bowl saver on woodfast midi lathe

[Dave.w]

I am fairly new to woodturning and have a woodfast 305 midi lathe. I find that I can turn reasonable sized bowls on it but it seems a bit wasteful to get just one bowl out of each blank. I'm considering getting a bowl saver eg woodcut but am concerned how well it would work on such a small lathe. Does anyone have experience with bowl savers on small lathes? Any advice appreciated.

[RETIRED]

The 305 is a great little lathe but is under powered for that sort of work.

[robo hippy]

Generally I would recommend 1 hp minimum for coring. The Woodcut does work well on smaller lathes, and is kind of fool proof. The only coring system that is made for mini lathes is the micro one from McNaughton (Kelton tools). The tip is 1/4 inch or slightly smaller. The other coring systems all have cutters that are 3/8 inch wide, so try a 3/8 inch (I think that is about 1 cm) wide scraper and see how it cuts. The McNaughton system does have a learning curve, but once you get past it, it is the best one out there. Every one who uses it swears by it, and every one who has tried to use it swears at it as well.

robo hippy

[rsser]

The WF midi + bowlsaver will cope with green wood coring up to maybe 8" of Cherry acc to one UK user.

But with hard/dry, even 1hp can be a trial.

[Jim Carroll]

Agree with Ern on this one, if you had the VS model of the M305 it can handle this better with a bit more grunt.

1hp is really the minimum if you want to do the larger size as indicated a 10mm cut into the face of a bowl can be a bit daunting for most lathes of dubious origins.

[NeilS]

I'm using the Woodcut corer on the Woodfast C1000X (1.5HP). With care, the C1000X manages the Woodcut's larger diameter core in green woods. I wouldn't try doing the larger cores on anything with less power. A 1HP lathe will manage the smaller cores in softer green woods using Steve Russell's 'Fluid-Pulse (http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/center-saver.html)' method*, but have my doubts about anything with less than 1HP.

*See the section "Using Center Saver on Low Power Lathes"

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[Bazza]

Hello all

I saw an ad for this gismo in a woodturning mag and was wondering if any of you good people had come across it. If so what do you think?

Steussy Creations' Bowl Saw (http://www.bowlsaw.com./)

Barry

[NeilS]

Steussy Creations' Bowl Saw (http://www.bowlsaw.com./)




There was a thread on that some time ago. Do a search. If I remember correctly, the person using it though it was great. Cheap compared to the standard corers... you just have to like making square sided bowls or squarish bowls or flattish square bowls....:U

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[hughie]

There was a thread on that some time ago. Do a search. If I remember correctly, the person using it though it was great. Cheap compared to the standard corers... you just have to like making square sided bowls or squarish bowls or flattish square bowls....:U



Its also perhaps the easiest one for the DIY guy to duplicate in the shed at home.

[rsser]

Yeah, just bend a keyhole saw.

[Bazza]

Thanks Neil,
I did do a search before posting but couldn't find anything. I can see that it would have its limitations.

Barry

[Dave.w]

Thanks to all for the advice. Looks like it's a bigger lathe for me. My wife will be thrilled. By the way Jim, what do you mean lathes of dubious origins - I bought this one from you! Cheers, Dave

[Jim Carroll]

Thanks to all for the advice. Looks like it's a bigger lathe for me. My wife will be thrilled. By the way Jim, what do you mean lathes of dubious origins - I bought this one from you! Cheers, Dave

There is some lathes out there that quote hp on their motor plate but actually have ponies under the bonnet.