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Thread: Chuck reversing adapter

  1. #1
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    Chuck reversing adapter

    I'm looking for, best I've concluded after searching the internet, is a chuck reversing adapter. I have a couple of ideas I would like to try. Mainly I want to be able to put a face plate on my tailstock. I don't think i'll be putting too much rotational force on it but I would like it to be secure so if I do it's going to hold. I've found several that seam like they would work. Grizzly sells one that's two pieces. It looks like a standard MT#2 to threads used to hold a drill chuck and then an adapter to go to the 1 1/4"x8 I want.
    51Y7s-55d3L._SL1000_.jpg
    The second is one made by Nova. It's one piece but the tapered part looks to be much shorter than other MT#2 adapters I've seen. I'm a little worried that it could spin inside the tailstock if too much force is put on it.
    51e6hf2FWrL._SL1076_.jpg
    The third one I found is sold by Best Wood tools. It's one piece and they say it's accurate to +/- .001". It also is threaded on the opposite side so you can use 3/8" threaded rod to seat it into the taper.

    I've listed them from cheapest to most expensive. The Best Wood Tools option is more than twice what the Grizzly version costs ($30 vs $70). Has anyone used one of these? If I bought the cheap one would I wish I had spent the extra money and got the best one?

  2. #2
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    I have also been researching this item. In addition to the ones you mentioned, I found one from Penn State for $39.99 shipped free thru Amazing. Can't vouch for it's quality, but one usually gets what one pays for. My interest is to mount a chuck with Cole jaws on the tailstock to assist in flattening, aligning, and glueing segmented rings.
    My philosophy is usually "buy the best you can afford", but sometimes I fall back on "I'll just get the cheap one for now. If it fails I'll get a better one".

  3. #3
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    ChefWare Kits also sells them.
    A bit pricier than some but are nice.

    https://www.chefwarekits.com/woodtur...d-turning.html
    My Dad always told me "Can't Never Could".

    SWE

  4. #4
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    Best Wood Tools also sells the cheaper version like the one Grizzly (as well as others) sell. They are one of the few who state that the tapered part is steel but the adapter is aluminum and is only designed to hold the work so it can be held by a vacuum chuck. Chefware sort of hint that you can't use it to turn, just hold the work in the tailstock for a vacuum chuck. Best Tools says their more expensive one piece version can work in both the head stock and tail stock. They say that if you are going to use it in your headstock you need to secure it with a 3/8-16 threaded rod (I'm assuming to help keep it secure in the morse taper.

    William. One of the things I'm thinking of doing is getting a piece of 1/4" aluminum 20" in diameter that I can mount to a face plate. That should give a flat surface for sanding similar to what you are talking about. It's one of the reason why I want it to be able to handle rotational forces. It shouldn't be too much force as you don't stand with a lot of pressure. I had thought about using a square piece of aluminum so that I could use one of the flat edges of the aluminum to rest on the bed to keep it from spinning. But anything I do has to be safe.

  5. #5
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    Oneway has an adapter that screws onto a live cnter.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eugene Dixon View Post
    Oneway has an adapter that screws onto a live cnter.
    I have used the Oneway adapter on my Jet 1642 live center since it has the same thread as the Oneway live center. It has worked very well if you have a suitable 3/4" x 10tpi threaded live center.

    Tailstock chuck mount adapter for live center.jpg

    Tailstock chuck mount adapter for live center 2.jpg

    One possible downside to this arrangement however is that depending on what you want to do and the size of the chuck, there can be a lot of hardware extended out on that Morse 2 taper.

    Chuck cantilevered in tail stock.jpg
    Last edited by Dick Mahany; 07-20-2019 at 5:41 PM.
    Dick Mahany.

  7. #7
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    Alex,

    For an inexpensive sanding disk, I used a 4 x 4 " oak block which I tapped with a Beal tap and trued it. Then I glued and screwed the tapped block to a piece of 1" MDF. Then I trued it (IIRC, the runout was almost zero anyways), sealed it and stuck on a self adhesive sanding disk. It works great. As an added bonus, I "charged" the outer rim with jewelers rouge and sometimes use it for a hone. Make sure to true it before you charge it with rouge (don't ask me why I am giving this advice )

    1/4" aluminum might also work fine. Probably wouldn't flex much and probably would run true. If you can find a piece of 1/2", you might consider that as it would give you more threads to bolt in to and give you the ability to use a blind/bottoming tap. On a blind/bottoming tap, the first ~ 2 threads will still be tapered. On a 1/4" plate with a 1/4-20 bolt and 0.050 material left in the blind hole to keep sanding surface flat, the bolt will only be gripping about 0.10". But with thicker material you'll have more to work with. Alternatively, I suppose that you could drill and tap completely through the plate, grind the bolts flat or slightly below the surface and not worry if there are a handful of low spots under the sanding disk.

  8. #8
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    Alex and Brice,
    The sanding disc arrangement that you envision is featured in a video by Earl Rasmussen. There is a link to it in another thread-"flattening wood for bowl blank glue-ups". Earl has this all figured out and has designed a simple shop-made system.
    Last edited by William McAloney; 07-20-2019 at 8:09 PM. Reason: Correction of thread title.

