New Mustard Monster

[Ken Glass]

Hey guys,
Well, I finally picked up my Powermatic 3520B on Friday. It took two of us and a two wheeled balloon tire cart to get it down into my basement shop. The dealer disassembled it and set it on my 5x10' trailer with a fork lift. Boy did he have the easy job. Actually it took less than a half hour to take it down ten steps and assemble it. The manual shows attaching the legs after raising the bed on a work bench or similar table. I found it much easier to put the bed on its top on some 2x4 blocks and then attach the legs while it sat on the floor. I also screwed in the levelers at the same time. Two of us then righted it with no difficulty at all. The head stock and tail stock went on as smoothly as ever. Here I am with a new monster lathe and I have never ever even turned anything before. I thought why not start big, so I mounted a piece of 12" Walnut blank, I cut from my small woods in back. Thats where I stand for now, as I really need some instruction on the art of bowl turning. Ok, I did practice a little on some spindle material before I started the bowl.

A special thanks to Bruce Shiverdecker and Steve Clardy for their encouragement and guidance on going for the 3520b and for introducing me to the vortex.

I am sure I will have plenty of stupid questions for everyone as I spin deeper into the vortex.
stupid question #1 (of many to come), I tried gluing a sacrificial block onto the bowl blank, but after 1 hour, it would not even start to set up. I used Tite bond 3. (Oh, by the way the wood is green.) Should I have used CA glue?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken....Congrats on the new lathe! I have it's twin and they are nice.

I suspect the reason the glue didn't set up was because it's green....wet.

Typically, I screw a faceplate to a blank.....turn a tenon on the other end of the bowl........turn the outside......remove the faceplate......mount the blank in my chuck using the tenon and turn the inside of the bowl. No gluing involved........

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Glad to see you got it down the stairs!

Another way to start is to:

Put the blank between centers.

Decide which end is to be the bottom.

Turn a tennon on that end. Then turn the outer shape of the bowl.

Install your chuck.

Put the tennon into the chuck and bring up the tail stock to hold the blank balanced while tightening the chuck. It the bowl is of big enough diameter, you can leave the tail stock in, for support.

Bruce

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the new lathe. Like Ken said use a face plate. It is a lot easier.

[George Morris]

Congrats on the new lathe they are great!!! Also check out the Mustard Monster web site ,you can find a link to it in AAW forum site. Lots of great info about the lathe.Good luck!!

[Fred Conte]

WOW! KEN YOU REALLY GOT SUCKED IN -- SWEET!!!

Congradulation and remember play safely...can't wait to see what you turn out...have fun!

Fred

[Scott Hubl]

CONGRATS on the new GOLD Machine!

That is HIGH on my list of things to get!

< Drools with envy here.

I have my "cart " at Osolink parked with one plus several accessories for it that come up to $3,810.96.:eek:

But i'm gonna PULL that trigger SOON I hope.

Again CONGRATS on a FINE choice in lathes.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on your new lathe Ken! I follow the same steps as Bruce when turning bowls. It's simple and it works!

[Rex Guinn]

Ken;
We do expect to see all your future turnings (Pics) from this great machine! I think you did it right, My wife tried to tell me to buy a good machine when I started a year ago, but I bought a palmgren, it works, but ?????. Maybe this year I can go with the 3520b.

[Jim Becker]

Oy, another one!! (Congratulations!)

[Tom Sherman]

Congratulations on the new iron.

[ROY DICK]

WOW! Ken way to go.
I have a question. Is that a roughing gouge on the head stock in the 2nd & 3rd pic?
Roy

[Ken Glass]

Ken,
Thanks for the help. All I need now is a chuck to do just that. It came with a face plate and two spurs and a live center, but alas, no chuck.

Roy,
Yes it is. I'm trying to learn how to use my new toys. I bought a inexpensive set of 6 to start. I took them out of the box and immediately went to the sharpening machine to put good edges on them. At least they are HSS.

Rex,
Until my work becomes passable, I will probably not post anything. After seeing most of the pictures here, I have decided I have a lot to learn.

To all 3520b owners and others,
I have noticed there seems to be a scarcity of chucks with a 1-1/4 x 8 tpi. I found a few, but would like something under $150.00 in 5-6" that size. I guess I can get 1" and an adapter, but I would feel more comfortable with the 1-1/4".
Any one know of such chucks in my size?

Scott,
It's only Money!!$$$$

[Rich Souchek]

First, congrats on the Mustard.
That's stepping up, you just don't know all the step you missed.
There are plenty of chucks for the PM3520B, a search here will show plenty of threads.
That said, my preference is for Oneway equipment and a nearby store carries them. They make three scroll chucks in three sizes, both the largest (Stronghold) and the smallest (the Talon) use a keyed chuck key. The middle cuck uses Tommy bars and is their original design. The Talon chuck is real sweet, got 2 of them with different jaws, but it is limited to stuff under 16" or so in diameter and less than say 60-70 lbs weight. The largest, the Stronghold, fits in the largest made catagory and is fine for big bowls and platter blanks. The #3 jaws go down to about 4.5" diameter tenen, which means it is really suited for bowls and blanks a minimum of 15" diameter (using a 3 to 1 ration of foot to od.) In use, it is too big for most stuff.
The middle Oneway chuck, which I haven't used, should be the most pratical and should be able to handle almost anything one can put on a PM3529B. The main difference is it uses Tommy bars to tighten and loosen.
Having watched demonstrators use the tommy bars on this chuck, they made using the chuck look easy and fast. If I had to do it all over again, I would go this way in a heartbeat. the chuck size is amller thatn the other two, the jaw opennings are right in the middle of both the other chucks, and the Tommy bars are faster than the keys. Some say you need a thrid hand to use the Tommy bars, but I've seen that is not true. It is whatever you get used to.
rich S.

[ROY DICK]

E-mail sent.

Roy

[Gary Herrmann]

Some day I'll get a big boy lathe. Sigh.

[Gilbert Vega]

Ken,
Thanks for the help. All I need now is a chuck to do just that. It came with a face plate and two spurs and a live center, but alas, no chuck.


Ken, congratulations on the new lathe. Having gotten one myself within the last month, I know you will thoroughly enjoy it.

As far as chucks, I plan on using a combination of Supernova2 and Titan chucks with the PM. I'm not sure what you mean by a scarcity of 1 1/4" x 8 tpi chucks. The Supernova2 and the Titan chucks use spindle adapters (as do most chucks) to fit their chucks to any lathe. Lathe Valley had the SN2 with 2" jaws for $139 and the Titan chuck with the 4" PowerGrip jaws for $209. You can add an adapter from numerous sorces.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken,

Don't be afraid to post your first turnings here.....regardless of their quality. Nobody will make fun of them and probably will encourage and possibly give you some good advice. The inmates here shoved me into the vortex 2 years ago. If you check some of the threads I started 2 years ago in the turning forum you'll see the very first things I turned. I had nobody to teach me so I had to learn on my own. We all start out as novices since turning skills, IMHO, are not hereditary or genetic.

Do a search on "bonkers" or "Idaho bonkers"......"the bomb"......you'll see what are humble beginnings of turning skills. Sadly they haven't really progressed too far since then.:o