About 8 weeks ago, I trashed my knee. It didn't heal, so yesterday I had surgery. Now the wife thinks I can't turn for 6-8 weeks. So now I just sit watching Youtube vids. Just before I wrecked the knee, I was working on a new project with off center turning. I have attached a few images here of some bowls that have a similar technique. Getting them off center is no problem, but the vibration from being off center is terrible. I have searched the web for information on balancing the load, but no real solutions. Most of the guys I have seen doing this stuff rely on very heavy lathes and small diameter bowls. I am using a midi (Delta 460) and the lathe is all over the place. I am literally chasing the lathe around the shop. I know I can use sand for ballast on my stand, but I think the vibration will break all the joints on the stand, and tear it apart. I am trying to turn 12 inch pieces, and the vibration causes very poor quality cuts, especially since some are so far off center that I am turning some air. It is downright dangerous even at slows speeds. I thought I remembered some threads here years ago, when I was first starting to turn, that talked about using tire weights or fishing sinkers for weight to balance the load. I did a search, and it seemed to turn up almost every thread here. I did find this thread, which was some help, but it got me wondering if countering the off balance issue with weights would be better for the bearings on my lathe than adding ballast?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...eights+balance
Does anybody have any thoughts on how to balance the off center stuff, and how to attach weights securely and safely? What would be the best way to determine if the load is balanced before firing up the lathe? Any other thoughts or recommendations? I would like to not do damage to my lathe and keep all my body parts as they were when I do this. I have had enough of Doctors and hospitals with the knee.