Buffing adaptors

[Neil Bosdet]

I've been trying to contact Don Pencil to get his buffing system. Mostly I want his lathe adaptor, the 8" or the 12" for the wheels and balls. There has been no response from his site, email or phone. Do any of you know where something similar is available elsewhere?

Thanks,

Neil

[Thom Sturgill]

I looked a couple of months ago and even tried to interest another manufacturer into producing them, no luck. Beall has an MT adapter and extender, but that does not get you as far from the head. If you have a tap to match your spindle you could turn one from hardwood.

[Mark Levitski]

Try Packard. They list 8" adapters.

[Peter Blair]

Try Craft Supplies. I just got a special order from them for my ONeway. It's aluminium and is great. I too thought about a wooden one but this one runs really true. Not too expensive either. I think I paid about $36.00 us and it is not a standard stocked size.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Try Craft Supplies. I just got a special order from them for my ONeway. It's aluminium and is great. I too thought about a wooden one but this one runs really true. Not too expensive either. I think I paid about $36.00 us and it is not a standard stocked size.

this one?

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/39/4477/Hold-Fast-Long-Buffing-Adapter

[Peter Blair]

Yep, that's the one I got.

[Mark Levitski]

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=120952&Category_Code= Costs less.

[Neil Bosdet]

Mark, any idea of the quality? Little said on the website.

[Marty Tippin]

this one?

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/39/4477/Hold-Fast-Long-Buffing-Adapter

I've got one of those and it works great, very well made and serves its purpose which is to get the buffing wheel farther away from the headstock.

[Peter Blair]

Looks the same as the one I got . . . .

[Col Smith]

I couldn't find any in Aussie so made my own. Very simple & made to fit in a chuck.299803

HTH

Col

[Thomas Canfield]

I have the 1-1/4 8TPI 12" extension from Don Pencil and it is great. I don't think it is available still, and I had contact with Brad Packard and tried to encourage him to find Don's source and stock them. I also have 8" extensions in 1" thread and 1-1/4" thread, but the 12" really helps on larger bowls and hollow forms. I have even gone as far as using a section of 3/8" all thread and coupling nut to get a longer length for hollow forms using a small goblet buff, not a wheel.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I couldn't find any in Aussie so made my own. Very simple & made to fit in a chuck.299803

HTH

Col


So did I, they are easy to make and costs very little. All you need is a drill and tap for your lathe's spindle threads.

[Dane Riley]

How do you tap something with spindle grain orientation? For me the tab acts more like a drill. And how do you drill the 1 1/4 inch clearance without a 1 1/4 twist drill that will self center? So far I think the Beale tap was a waste of money.

[Marvin Hasenak]

How do you tap something with spindle grain orientation? For me the tab acts more like a drill. And how do you drill the 1 1/4 inch clearance without a 1 1/4 twist drill that will self center? So far I think the Beale tap was a waste of money.


You drill and tap a blank as close to the center as you can, then mount the drilled and tapped blank on the lathe and turn it round. It now will be centered. For 1 1/4 threads, you will drill with a 1 1/8" drill bit. The taps and info are on the Beall Tool website.

A far as a waste of money, I use mine quite a bit to make tooling specific items. I have made a full set of spindle buffer adapters, with metal and wood, that in itself paid for the tap. I have small wood face plates that I use for turning pendants using double sided tape. I make custom mandrels for game calls with tapered rods. There are a lot of uses, but you have to use your imagination as to when you can use it.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I never liked to buff bowls above the lathe ways, pens and the like would be ok, but larger bowls are too easily damaged bumping the ways.

So I took the chuck off of a drill that had died with the spindle end still on it, then got a small electric motor (was for free at the heater guy) made a sleeve that fit the motor and the shaft end on the chuck and had a buffer that I could clamp on any table or bench corner and be all free from bumping into anything but the buffer itself.

I got an old picture here that I quickly made one time, it is sitting out of the way on a bench, when I need it I can just grab it and buff, works for me, oh and I have all the buffing mobs and wheels mounted individually, so I can also use them in my electric drill and buff with the piece mounted and spinning on the lathe, got also variable speed that way :D.

299955

[Dane Riley]

You drill and tap a blank as close to the center as you can, then mount the drilled and tapped blank on the lathe and turn it round. It now will be centered. For 1 1/4 threads, you will drill with a 1 1/8" drill bit. The taps and info are on the Beall Tool website.

A far as a waste of money, I use mine quite a bit to make tooling specific items. I have made a full set of spindle buffer adapters, with metal and wood, that in itself paid for the tap. I have small wood face plates that I use for turning pendants using double sided tape. I make custom mandrels for game calls with tapered rods. There are a lot of uses, but you have to use your imagination as to when you can use it.

All the website talks about is tapping faceplate grain orientation. I see pictures of spindle grain items. When I tried it it was an utter failure, the threads crumbled, because the are all cross grain and have no strength.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I had never heard of Beall Tool when I started using a drill and tap for this, I saw it being done on a metal lathe, so I adapted it for my own use. I pay no attention to the grain orientation, I drill then drizzle thin CA in the hole, let the CA completely dry, then I tap it. Then I again drizzle thin CA on the threads, let completely dry and then tap it again. I have some of these that have been in use for over 10 years.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Marvin,
I do the same thing with the CA. I even use it when I tap plywood for vacuum chucks. makes the threads like iron. I also agree that the ways present a danger to a finished piece. When I had a lathe with a movable head I always buffed over the end of the lathe.
faust

[Peter Blair]

I have had a lot of success tapping with the Beale Tap but use lots of CA to harden the wood before and during the process.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

+1 on CA and multiple applications. You also can turn a recess, and an insert face grain, drill and tap that, so the threads will be "stronger". I still CA those threads also, since wood doesn't wear well.

[Thom Sturgill]

I've driulled and tapped MDF for vacuum chucks - CA works there too. Like Kyle said you can make a face grain piece - and use it as a faceplate attached to an end-grain spindle. Mortice and tenon will give enough side grain for a good glue joint.

[Jim Underwood]

Here's my cheap setup. You might want better wheels, but the concept is still the same. As for the wheels lasting, I haven't had to buy new ones yet. Course I'm not buffing something every single week. Probably not even once a month.... But they are far from wearing out.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?125865-My-Cheap-Buffing-System&highlight=buffing

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Going back to the OP's original question - I bought a Don Pencil adapter - 12" x 1-1/4"-8 at Woodcraft in Seattle about three months ago. Don't know if this was just old stock that happened to still be in inventory, but it seems to me that I didn't get the last one and that there were a few other sizes still hanging when I left.
The Don Pencil adapter works extremely well, the 12" length is appreciated. That said, I can't see why the one at Craft Supply (was it Woodcut product?) wouldn't work just as well.
As to the Beall taps, I, too have used them with good results for a number of items - vacuum chucks and live center cups primarily. Lots of CA and a slow, careful hand and they last a very long time.