turning pendants

[Jim Meyer]

I am trying to turn some pendants. Put a small sguare of wood with double sided tape true up the face cut it round sand thru the grits When I turn this over and remount it I cannot get the blank centerd and run true. Any ideas how to center when turned around. Thanks in advance. Jim

[Paul Williams]

I am assuming that after the first side is done your "small square of wood" is now round. If that is the case, mount a board to a face plate. True up the face and turn a shallow recess the size of your pendant. Use double stick tape to mount the pendant in the recess. Another option is to turn the jig tight enough to hold the pendant without the tape. If you do this first drill a hole through the back of the jig so that you can punch out the pendant if it gets stuck in the jig.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I do the back first, true off the back and sand it through the grits, apply my finish and let it dry, Remove and then do the front, and when I remove it from the double sided tape I hand sand the edges. Apply my finish to the front and he edges.

[Paul Saffold]

Dan has a nice video that shows one way to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ59OHQPkKs&spfreload=10

[Richard Madden]

I just recently started turning some pendants and the video Paul shows is how I've been making them. I think they look better with both sides rounded rather than the back being flat. I made two jigs like Dan shows in the video, one flat face and one dished. I use a contour gauge to match the curvature of the pendant and jig. I also like the offset designs in pendants, like those done with the Joyner jig. I'm cheap, and didn't want to spend $85 + shipping for a jig I wasn't sure I'd be using very much. After some searching, I came across an excellent plan for building an off-center jig. Do a search for "Building an Off-Center Fixture for Turning Pendants" by David Mueller. I've made one and I'm in the process of making another with a few changes. David has a website, but I saw no mention of his jig there. I tip my hat to David for a really neat and easy to make jig that I think has advantages over the Joyner... mainly the lack of vibration. Check it out.

[Stan Smith]

Dan has a nice video that shows one way to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ59OHQPkKs&spfreload=10

Thanks for that url, Paul. I've only started turning pendants and I had not found that video yet.

I've already bought and used the Joyner off center jig. The pendants that Dan made from wood scraps are beautiful so now I'm looking at each piece of wood, that may become a scrap, differently. I found a place on Ebay to buy 2"x2" sqaures of corian. I got hundreds for just $20. I'm going to make pendants from them and also glue some up for bottle stopper tops.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Is there a reason it has to be exactly centered? If you true off the reverse it will be round again. Maybe you can leave some excess knowing you'll turn it smaller. The way I get it close is I use a waste block, and cut concentric rings on the face with the tip of the skew which sort of helps align it, but I can never get it "perfect". I also have dished and flat waste blocks.

[Marvin Hasenak]

If you have a PSI version of the bottle stopper chuck, you can make an offset chuck like the Joyner chuck using apiece of Corian. Using a 5/16" bit drill a center hole, then an offset hole, then tap both holes for the 3/8 threads on the PSI chuck. Turn the Corian round, then using double side tape attach a waste block to the Corian. To turn the pendant, I attach the blank to the wood with double sided tape, clean up the back, sand etc.. Then remove it and do the front using new double sided tape, to cut my off set hole I use the extra hole that I drilled and tapped.

[Dan Masshardt]

If you drill a tiny hole through the center, when you flip it over, but the pendant back on the drill bit then press to the fresh tape to line it up.

You have to turn a big hole then to get the drill hole out but the end result is great.

[Jim Meyer]

Paul W Thanks for the info I'll have to give that a try.
Paul S Thanks for the video link good info
Richard I made the offcenter jig in the AAW magazine. No vbration on my 46-460.
Stan I thought aboit the joyner jig turn the back on a waste block put the jig in tail bing it up with double tape once on the jig put it back in headstock and should be center
Kyle I cut rings (circles) on the back just for decoration don't have to then I have no problem
Marvin I do have a PSI bottle stopper chuck will give that a try.
THANKS TO ALL JIM

[Stan Smith]

Paul W Thanks for the info I'll have to give that a try.
Paul S Thanks for the video link good info
Richard I made the offcenter jig in the AAW magazine. No vbration on my 46-460.
Stan I thought aboit the joyner jig turn the back on a waste block put the jig in tail bing it up with double tape once on the jig put it back in headstock and should be center
Kyle I cut rings (circles) on the back just for decoration don't have to then I have no problem
Marvin I do have a PSI bottle stopper chuck will give that a try.
THANKS TO ALL JIM

Thanks, Jim, I'll give that a try. What I've been doing is just keeping everything at 2" diameter.

[Jim Meyer]

Stan you said that you used your joyner jig. When you offset it did you get any vibration when turning? Jim

[Paul Williams]

Before I bought the joyner jig I wanted to try a few offset turned pendants so I just turned the round front and they re-taped the pendant slightly off center for the hole and then off center in a different dimension for some decoration. It worked OK.

[Brian Myers]

Haven't tried this yet but for those without the Joyner jig http://tinyurl.com/m9tn49e

[Richard Madden]

Haven't tried this yet but for those without the Joyner jig http://tinyurl.com/m9tn49e

That link takes you to the same instructions I mentioned by David Mueller. This guy is a genius for designing this jig. So many possibilities for other things besides pendants.

[Stan Smith]

Stan you said that you used your joyner jig. When you offset it did you get any vibration when turning? Jim

There are a couple of urls for videos on Ruth Niles website. I seem to recall that one does mention vibration, and if it occurs, to reduce the lathe speed to where the vibration stops. I have not had any vibration, but that's probably because I didn't have my speed up that high. I got the Joyner jig because it shows the many pattern variations that you can add to the pendant face. However, others have made their own jigs and like them. I'm someone who likes detailed instructions when learning so a "canned" package works best for me. YMMV.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use the Sorby Eccentric chuck. The chuck alone weighs 5 pounds, and at any offset, I have little to no vibration. It's a bit complicated to move the pendant about, I may get the Joyner chuck. I see lots of people use it. I have to un-mount the Sorby chuck to rotate the pendant in the chuck. Not really hard to do, but a bit tiresome. The offset is really a snap, just 2 set screws. If you like to turn really fast, I would suggest the Sorby chuck. I turn at 1300 or so with no vibrations.

How badly does the Joyner chuck vibrate? I have a non-variable speed mini lathe I'd like to turn pendants on. Just wondering, I also have a EVS lathe, but I can sit and watch TV in the back yard with my mini lathe. (It's my jewelry lathe)