shake rattle & roll

[Tom Sweeney]

finally got into the shop for a bit tonight. I roughed out a bowl blank - as best I could with my chainsaw & sawsall blank prepping system :( It is fairly green Oak (I think)

My lathe is a cheap little crafstman 12" screwed down to a relatively sturdy but not heavy enough bench.

I got it as round as I could & figured I'd be able to true it up on the lathe. This is the biggest & by far heaviest blank I mounted on my screw in faceplate yet (about 10" X about 4"). Well the first try right after I turned the lathe on the bowl shook so hard it disengaged from the face plate & took off across the shop floor.

I screwed it back on with bigger screws & mounted it back on the lathe. That thing was shakin like there was no tomorrow. I tried to true it up with my roughing gouge - & it was geting better but then my whole lathe basically shook apart :mad:

Turns out there is just one little stud that holds the motor to the casing of the lathe & it worked loose. The good news is I'll be able to fix it & while it's apart I see a few ways to make significant improvements in the stability of the lathe.

I can see now that I'll have to take Ken's advice & start turning pens for fun & profit so I can buy a better lathe sooner than later :) It's worth a try anyway.

[Jim McFall]

Tom,
That must have been sometime around 7 - 7:30. ??? I was in the garage (shop) doing some finishing work and I heard this loud noise from the bottom of the hill. Hope you stayed clear of the danger. I have a welder if something needs more than re assembly.

Keep things spinning.

[Jim Becker]

Was that you? I thought that the cliff behind our house was falling...hee hee

[Richard Allen]

Hi Tom

That is so funny. I can see it all happen, mostly because the same thing has happened to me many times.

I once had a blank on the lathe that was so out of balance that I had my wife, turning the lathe on and off for 10 minutes as I took the initial roughing cuts to get the beast in balance.

You mentioned using a roughing gouge. A roughing gouge is usually a "U" shaped gouge that is used to rough square spindle stock round. If that was what you were using to rough round a 10" blank then you might want to consider using a bowl gouge for roughing a bowl.

Thanks

[Tom Sweeney]

Glad to see I'm not the only one this has happened to. I didn't even have the lathe on for a total of 10 minutes & I had to shut it off several times to make sure the blank was still secured.

As to the roughing gouge - I'm just starting out & ordered the Harbor Frieght turning tool 8 piece set. I thought it came with a bowl gouge but there are just 2 different sized roughing gouges. Since I unexpectantly spent $235 on tools last night, without checking with my accountant, I don't think I'm going out to buy a $30 bowl gouge anytime soon. :rolleyes:

As to you local guys the National Seismographic Institute said it only registered 3.2 on the Richter Scale :D

Tom

Hi Tom

That is so funny. I can see it all happen, mostly because the same thing has happened to me many times.

I once had a blank on the lathe that was so out of balance that I had my wife, turning the lathe on and off for 10 minutes as I took the initial roughing cuts to get the beast in balance.

You mentioned using a roughing gouge. A roughing gouge is usually a "U" shaped gouge that is used to rough square spindle stock round. If that was what you were using to rough round a 10" blank then you might want to consider using a bowl gouge for roughing a bowl.

Thanks

[Dennis McDonaugh]

First let me say I know knew nothing about turning two years ago and know only a little more than that today. Anyway about two years ago Katherine decided she wanted to try pen turning so we bought a Rigid lathe. It wasn't until later we found out that it uses the wrong taper and you can't find any accessories for it but that's another story.

She turned a few pens then decided she really wanted to make a bowl so she took a class at Woodcrafters. Everything went well at class and she brought home an 8" mahogany blank for her first "solo" bowl. I mounted it on the lathe and she fired it up but couldn't really get any shavings to come off the inside of the bowl. It was more like dust.

She asked me to try it and as near as I can tell that was her first mistake. Her second was her choice to stand in line with the spinning blank. I stuck the gouge into the bowl, much too hard apparently, and it caught the bowl. I must have not had as good a grip on the gouge as I should have because it went flying straight up into the air. Thank God it didn't hit anything. The blank flew off the lathe and smacked Katherine in the abdomen knocking the wind right out of her. Luckily there was no serious damage except to our relationship--I don't think she talked to me for about three days.

I'm still not allowed in the shop when Katherine's turning.

[Bob Janka]

...You mentioned using a roughing gouge. A roughing gouge is usually a "U" shaped gouge that is used to rough square spindle stock round. If that was what you were using to rough round a 10" blank then you might want to consider using a bowl gouge for roughing a bowl.

Thanks

Richard,

Won't a roughing gouge work just as well to round out the bowl blank to a cylinder? After that, obviously a turner must "turn" to bowl gouges for shaping. I've even seen some woodturners use spindle gouges for parts of their bowl work.

Tom,

Bottom line: use whatever gouge suits the current cut the best. Don't be afraid to switch tools if they aren't doing the job. Most importantly, go back to the grinder and sharpen your tool if you are having problems. NOTHING BEATS A SHARP TOOL!!

Cheers,
Bob

[Jim Becker]

Won't a roughing gouge work just as well to round out the bowl blank to a cylinder? After that, obviously a turner must "turn" to bowl gouges for shaping. I've even seen some woodturners use spindle gouges for parts of their bowl work.

It's true that you should use what you are comfortable with. That being said, a roughing gouge's configuration relative to the angle of the bevel, etc., is less than optimum for most bowl roughing, particularly when the grain is in "faceplate" orientation. It's more usable when you are roughing an end-grain blank as that is the same type of cut as you would have for most spindle turning.

Many of us have found a side-grind bowl gouge to actually be more "universally" usable for roughing cuts due to the flexibility and adaptability of the multiple bevel angles available on the tool. I personally use an Ellsworth grind gouge for 90% of my work for that reason. Merely presenting the tool a little differently produces a different cut, so you can tailor said cut exactly to the task at hand. I only pick up my roughing gouge when I'm truing a cylinder for spindle work. I do use some spindle gouges in my bowl and hollow vessel work, but they all have been ground for "special" purposes or tasks. An example would be the 3/8" spindle gouge that has been radiused underneath to the tip to create an Ellsworth-style "parting" tool for forming the undercut foot on a bowl or vessel while the tailstock is still engaged.

[Tom Sweeney]

Well I got the lathe back together last night - with a few improvements. It seems to be much better & I was able to rough the bowl blank to at least a round shape. The chips were definately flying last night :D I'm pretty sure this blank is Oak - I know it's not the best to turn - tearout city - but I wanted to try green wood & this is all I had. It was cut off the tree about 2 months ago but is still pretty wet.

Turns out there is a bowl gouge in my HF set - but it is 1/4" so not so good for roughing out a real rough bowl blank.


Jim M - I might take you up on your offer - I want to weld a few L tabs to the bed of the lathe so I can bolt it down to the bench better - I'm also thinking of carrying these bolts down through a suspended weight box to help weigh the lathe down more.

Thanks for all the help guys!