Guess What???????

[Corey Hallagan]

Brown came today and guess what was on the front porch tonight? Yup the lathe came!!! Yahooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Looks like I will be plugging her in and taking her for a test run this weekend! Here she is at rest in her bed :)

[John Hart]

Congratulations Corey!!! She looks real purty sitting there all clean and everything.:rolleyes: Time to Rock n Roll!!!:D

[John Miliunas]

Yahoo!!!! Awright, Corey. Now you're on the way to join this rag-tag team of insatiable chip makers! :D Get ready to have a blast. I can't wait to see what turns up. Have phun, man! :) :cool:

[Keith Burns]

Way to go Corey !!! Now let the fun begin :) :) :)

[Andy Hoyt]

This weekend?!??!

Turn the dang compooter off and git it done.

[Jim Dunn]

I agree with Andy, but it's "git 'er' done". Just don't start out at 1200rpm's. You'll scare yourself and the lathe.

[Corey Hallagan]

LOL...noooo..... I just spent the evening looking at it and now I am babysitting. Anyway, the only thing I don't like is that it doesn't come with hardly any set up directions. So, I did clean all the gunk off from shipping. I assume you should wax the carriage or rails...what ever they are called? Hope so, cause I did. Put in the spur center and the live tailstock and they meet perfectly. Plugged it in and it runs smoothly. Moved the belt to change speeds thru the range and it ran quite and smoothly thru the range.
Now question, the tail stock and head stock centers, you just hand push them in until tight or do you wack them with a mallet? I assume the long rod with a knob on it is to knock them back out with? If not, it works good for that :) The pen Mandrell, you take the spur center out and the cone on the end goes into the face plate opening and put the other end dimple on the live center and just push it up until it is tight between the two?
If I just want to put a small piece of wood on without a mandrell to practice with do i just wedge it between the spur centers? What is the proper way to do this, I am a total noob here!!
Ok so this lathe came with a face plate and the two spur centers. Anything need serious upgrading here. I see talk about a drill chuck, do I need one of those? How to I mount a piece that is going to be a finial or something like that that you don't want between the centers? Okay, I am done with all the questions!!

Corey

[Jim Dunn]

Corey the only part of that question I can answer is the part about the hammer and the drive centers. I predrill, don't over drill or you'll loose the ability of the center to rest in the 60degree bevel, with a #1 center drill first then I drive the center in the piece of wood with a plastic mallet/hammer.
The rest of em can answer the other questions as I'm a newbie too:).

[Randy Meijer]

..... The pen Mandrell, you take the spur center out and the cone on the end goes into the face plate opening and put the other end dimple on the live center and just push it up until it is tight between the two?

Yeah; but not too tight or you can bow/bend the pen mandrel.

Another thing......something no one ever tells new pen makers. The dimple in the end of the pen mandrel has a 60° included angle while the points on most live centers supplied with wood lathes are "MORE" pointy and have only a 30° included angle. Because of this angular disparity, the point of the live center will usually suffer excessive and accelerated wear and you may have problems with acheiving concentric pen barrels. You need to visit Grizzly or www.littlemachineshop.com (http://www.littlemachineshop.com) and pick up a live center with a 60° tip.(standard for metal working) It will cost you about 20 bucks.

[Bob Noles]

Alright Corey.......

Two days early eh? Don't you just love it when things work out right? :D It sure looks good on your lathe bench. You are going to be most happy with a set up like that.

Slap a piece of wood between those centers and start spinning something.... you are going to have a blast :p :p

[Raymond Overman]

Corey,

I'm very dissapointed that you don't have your priorities straight yet. Babysitting instead of woodturning? Come on. You have a new toy just sitting there? Get it together man!

With the mandrel question, Randy is right on the money. You do not want to overtighten the tailstock when turning a pen since it will bow the mandrel. You have a lot of mechanical advantage in that screw at the tailstock end and it's easy to do. Another thing you want to think about when using the mandrel is not to pull to much with sandpaper. Just use a light touch or you can bow the mandrel that way too. It took a mandrel for me to figure out why my pens weren't turning true.

