Homemade Longworth chuck

[Bill Bolen]

Yippee!! This Longworth chuck has been on my to-do-list for about 2 years. Gathered parts this week and made it yesterday afternoon. It is a lot easier than you would think! It will hold a bowl inverted 12 3/8” max and about 3 ½” min. I didn’t trust the ones I have seen with only 4 pegs so I went with 8. After using it a few times today (getting caught up on a backlog of bowls) I think I will go with 6 on the next one and definitely a smaller faceplate for the hook-up. The smaller the mount on the backside of the Longworth the tighter the pins will close thus a smaller bowl or box. I need a 10” for the mini plus I think I will ebay one to pay for the parts used. ¾” Baltic birch plywood for the back and ¼” plywood paneling for the front. The pegs are ¾” X 1” table leg tips (soft rubber) from HD with a drilled out hardwood dowel for the interior of the pegs. Watching the action as the pins move is really interesting! Thank you Mr. Longworth, you were a very smart guy!…..Bill…

[George Morris]

Looks great! PM sent please consider? George

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Bill! Interesting variation to the original! First time I have seen 8 pegs but have to believe I would prefer that when finish turning large bowls! Nice work!

[Wally Wenzel]

Bill, looks like a very nice job on that, you are right they are not that hard to build and work really well. I made mt last one with 6 pegs and find that it does just fine. Wally

[Allen Neighbors]

That dark paneling makes it look sharp, too! Good job.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice work, Bill!

[Ben Gastfriend]

Very nice! I'm sure that will get alot of use!

[Ron McKinley]

This is probably a dumb question but what are the holes for between the bumpers? Thanks...Ron

[Bill Bolen]

Those are finger holes so you can rotate the 2 parts of the jaw sandwich to open and close the jaws....Bill...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking piece and looks like it does a terrific job.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Looks to me like you did a bang up job Bill! Nicley done Sir!

[Jon Lanier]

Okay, now that you got your practice in... all you have to do is build one to fit my Rikon. :p

[Tom Sherman]

Nice job Will, I'm going to have to make one of those myself, just have to dig my router up.

[Alex Elias]

Nice show off. Now I have to find the how to and make one for me. Where is the info?
Thanks for showing

[Ron Drew]

That looks great Bill. I wonder if you could post a picture of the back side. I've not seen one of those in person, and having trouble visualizing how they work.

[David Epperson]

The smaller the mount on the backside of the Longworth the tighter the pins will close thus a smaller bowl or box. I need a 10” for the mini plus I think I will ebay one to pay for the parts used. ¾” Baltic birch plywood for the back and ¼” plywood paneling for the front. The pegs are ¾” X 1” table leg tips (soft rubber) from HD with a drilled out hardwood dowel for the interior of the pegs. Watching the action as the pins move is really interesting! Thank you Mr. Longworth, you were a very smart guy!…..Bill…
You might possibly use some caster wheel treads (larger dia) in place of 4 of your table leg tips to convert this chuck to a 4 gripper for the smaller stuff. Rather than building a whole new one. :D

[Mike Henderson]

You might possibly use some caster wheel treads (larger dia) in place of 4 of your table leg tips to convert this chuck to a 4 gripper for the smaller stuff. Rather than building a whole new one. :D
David - what are the "caster wheel treads" that you mention? Could you show a picture or post a link? I built a Longworth chuck and would like to be able to chuck smaller things.

Mike

[David Epperson]

David - what are the "caster wheel treads" that you mention? Could you show a picture or post a link? I built a Longworth chuck and would like to be able to chuck smaller things.

Mike

More thinking out loud than anything specific. To turn smaller items you could increase the diameter of your pegs. You said your current limitation is 3-1/2". Looks to make your peg center dia. to be approx 4-1/2" min or so. Increasing the peg diameter to 2" would allow you to turn down to 2-1/2", increasing to 3" would go down to 1-1/2". Do you need any smaller with this chuck? I notice you like to use rubber to grip with. So larger diameter?, and rubber? Sounds like a caster, those small wheels that come in all sorts of materials and sizes. Except you wouldn't want the bearings that they usually come with. just the tread. So just about any "floor safe" caster with the bearing knocked out, then mounted on a mandrel that would mount in place of one of your current pegs. Also since you would be using them mainly for the smaller stuff, 4 would work, and be more "space friendly" when close together. Better description? Or more confusing?

[David Epperson]

David - what are the "caster wheel treads" that you mention? Could you show a picture or post a link? I built a Longworth chuck and would like to be able to chuck smaller things.

Mike

Sorry Mike. I responded as if you were the original poster. For some reason I cannot edit my previous post. But the principles still apply. To chuck smaller items use larger pegs on the same centers.

[Mike Golka]

Looks great Bill! When I made mine I only used 6 posts and the same table table leg set up you have. I found that after using it for a while the hardwood pegs started to split, (maybe because I was using counter sunk screws). I have since replaced them with rubber one hole test tube stoppers and they work even better as they swell a bit when tightened to give that little extra grip.

[Greg Just]

another dumb question - how do you insure that your bowl is centered? :confused:

[Tom Sherman]

another dumb question - how do you insure that your bowl is centered? :confused:

Gregg, it works kind of like your scroll chuck when you close the pins up on the bowl it is self centering.

[Bill Bolen]

I'll post a shot of the back as soon as I can find the camera again! also, I followed the step-by-step at woodcentral. http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/turning/articles_485.shtml
Found it to be the clearest of the half dozen or so sites that have the directions..Bill...

[Jim Silva]

I made a 6 post version using the very same plans as a jump off point and it's worked very well for me. The finger holes are a necessity.

For anyone doing this project for the first time I'd recommend drawing it out accurately on paper (full scale) first as going from 4 to 6 posts MAY mess with the geometry a bit. (It just can get the arcs close to mounting holes for the faceplate which is easy to alter).
And don't skimp on the grade of plywood. I made mine from baltic birch and some leftover high grade finished ply I had leftover from some cabinets I'd altered for a remodel. My buddy tried it on the cheap and has some very interesting high speed splinters :rolleyes:

[Brad Hammond]

that's cool!!!!!!!

[Greg Just]

Gregg, it works kind of like your scroll chuck when you close the pins up on the bowl it is self centering.

I guess a picture of the backside would help, but I think I understand how it works - Thanks Tom

[Mark Patoka]

Very nice. I've been wanting to make one of those also and after re-reading the plans it seems pretty simple.