  9. #9
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    Craft Supplies sells that adapter also ($30).

    http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/...lstock+adapter

  10. #10
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    Dick, your set up looks like it has bearings in it. By having bearings you couldn't use it to sand.

    Brice, I have a homemade solution out of wood and aluminum that was more of a proof of concept to see if what I was thinking would work. Unfortunately it actually showed that I would use it even more than I thought. It almost got me to order the 20" disc sander from Grizzly that's on sale and had free shipping a few days ago. The face plate has countersunk holes in it so my plan is to thread the aluminum disc and just make the screws the correct length so they don't protrude into the face. That would give them a full 1/4" to bite. I do have the ability to put helicoils in the aluminum if it looks like the threads aren't going to hold if put together and taken apart has worn them. However since I ordered a faceplate just for this I'm not sure if it'll ever get taken apart.

    Pat, the one Craft supplies sells specifically says it can't be used while the lathe is running.

    I ended up ordering the Best Tools one piece adapter. I also have a machined face plate on order. Once I get everything my plan is to make a table that can be attached to the bed of the lathe so I can use the lathe as a 20" disc sander. I often see broken bandsaw and sanders on Craig's list for cheap. I should be able to find one that has a T-slot in it (or make something out of wood) that I can make be the right height. The adapter isn't needed to turn the lathe into a 20" disk sander, it just gives me the ability to mount it on the tailstock or mount my chuck on the tailstock. I have a few other ideas I want to try as well. I haven't tried making segmented bowls but could in the future so being able to put the chuck or the sanding disc on the tailstock will just give me extra flexibility.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex Zeller View Post
    Dick, your set up looks like it has bearings in it. By having bearings you couldn't use it to sand.
    Alex, just as a note the bearings can be defeated easily by a pin that slides through the live center thereby preventing rotation.
    Dick Mahany.

  12. #12
    I use this one almost daily. With the extra as far as I'm concerned!
    Quote Originally Posted by Eugene Dixon View Post
    Oneway has an adapter that screws onto a live cnter.
    Pete


    * It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep for life - Sister Elizabeth Kenny *
    I think this equates nicely to wood turning as well . . . . .

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex Zeller View Post
    ...
    The second is one made by Nova. It's one piece but the tapered part looks to be much shorter than other MT#2 adapters I've seen. I'm a little worried that it could spin inside the tailstock if too much force is put on it.
    ...
    The third one I found is sold by Best Wood tools. It's one piece and they say it's accurate to +/- .001". It also is threaded on the opposite side so you can use 3/8" threaded rod to seat it into the taper.
    Alex, been out and just saw this.

    I have both the Nova and Best Wood Tools version you showed plus another one. The BWT is very well made - his stuff is not cheap but it's not cheap either! I've never been sorry buying from them. Using with a drawbar seems to have limited use, perhaps to use a chuck with a lathe with messed up spindle threads or with different spindle threads than the chuck.

    The Nova does have a short taper but for most people the biggest use of the adapter is to take piece still in the chuck taken directly from the headstock and put it in on the tailstock to align perfectly with a vacuum chuck, jam chuck, or other method for finish turning the bottom. The short taper seems precise and works fine for this.

    I can't imagine what kind of operation you would do that would apply a significant rotational force to faceplate or chuck mounted in the tailstock.

    JKJ

  14. #14
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    It shouldn't see much rotational force but at the same time I don't want it to spin and do damage to the spindle or tailstock. I got the Best Woodworking Tool adapter yesterday and measured it's runout, with was about +/- .002". That's both the adapter and the spindle so I would say it's very accurate. I think the most amount of rotational force it would see is when it's used for sanding. I have a local shop making me a 20" aluminum disc that I can mount to a faceplate I can mount to the adapter or my headstock spindle. I'll be able to mount my chuck on the other side so I can use the tailstock to sand things like segmented rings and bowls flat.

    Several times I have come close to buying both a 20" disc sander and an open ended drum sander but I really don't have the room or enough of a need to justify the cost. It shouldn't be too hard to make a table that mounts to the bed so I can use the lathe as one. The amount of money invested in this is well under $200. Sooner or later I'll come across a good used ones so this should buy me some time. Until then hopefully this will do what I need.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex Zeller View Post
    It shouldn't see much rotational force but at the same time I don't want it to spin and do damage to the spindle or tailstock. I got the Best Woodworking Tool adapter yesterday and measured it's runout, with was about +/- .002". That's both the adapter and the spindle so I would say it's very accurate. I think the most amount of rotational force it would see is when it's used for sanding. I have a local shop making me a 20" aluminum disc that I can mount to a faceplate I can mount to the adapter or my headstock spindle. I'll be able to mount my chuck on the other side so I can use the tailstock to sand things like segmented rings and bowls flat.
    So Alex, I am picturing a segmented ring that is already glued to the base of a bowl, and you want to flatten it before adding the next ring. When I want to do this, I use a flat board perhaps 3/4 inch thick, 3 inches wide, and at least as long as the diameter of the ring. Sandpaper is glued to the face. I true up the ring as best as I can with tools, and then hold the board onto the ring to sand it flat. It is not too hard to get a perfectly flat ring. This method cannot guarantee that the flat surface is square to the spindle axis but it is awfully close, I have never noticed any "un-squareness". This just seems to be a lot easier than the big sanding disk you are going for.

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