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks guys for the info. It sounds like i should get a 60 degree live center. Thanks Randy. When just chucking up a piece of wood without a mandrell for like spindle turning how far do the spurs on the head stock and tail stock need to qo into the wood? Also, does a piece of wood have to be square? If you have a piece of wood that is close but one end is a little larger than the other end, do you just find the center of each end?
Sorry for all the newbie questions :)
Corey

[Andy Hoyt]

Corey - In the beginning, you'd be safer to square the ends of your turning stock so that the spur center at the head stock and the live center at the tail stock will each have good purchase on said turning stock.

The stock does not have to be square, round, or even dodecahedronal in cross section to turn it. Nor does it have to be the same size on each end. For now, just find the center of each end and that's the spot to shoot for with the center's point.

Have you been reading and watching videos on this stuff yet? They really do help.

[john whittaker]

Corey...say it ain't so...You've gone over to the dark side. First Bob and now you.

Been so busy with the Holiday's this conversion news slipped right past me. This is what happens to folks who lurk too long on the spinner side. From what I hear there's no cure.

Congratulation...looks like a great tool. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable experience.

P.S. I guess this makes you a "well rounded" woodworker.

[John Hart]

Corey...say it ain't so...You've gone over to the dark side. First Bob and now you.......

You sound quite interested John! :) Perhaps you'd like to discuss some of the possibilities to get you going? ;)

Ya know.....accomplished woodworkers such as yourself, have huge potential in being a successful turner, right out of the gate.;) :D

Just think of the cool things you could incorporate into a cutting board!:)

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

You don't get that thing FILTHY, Carole will come over and do it for you. She can't find hers, for all the curl around it!:D

Welcome to the "Slippery Slope"

Bruce;)

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks again guys for the additional info. Good advise. I have the pen turning video and I have some books ordered Andy. John, yes, it all started when Bob and Bernie were weakend by the force :) and i had some cash that i didn't know what to do with otherwise!
It is becoming apparent that a couple members of this site not to mention names ... ahem ... ohn ..ndy... sole purpose here is to recruit unsuspecting folk into this cult! My wife has sensed that a change has come over me!

[Mike Ramsey]

Congratulations Corey!! Once you put gouge to round you'll never have time for flat work again! :D

[Andy Hoyt]

... It is becoming apparent that a couple members of this site not to mention names ... ahem ... ohn ..ndy... sole purpose here is to recruit unsuspecting folk into this cult! ...
Hmmmm. That may be. But collecting my recruiting fee from this forum's moderator is becoming increasingly difficult.

[John Miliunas]

Hmmmm. That may be. But collecting my recruiting fee from this forum's moderator is becoming increasingly difficult.

Ohhhhh, all right, already! I'll give you 10% of my Moderator's wage for your efforts! :D There! You happy now? :D :rolleyes: :cool:

[Andy Hoyt]

Ohhhhh, all right, already! I'll give you 10% of my Moderator's wage for your efforts! :D There! You happy now? :D :rolleyes: :cool:

Cool! That equals what I make right here on the day job.

[Rich Stewart]

Welcome Corey! You're going to have agreat time. What I do is use my bandsaw to cut from corner to corner on the end of spindle stock thus marking the center. Then i drill a small hole in the center for the spur point to go into. The spurs then go into the bandsaw cuts and don't need to be pounded (or tapped in with a mallet). Don't know if this is correct but it works great for me. I also cut a limb off a downed tree (oak) about 2 Inch diameter just to get the feel of things. Made a mushroom out of it. haha. For that mini you might even want to try 1 inch diameter for the first try.

Good luck and have fun!!!

[john whittaker]

"Ya know.....accomplished woodworkers such as yourself, have huge potential in being a successful turner, right out of the gate.;) :D "

Mr. Hart...
Don't think I didn't notice the subtle psychological arm twisting...:) "Flattery" from a orb turner...:rolleyes: paradoxical.

[John Hart]

Mr. Hart...
Don't think I didn't notice the subtle psychological arm twisting...:) "Flattery" from a orb turner...:rolleyes: paradoxical.

Doh!!! Caught again!! :o :D