Art kraft
05-10-2008, 9:15 PM
First let me say that it is a blast reading post.
My turning experience comes from production work mostly. This is our only income, my wife (Colleen) works with me full time. I need to sell everything I make so I run all my lathes peddle to the metal, time is money.
The reason I mentioned this is the question of the center screw. I would never use without TS. Many of these screws are made of high carbon steel and will break before they bend, even worse some are cast steel.
Keep all safety shields in place. When you turn these large blanks the kinetic energy is unbelievable. At 2000 RPM a 2.25" x 32 pine spindle will hit the ceiling of the shop 14ft up (guards and machine parts allow up only, thank God ) and stay there. I would not want to be in front of a 19" block of Maple at 800 RPM.
If you are serious about turning, buy the heaviest lathe you can. It will be safer and give you better products in shorter time. Strip down an old metal lathe, they make excellent wood lathes. I found a 12" swing with 8' bed for $350. It is my favorite manual lathe, kind of reminds me of the old Powermatic 45 and 90 models.
My turning experience comes from production work mostly. This is our only income, my wife (Colleen) works with me full time. I need to sell everything I make so I run all my lathes peddle to the metal, time is money.
The reason I mentioned this is the question of the center screw. I would never use without TS. Many of these screws are made of high carbon steel and will break before they bend, even worse some are cast steel.
Keep all safety shields in place. When you turn these large blanks the kinetic energy is unbelievable. At 2000 RPM a 2.25" x 32 pine spindle will hit the ceiling of the shop 14ft up (guards and machine parts allow up only, thank God ) and stay there. I would not want to be in front of a 19" block of Maple at 800 RPM.
If you are serious about turning, buy the heaviest lathe you can. It will be safer and give you better products in shorter time. Strip down an old metal lathe, they make excellent wood lathes. I found a 12" swing with 8' bed for $350. It is my favorite manual lathe, kind of reminds me of the old Powermatic 45 and 90 models.