update and a couple questions

[curtis rosche]

well, i finally got the lathe hooked up it runs. if you try to take off to much it vibrates real bad. i was turning a couple peices of maple, just roughing the outside bowl shape. i could never get the wood to be exactly round, its like the vibration takes it out of round or something. even taking light cuts it wont make it perfectly round. i dont know what causes it. the lathe is tightened down to the table very tightly. i guess it could be the table moving.
i also broke the peice on the bottom of the banjo, that pulls up against the bottom of the bed rails, snapped it right in half. i should be a ble to make a new one in welding class.


whats the best tool to use to hollow out a bowl besides the bowl gouge?

also, the face plate for the lathe is out of balance, it wobbles on both axis' about 1/8 inch. should try to some how make this round?

what is the best grind angle for a 1/2 inch bowl scraper?

one last question. this is the first time i have ever used a dead center. before i broke the banjo peice, i was turning a spindle. i had the dead center up tight against the peice of wood, the lathe had a little issue starting and the peice of wood burned, and started to smoke. then i losened the tailstoke, it stoped smoking but then the peice of wood was loose. how is this supposed to work?

[Randy Degen]

Your best bet is to get a live center for the tailstock . Randy



one last question. this is the first time i have ever used a dead center. before i broke the banjo peice, i was turning a spindle. i had the dead center up tight against the peice of wood, the lathe had a little issue starting and the peice of wood burned, and started to smoke. then i losened the tailstoke, it stoped smoking but then the peice of wood was loose. how is this supposed to work?[/quote]

[Tim A. Mitchell]

If the face plate wobbles, that is likly to be the cause of the vibration and out-of-roundness.

Take it off, and see if there is any runnout on the headstock. If not, get a ne faceplate, or have it milled flat, if there is sufficient thickness.

[Don Orr]

Curtis,

I'm happy to hear you have your lathe up and running but sad to hear you are having such difficulties.

A couple of observations; the wobbly faceplate could be due to a bent spindle. Have you checked the spindle for runout ? Meaning is it running true? Does the faceplate wobble with nothing mounted on it ? If your spindle is a 3/4" x 16tpi, it is not really meant for heavy work. I have a Craftsman tube frame lathe with 3/4" x 16tpi and it vibrates when I hog wood.

You can hollow out bowls with a sturdy scraper. The 1/2" one you ask about should work if you don't hang it too far over the rest. Scrapers are easy to sharpen as I'm sure you know. I use a subjective angle somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 degrees or so. Meaning it is not much off of vertical at the tip. Might be 65 deg, I never measured. The idea is to have substantial metal under the cutting edge to resist the forces pushing on it. You also need a burr on the edge. A very steep (acute, like a spindle gouge) angle on a scraper is very grabby and can even break small pieces off the edge.

As for the dead center, they have been used for many decades successfully but they need to be lubricated. Some kind of grease or at least wax is needed or things will burn as you described. This is also why you need to leave "dead" wood at the ends of spindles that gets trimmed off later.

I sure hope you get things figured out soon. I know you have the turning bug bad.

[curtis rosche]

when i was looking at the faceplate last night it looked like at one point someone had dropped it, or bent it some how. i guess i will have to get a new one. can the vibrations from hogging off wood hurt the lathe?
the peice i started to turn last night is a peice of end grain honey locust. i can seem to get anything but dust from it.

i knew you can use a scraper to turn, as that is what i learned to turn with, i just didnt know if there was something better to use.


can you use a skew to do a bowl?

[curtis rosche]

and you are right about loving to turn wood.

the fix that i am going to make for the banjo peice is this, i am thinking of taking a peice of 1/8 inch metal plate, and sandwhiching it between 2 peices of diamond plate, welding the whole way around the edges, grinding it smooth. then drilling a hole for the bolt to go through. can any one see any issues that may arise from this? i will try using the mig welder for this,(i can do amazing arc welds, but not so great with the MIG, they dont break but they dont look the greatest)

[Don Orr]

Please do not use a skew on a bowl. If you are turning end grain as you describe, then using it on the outside is just like spindle orientation turning so it's OK, but not on side grain/face grain work. Hollowing with a skew is like using a scraper but they are not meant to be used this way. If the locust is fairly dry then dust is what you will get a lot of. A sharp heavy scraper with the tool rest close to the wood should work pretty well. Vibrations from heavy wood removal will eventually shake everything loose so keep an eye on things and make sure what is supposed to be tight is tight and what is supposed to be free is free. If your face plate is damaged it may even have a crack if it is cast iron and that could be very dangerous if it fails at speed.

As for your banjo fix, I'm not sure of your reasoning on the diamond plate. Flat plate should be more than adequate and easier to weld. MIG takes a little practice to get good at. If you are using shielding gas instead of flux core wire you need to make sure your gun is positioned properly to help contain the cloud of gas. Also try making very small figure 8 or circular motions as you move along the weld path to smooth things out a little. If you are a decent welder you can make your own faceplates from a nut that fits your lathe spindle welded to a flat plate of steel with some holes drilled in it. Make several in different sizes.

Hope it all works out for you.

[curtis rosche]

i welded it, then got out an angle grinder made it perfectly smooth and square. the diamond plate is a little thicker than the sheet/plate metal we practice with. it also gives it a little more weight,

[curtis rosche]

i am hopeing that the extra weight will make it so that when i slide the tailstock, the peice doesnt swing and then catch, it should just hang and slide easy. we figured out that the reason that i couldnt get the mig welds right before was that some one had messed up the settings and the nozzle tip. we fixed it. then i staggered the 3 plates diagonaly 1/8inch, so that i would be able to weld them together easier. then i welded them and continued to build up the weld so that it was able to be ground to a 90 degree edge.