Easy wood tools

[fred henkin]

What speed do you set your lathe at when using easy wood turning tools.

[Bill Dindner]

The fastest that I can safely operate them. I’ve found that they can handle high speeds just fine, and like tradilathe chisels, the faste the RPMs the easier they cut.

[Art Moore]

What Bill said. For me, that's around 2200 rpm because my cheapie lathe has a lot of vibration above that.

[Robert Henrickson]

From the standpoint of safety, the speed should depend at a minimum on the diameter of what is being turned. Turning something 1" in diameter at 2000 rpm should be fine. What is important is not how fast the *axis* is rotating, but how fast the *outer edge* -- where you are cutting -- is moving. A point on the outer surface of that 1" diameter spindle is moving 6000" per minute. Increase the diameter to 6" -- that point is moving 36000" per minute -- over 7 mph. And the mass of the worked piece is likely increasing even faster, which means that if something goes wrong it will be much more serious.

A general safety guideline is that diameter times rpm should multiply out to 6000-9000; that presumably would be for a *balanced* piece.

http://www.docgreenwoodturner.com/lathespeed.html

[Ralph Lindberg]

From the standpoint of safety, the speed should depend at a minimum on the diameter of what is being turned. Turning something 1" in diameter at 2000 rpm should be fine. What is important is not how fast the *axis* is rotating, but how fast the *outer edge* -- where you are cutting -- is moving. A point on the outer surface of that 1" diameter spindle is moving 6000" per minute. Increase the diameter to 6" -- that point is moving 36000" per minute -- over 7 mph. And the mass of the worked piece is likely increasing even faster, which means that if something goes wrong it will be much more serious.

A general safety guideline is that diameter times rpm should multiply out to 6000-9000; that presumably would be for a *balanced* piece.

http://www.docgreenwoodturner.com/lathespeed.html

Your speed ratio is spot on (6000 to 9000), but your 36000 inches/min is well over 7 mph, actually 34 mph

[Robert Henrickson]

Your speed ratio is spot on (6000 to 9000), but your 36000 inches/min is well over 7 mph, actually 34 mph

Indeed -- thanks for the correction. I did it quickly in my head, not with a calculator. It seemed low -- I should have checked. Makes the point more compelling.