Got a couple packages in the mail Saturday..................

[John M. Smith]

These arrived in the mail on Saturday. Anyone want to guess whats inside mail hollower.jpg Dick Wilson , you do not get a guess

[John Keeton]

John, your attached pic kind of gives it away!!! CONGRATS!!! Life will never be the same, and we will always remember the OVWG Symposium, won't we!!

[John M. Smith]

OOPS Guess I should preview my posts before posting them. ROFLOL. Haven't posted pics too much, so don't know all the ins and outs yet. Oh well you all get the idea.

[John M. Smith]

And yes. I will always remember the Ohio symposium and how you helped, nudged, pushed me over the cliff into the vortex to spend my money. Another flatlander bights the dust.

[Roger Chandler]

Yep, that Monster rig is going to change your world........Your turning world anyway! Congrats!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats. You are going to love it.

[Dan Forman]

Have fun with it!!!

Dan

[Baxter Smith]

Congrats on your Monster! Seeing that big yellow thing you have it mounted on reminds me of a question I have been meaning to ask. You are probably the perfect person to answer it too! Might even help you as well.

When setting the height of the cutting tip, how far above the ways does your tip measure? The first time several times I used mine, it was on forms that were far too deep for me to hand hollow with the tools I have. It seemed to be rather "catchy" and when I would get to the bottom I would never be right on center. Assumed it was caused by me not having the tool rest or the back of the system set at exactly the same heights. I thought that my 3520A had a 20 inch swing so had been setting the tip with a ruler to 10" so as to be cutting on center. Finally measured one day to the point of a drive center and my A is at 10.25 above the ways. Just wondering if a B is the same.

[John Keeton]

Baxter, I will let John respond as well, but I have found that cutting just above center to remove the catchiness you speak of - as much as 1/4" high depending on my entry hole clearance. I drill my forms, so I have very little of a nub in the center, and I drop the cutter to dead center to clean up the bottom of the form only.

[John M. Smith]

My 3520b is also 10.25 inches from bed to center. So I set the tip at center. Did not measure, but just set it to match the live center.

[steven carter]

Congrats! I would say that I am patiently waiting for mine to ship, but that would be a lie.... Randy says mine should ship out next week. Good information on the cutting height, I hope to try it out soon. Look forward to your future hollow turnings.

[John M. Smith]

Thanks for the info John. I set mine at center as thatI is what is specified in the instructions. I also had to wait from the Ohio symposium in October for mine. I think Randy is selling a lot of these right now.

[Roger Chandler]

Baxter, I will let John respond as well, but I have found that cutting just above center to remove the catchiness you speak of - as much as 1/4" high depending on my entry hole clearance. I drill my forms, so I have very little of a nub in the center, and I drop the cutter to dead center to clean up the bottom of the form only.

I have found the same thing, John.........most of the hollowing just a little above center help eliminate catches and to clean up the nub on the bottom.......dead center. Of course if one drills first to the desired depth, then it eliminates the need to clean up a nub, as you say! Good info to post here...........thanks............I never thought about posting this, but it is a big help!

[Baxter Smith]

My 3520b is also 10.25 inches from bed to center. So I set the tip at center. Did not measure, but just set it to match the live center.

Glad you are more on the ball than I am! The first time I put the captured unit on the lathe to give it a try was when I had a 14 inch dry cherry burl vase hollowed as far as I could with hand tools. There was no way to see where the center was so I assumed that on a lathe with an advertized 20" swing, 10" would be right on center.

I must have had that unit off a half dozen times readjusting and tighening up every set screw after things would catch and get twisted. I was tempted to weld every joint that was supposed to be kept kept from moving by set screws. I was having trouble seeing how people could rave about how smooth it was to operate when it seemed like I was bending something every other pass. If you think thats funny, I put it on the lathe in the same situation for the next two or three things I did and got the same results.

Finally put it on the lathe once without anything in a chuck and and already partially hollowed and found out the true measurements of the lathe. My old 12 inch delta's center is exactly 6.0 above the ways but my 20.5" powermatic is obviously not 10.
Never claimed to be too bright!

Baxter, I will let John respond as well, but I have found that cutting just above center to remove the catchiness you speak of - as much as 1/4" high depending on my entry hole clearance. I drill my forms, so I have very little of a nub in the center, and I drop the cutter to dead center to clean up the bottom of the form only.

Thanks John. Had a cookie jar on the lathe this afternoon and set the cutter to 10 3/8. 1/8 above center sure works better than a quarter inch below! I do drill out the center but usually try and err on the side of not going quite deep enough.