Vacuum Chuck question

[Greg Parrish]

Just ran into a problem. The Oneway Taper Lok adapter is larger in diameter than the factory handwheel. The design of the PM2014 appears to use the hand wheel to tighten the bearings and spindle into place. From looking up the larger PM3520C manual, their spindle appears to have a nut that tightens it into place separate than the hand wheel. Anyway, the taperlok adapter tightens all the way until touching the headstock when then means the spindle can't turn. In looking, some of the other small lathe specific taperlok adapters appear to be reduced in size at the headstock end. Wondering if that is what I need. No way to turn this one down because of the bolt holes. Those others have a protrusion on that end.

Unless one of the other smaller lathes has the same thread size and the proper diameter size, I'm forced to switch to the rubber Chucky approach. Not sure what else to do but I've got this much invested so I need to find another solution. Ugh.

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EDIT: I went ahead and ordered one of the Rubber Chucky adapters for the PM2014, as well as one of their rubber seals for the Oneway 3-1/2" Vacuum Chuck. From what I can tell, there is no way to adapt the Oneway rotary piece to the PM2014 without a custom taper lock adapter being machined.

[Jim Morgan]

Just ran into a problem. The Oneway Taper Lok adapter is larger in diameter than the factory handwheel. The design of the PM2014 appears to use the hand wheel to tighten the bearings and spindle into place. From looking up the larger PM3520C manual, their spindle appears to have a nut that tightens it into place separate than the hand wheel. Anyway, the taperlok adapter tightens all the way until touching the headstock when then means the spindle can't turn. In looking, some of the other small lathe specific taperlok adapters appear to be reduced in size at the headstock end. Wondering if that is what I need. No way to turn this one down because of the bolt holes. Those others have a protrusion on that end.

Unless one of the other smaller lathes has the same thread size and the proper diameter size, I'm forced to switch to the rubber Chucky approach. Not sure what else to do but I've got this much invested so I need to find another solution. Ugh.

IMG_2427.jpg

IMG_2428.jpg

IMG_2429.jpg

IMG_2430.jpg

IMG_2431.jpg


EDIT: I went ahead and ordered one of the Rubber Chucky adapters for the PM2014, as well as one of their rubber seals for the Oneway 3-1/2" Vacuum Chuck. From what I can tell, there is no way to adapt the Oneway rotary piece to the PM2014 without a custom taper lock adapter being machined.

Bummer! Could you turn a washer that would allow the adapter to screw down tight without locking against the headstock?

[Greg Parrish]

Bummer! Could you turn a washer that would allow the adapter to screw down tight without locking against the headstock?

Maybe. Thought about that. But I don't know how you'd get it over the threads and also centered on the spindle to keep it balanced. The one on the hand wheel is a part of the wheel so it's machined into the wheel itself. I'd have to make one larger to get over the threads and then it wouldn't stay centered and balanced.

[Bill Howatt]

I'd try calling Oneway, never done it, but have heard lots of reports of them being very helpful.

[Greg Parrish]

UDPATE:

I called and spoke to someone at OneWay. Unfortunately, it was of little help. They said they had never heard of the Powermatic PM2014. They also said that the Powermatics were horrible because none of them had threads. Honestly, I'm thinking the person I spoke with just had no clue because I'm assuming the handwheel on all of them will unthread just like on my 2014. To give benefit, maybe they meant there were not threads on the outside of the handwheel itself or something. Don't know. Anyway, the person recommended a washer like you guys mentioned before.

Next up, I went through a bucket of washers and bushings until I found a bushing that was approximately 3/4"ID x 1-1/4"OD x 1/2". No clue where it came from but it fit the spindle with a small amount of slop. The only thing I can think is that maybe it was metric and from my prior Felder KF500 shaper, regardless it didn't allow the adapter to thread on to the spindle enough. So, I ordered a 3/4"IN x 1-1/4"OD x 1/4" CNC machined shaper spindle bushing/spacer. It fit like a glove and allowed the OneWay rotary air adapter to thread on adequately.

