How do you finishing bottom of bowls? Vicmarc adjust-a-jaws nightmare.

[jason lambert]

I bought a Vickmarc chuck and Craft Supply recommended some adjust-a-jaws to finish the bottom of bowls. I tried this and it was well tedious and terrible switching the jaws, keeping track of all the small parts, then the jaws didn't really hold my thin bowl tight they are just to slippery and when I tightened more it cracked the bowl. The over tightening might of been my fault but swapping jaws is just not a reality. I called craft supply and they offered to sell me a base chuck with no jaws at a reduced price I told them I had another big order in a week or two and would call back so they could ship all at once. Put together the order and well now the chuck went up in price and they will not honor the price they gave me a week or two ago or even give me the comparable break in price! I don't feel like dropping another $300+ on another chuck just to keep the adjust-a-jaws mounted up.

So how do you finish bottoms of bowls? Are there any cheaper chucks out there with adjust-a-jaw type set up.

Needless to say I am done with Craft Supplies for my big orders.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jason, your options are pretty much using a jam chuck, Cole jaws, donut chuck or vacuum chuck. There may be a couple other options out there but I sure can't think of any.

If you have questions about any of the above listed methods, be sure to ask.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Jason

Choices and budget

#1 Vac Chuck - $100 to $600 depending on your resourcefulness. Look for Steve S. instruction here somewhere on building your own system.

#2 Rim Chuck - mount a softwood or MDF board to a faceplate, Turn a recess that the rim of the bowl fits into fairly tightly. Snap bowl into the recess, turn gently. You can blue tape in on for extra security. Cost of faceplate.

#3 Jam Chuck - mount a piece of scrap in your existing chuck. turn a gently radius acroos the face to fit the inside of bowl. Pad with a paper towel, or piece of mouse pad, jam the bowl between tail center and the padded scrap. Turn gently until a 1/4 to 1/2 stub remains. Remove from lathe, knock most of stub off with sharp chisel and sand smooth. Free.

Frank

[jason lambert]

hummm sounds like a vac chuck is my best option then I can also do natural edge bowls. I will have to search for one for my powermatic unless someones knows someone who has a solution posted.

For now I can use a jam chuck. kind of frustrated with bowls anyhow after this last one.

Thanks for the info.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jason,

While not as handy as some other methods, do a search in the turner's forum for "donut chuck". I made mine out of scrap plywood and padded it with padded shelf paper from Walmart. The biggest expense....some T-nuts and bolts from the hardware store.

[robert hainstock]

I wouldsuggest that you get a copy of Bill Grumbines video "Turned bowls made easy". It will show you how to do many of the things you want to know. At ten percent of the cost of more chucks. Good luck. :eek::):)
Bob

[Bill Bolen]

There is also the Longworth chuck. Make it yourself or purchase. See my Avatar if you are not sure what one is...Bill...

[Wilbur Pan]

I use what some people call a tape chuck, what others would call a hack. ;)

Basically, I have glued up scrap 2x material mounted to a faceplate. After I finish a bowl except for the bottom, I mount this faceplate and cut a shallow recess (less than 1/8") in the 2x material just wide enough to put the top of the bowl into it. Then I take a bunch of blue painter's tape and tape the bowl in place, and finish off the bottom.

[Kim Ford]

Jason;

Been there done that every way you can imagine; then I built Steve's Vacuum Chuck.

Would never go back.

It's not that you can't do it other ways, it's just that the vacuum chuck works without problems and doesn't crush or bend the finished piece. What pushed me over the edge was losing several almost finished pieces to other methods.

I still have my donut chuck because it was second best but have not used it since I started using the vacuum.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jason which Vicmarc chuck do you have? If you have the 3 1/2" you can buy a grizzly chuck for $99 for your adjust-a-jaws. They have different chucks depending on your lathe. 1 X 8, 1 1/4 X 8, 1 1/2 X 8, etc. I have 3 of them with Vic jaws on them as I am lazy and don't like changing jaws. I use mine a lot and don't have much problems except on bowls with rounded rims.

[Richard Madison]

Jason,
If you started a bowl between centers in order to shape the outside and turn a tenon on the bottom for your chuck, you may not need all that extra stuff. You still have a center point (indentation) in the center of the bottom of the bowl. Mount a flat disc (particle board, for example) to a faceplate. Using some thin, non-skid material between the disc and the bowl, press the bowl against the disc with the tailstock (cup center with a center point works well). Turn the bottom until there is just a nub between the tail point and the work. This is a doughnut chuck without the doughnut. Have a picture, but still a 6 meg file. Will adjust and post if anyone interested.

