very easy to make. I don't have any special tools so the SHAPE is what's hard. And once you part them off, they are a lot of trouble to sand and get any correct shape to. My rings are all mostly square. Or square on the inside of the ring and round on the outside.

Jim, I tried to get a stout board for the lathe but I was eyeballin' and got the wrong size. Gonna try again tomorrow WITH a tape this time.

Jeff, Thanks for the caution. I did some more reading about the cocobolo and found it is rather toxic. Don't need to lose anymore brain cells. Wasn't born with that many to start with. Yeah, the shop is not much good in the rain. Or snow, or freezing. Real easy to clean up though. Leaf blower is the worlds best invention. ( so says my wife the neat freak. I say it's the lathe)

[Don Kisela]

Rich,
Despite what I said in an earlier post, the lathe you have was actually my first lathe also. Then I got the Craftsman, then I got the Jet. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a chuck that would fit. That being said, with a little thought, you can turn a jam chuck. Here is the process:
Screw the bowl blank to your face plate. Pick the side you want as the top to be the first side screwed to the face plate. Use good, stout screws, at least one inch long. Now you can turn the bottom of the bowl. Create a recess about 2 inches across in the center, about 1/8"- 1/4" deep. This will serve as the anchor point for the jam chuck. Sand and finish the bottom. When that is done, unscrew the blank from the face plate and find another piece of wood to use as a jam chuck. I have used anything from a piece of a 2x4 up to a scrap piece of maple. Make sure that it is thick enough so that you have more than 1/2" from the end of the screws to the outside face. Now turn the face down to a tenon that matches (exactly) the diameter of the recess you turned in the bottom. Go slowly, because it has to be perfect. First couple of tries probably won't work great, but keep trying. Once you get the tenon turned, take your blank and jam it onto the tenon, so that the bottom is facing the lathe headstock. Now, hollow out the inside, remove from the jam chuck and show it off.
Be careful with that lathe, as it will flex even when you get it bolted to a piece of wood. This will make it very difficult to turn anything into an actual "round" shape. The bouncing creates highs and lows, which are not particularly good.
Keep practicing, improve your skills and save up for a more substantial lathe. If you keep your eyes open, you will be able to find a good lathe used in your area. Timing is everything!

By the way, I like the high ceilings in your shop!

Don

[Jim Becker]

Rather than screw the blank directly to the faceplate, put a sacrificial glue block on the faceplate and then glue the blank to that. It preserves ALL the wood in your blank for turning! There is another thread on this technique this week somewhere here, I believe...no chuck needed!

[Rich Stewart]

Thanks for all the ideas on chucks. I'm really interested in turning bowls and am trying to learn all I can using this cheap lathe. My wife is seeing how much fun I am having with this lathe and sees that I am pretty serious about it so a better lathe is not an impossibility at this point. Maybe Christmas.