Sounds great, right? LOL Well, not so much. The OneWay rotary air adapter with taper lock bushing was fairly out of balance. I tried removing and repositioning the taper lock adapter, as well as adjusting the set screws and nothing helped. Given the shear weight of this thing, I ultimately decided against using it. It's one thing to have an out of balance blank that you are truing up, but to have this running on the smaller side of the spindle just made me uncomfortable. My fear is that it might actually deform or bend the spindle over time. It would surely wear the bearing on that side sooner. So, back in the box the rotary air adapter went and its on its way back to the store.

Now I wait for the Rubber Chucky Vacuudapter to show up. Its in route and initially showed arrival today, however tracking makes me think it will be tomorrow. I'm really not sure what to expect with regards to how well these work and how easily they are to fit to the factory handwheel but I've got my fingers crossed. Chucky Vacuudapter (rubberchucky.com)

This is the final piece I need to start using vacuum chucking, so I'll give another update once received. Thanks.

[Bill Howatt]

Surprised you didn't get a better answer from Oneway!
Problems with taper-lock adapters are likely caused by the adapter not being pulled in evenly by alternately tightening the installation holding screws. I don't understand you saying it was out of balance - the bulk of the adapter does not move, it just sits there with the vacuum hose attached.

[Greg Parrish]

Bill, on the one I had, only the black hex shaped stub with the brass air hose nipple on it didn't rotate. The rest of the silver body/barrel rotated. As you suggest, my suspicion is the taper lock adapter causing the lack of balance. I never could get it to rotate without a bunch of wobble and vibration though. The factory handwheel rotates true and smooth, however I can induce wobble into it also if I don't tighten the set screws carefully. I'm guessing in it's case, the set screws are actually flexing the aluminum of the factory handwheel. However, in the case of the heavy steel oneway adapter, the only thing that makes sense is the fit of the taper lock adapter causing it to be out of balance. Anyway, I gave in and sent it back.

Oneway did say call them back if I didn't get it figured out, but I didn't bother. If they end up making a specific taper lock adapter, I might give it another go but I'm hopeful the Rubber Chucky product gets me fixed up instead.

Surprised you didn't get a better answer from Oneway!
Problems with taper-lock adapters are likely caused by the adapter not being pulled in evenly by alternately tightening the installation holding screws. I don't understand you saying it was out of balance - the bulk of the adapter does not move, it just sits there with the vacuum hose attached.

[tom lucas]

Did you ever reach out directly to Powermatic?

[Greg Parrish]

Did you ever reach out directly to Powermatic?

No, but they don’t sell any vacuum chuck devices or adapters as far as I can tell. That is one area that Robust, Oneway, Laguna and Vicmarc seem to have a leg up as they all offer an adapter for their lathes. If the Rubber Chucky vacudapter doesn’t work I’ll give them a try though.

[Jim Morgan]

Well poop. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me to have a vacuum chuck. LOL

Got the Rubber Chucky shipment today and unfortunately they shipped me the wrong adapter. They sent the one for the full size Powermatic lathes. Talked to them via email and they are going to ship the proper shank for the PM2014 on Monday, but that means it will probably be 7 to 10 days from now before I get it. It means I’ll have to swap the shank and I’ve asked some questions about that because they mentioned it may be tight since it was thread locked. Will await their reply before I get too worried and start demanding a full replacement/exchange as it may not be a big deal to swap them.

Man, that is quite a saga. When I set up a vacuum chuck on my 2014, I got a Frugal manifold. The tube goes through the spindle and the bearing is built into the chuck, which screws onto the inboard end of the spindle. I had thought initially about using an outboard adapter, but it took months(!) to get the outboard spindle threading out of Powermatic.

The downside of the Frugal setup is that the tube can rub against the inside of the spindle and will eventually fail, but cheap standard tubing available at any big box can serve as a replacement.

[Greg Parrish]

Jim, thanks for the feedback. Does the standard tube fit? I ask because my specs say 3/8" through spindle and the various tube style chucks all seem to use 3/8" tubes. In my head that wouldn't fit so I didn't even try going that route. Did you use a smaller tube? Thanks.




EDIT: Found out no worries on the loctite. Talked with Don and he said blue loctite was used. Should be easy enough to swap the pieces out once the replacement part gets here. Thats great news.

[Jim Morgan]

Standard tube no problem.