[Wilbur Pan]

BTW, there's a great article on all the ways you can finish the bottom of the bowl by John Lucas. It's in PDF format, and the tape chuck method that I use is on the second page.

http://www.cumberlandwoodturners.com/tips/Methods%20and%20Jigs%20for%20Reverse%20Turning%20B owls.pdf

[Tom Keen]

There are lots of ways to finish the bottom of a bowl. Ive tried most including the big jaws you used. And, a longworth and donut chuck, tape, etc etc...I finally gave up and sanded the bottoms flat. The longworth and donut chuck were frightening..lots of edges and pieces sticking out and they didnt hold well and were difficult getting my work centered properly. I had similar experiences to yours with the large jaws, though they worked ok on small pieces. Then I built a vacuum chuck..a revelation!!!.. It holds extremely well, is fast and easy to use and I trust it enough that I can relax and focus on the work at hand.

You can spend a lot of time and money on qizmos but for around $250 you can build a really great piece of equipment. Drag out Steve's instructions, you wont be disappointed.

[Paul Gallian]

http://www.cumberlandwoodturners.com...ng%20Bowls.pdf

URL does not seem to work.
short to http://www.cumberlandwoodturners.com

still give error message.

?????:(:(:(

Paul

[Jim Becker]

Jason, like many others, I use either a jam setup with the piece reversed between centers (with appropriate padding, etc) to clean up the bottom or a vacuum chuck. I never bothered to get jumbo-jaws or other large setups.

[Keith Christopher]

I mostly use a jam chuck. Then again I don't like NE bowls/turnings.

[Frank Drew]

This is the reason we end up with several chucks sporting different jaw configurations. But even swapping out jaws isn't particularly time-consuming -- it takes just a few minutes to remove small jaws and replace them with Cole jaws.

[keith zimmerman]

http://www.cumberlandwoodturners.com...ng%20Bowls.pdf

URL does not seem to work.
short to http://www.cumberlandwoodturners.com

still give error message.

?????:(:(:(

Paul

Paul, every link on the page is broken. Seems there is nothing on the server except the index page.

[Wilbur Pan]

Hopefully it's a temporary thing. The link worked this morning right before I posted it.

Here's the PDF in zipped form -- only way I could get it to upload. Why 1.9 MB zipped files are allowed but PDFs are only limited to 160 KB befuddles me.

[jason lambert]

Thanks everyone I have the vicmarc 5 1/2" chuck. But I think I am just going to try a jam chuck and work on a vacuum chuck this winter. I have some other projects anyhow and the turning thing has been a head ake lately. It seems every time I start something there is some tool I don't have and need.

[Barry Elder]

There are many options for removing tenons and finishing the bottoms of pieces but you need to do some planning to eliminate the rush. You have more time than anything else. Why not look at the Straka Chuck article in a recent AAW Journal, Spring 2008. After making the back plate, you can make a holding plate for any piece in short order. With different lengths of carriage bolts, it appears less dangerous with a lot of options. I'm in the process of building a few for club members.

[Curt Fuller]

Jason, I have a couple "domes", that's what I call them anyway, in different sizes for finishing the bottoms of almost anything I turn. They're just basically a friction chuck. I glue a waste block to a block of wood, mount it in a chuck and just shape it like a dome. To finish the bottom of a bowl I use a piece of that non-skid stuff that you put under rugs, lay it in the bottom of the bowl, hold it against the dome, which is held in the jaws of my chuck, and bring up the tailstock live center to hold it snug. If you have a dimple in the center of the tenon on the bowl you can center it with that. Otherwise you might have to move it around a little to get it centered. You can apply quite a bit of pressure but be careful not to apply too much or you could crack the bowl. Then I finish turn the bottom, taking off any tenon and making what ever design you might want on the bottom, leaving about a 1/4" nub where the live center is. Once you take the bowl off the lathe you can use a small chisel and knock off the nub, sand it smooth, and the bottom is finished. I have different diameter domes for different sized bowls but they don't have to fit the bowl exacly. It doesn't take much contact with the non-skid to provide plenty of friction for just turning the base of the piece. I also have some that are pretty tall for finishing deeper natural edged bowls. Other than a vacuum chuck system, which I've never used, I think friction chucking works best for the bottoms of about anything.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Craft Supplies. They're one of the few purely woodturning supply companies out there and they usually try pretty hard to please. But I've learned over time that most of the fancy jaws and other gadgets and gizmos available are too specialized to be worth the price and that home made setups work best for most jobs.

[Jeff Nicol]

Jason, I agree with just about everyone so far, but I do the same as Jim does. A jam chuck or a vacuum chuck that I made myself from an old dehumidifier compressor. I have never used any large adjustable jaws but I did make a longworth chuck that would do bowls from about 4" to 10" it worked great until the MDF I used started to separate. I will make a new one this winter hopefully. Keep trying new things and there are tons of small video clips on youtube that may help also.

Good luck,

Jeff