Cole jaws are finished!

[Sparky Paessler]

I decided a few days ago that I needed a set of cole jaws for my new supernova chuck. Being a little short on funding at the moment I started looking into making my own. I saw several articals on the internet on making them out of wood so I thought I would give it a try. While in the shop I spied an old door to a cabinet I had in the pile of junk that I need to haul off. It was 1/4" aluminum which I thought would work great. Here are the end results.

[Don Farr]

Great job Sparky, Not only a woodworker, but also a metal worker.
Looks as good as my store bought version.

Question? Do you find that the little black rubber feet leave marks on your work piece? Mine does and it is very aggravating. You have to hand sand the marks off.

[Richard Allen]

Hi Don

Use a paper towel between the work piece and the rubber buttons.

I will usually place a paper towel over the mouth of the bowl as I mount the bowl in the Cole jaws. The paper towel doesn't get in the way as I am primarily concerned with the foot of the bowl. If the excess paper towel gets in the way I just cut it back with scissors while the bowl is mounted in the chuck. There will be some build up of dust near the rim and I use the "protective" paper towel to wipe off the dust.

Thanks

[Angelo Schembari]

Hey sparky, nice job! I have one thats 1/2 done in plexi, but that puts mine to shame. BTW, those nutdrivers hanging on the wall look neat, who makes them and where did you get them?

[Tony Falotico]

Sparky, nice prototype, when can we expect production to begin? Remember, we are all short of funds, so try to keep the price down! :D

[Sparky Paessler]

Thank for the nice comments. Don, don't know about being a metal worker since my only metal working tools are a metal blade for my saber saw, hacksaw and some files. I did screw it onto my chuck before I cut it into quarters and turned it round. Who knew that you could turn alumium with wood tools? I haven't used it enough to see if the rubber stoppers leave marks or not. Angelo, Those nut drivers are a German brand Wiha-SoftFinish which I got from work so I don't know where to buy them but they are very nice. Tony as far as the production run of these. I only have enought material for 3 more. One is already promised to a freind so that leaves 2 up for grabs. :D :D :D

[W.C. Turner]

Sparky, Great job!! OK, I'm grabbing one of those 2 remaining ones! :D

1) Do you have a tutorial on how you made it?

2) How're the rubber buttons attached. Looks like they're in individual holes. Isn't it tedious, and time consuming (takes time away from turning), when adjusting for different size bowls?

Thanks,

[Wes Bischel]

Great job on the jaws - freehand no less!
Thanks for the inspiration.
Wes

[Sparky Paessler]

Sparky, Great job!! OK, I'm grabbing one of those 2 remaining ones! :D

1) Do you have a tutorial on how you made it?

2) How're the rubber buttons attached. Looks like they're in individual holes. Isn't it tedious, and time consuming (takes time away from turning), when adjusting for different size bowls?

Thanks,

WC

I don't have a tutotial, maybe on the next one I will make pictures of the process and documant it. The rubber buttons are wire groments with a 1/4" screw through the hole in them. I drilled holes in the plate and taped them for 1/4" by 20. I just hand tighten them so it's not that much trouble to move them for different sized boards. The chuck will also adjust for almost up to 1" difference. Iin fact that was the first thing I did was measure how much the chuck moved (7/8") since I have a 12" lathe I made the plate 11" so it would have about 1/8" clearence when fully opened. I then drew an 11" circle on the alumium plate and drew lines to divide it up into quaters. I cut about 1/8" outside of the circle line with my saber saw. (metal blade and sprayed some WD40 on plate and blade several times during cutting.) I took a set of jaws from my chuck and places them in the center of the circle with the edges lined up with the quartering lines and then marked the mounting holes. After drilling and countersinking the holes I mounted the plate on my chuck and at low speed using an old scraper I trued up the outside edge of the circle. I then marked the plate starting about 1/4" in from the outside edge and then every 1/2" in toward the center with a line. I took a pointed scraper and cut a small V at each line. Removed the plate from the lathe and marked a line 22.5 degrees from one of the Quartering lines then I marked another line 45 degrees from that one and so on all the way around. You end up with 2 lines in each quarter and all lines equaly spaced around the circle. Where these lines crossed the V cuts marked earlier I drilled and taped the holes for the rubber bumpers. I then cut the plate into quarters along the first set of quartering lines. Cleaned up the cuts with a file and screwed in the bumpers and it was complete.