Thread: NOOB Turning Tools, Lathe Set up & Maintance Questions etc.....

First off, congratulations on getting a really great lathe and I wish you many happy hours turning on it.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Head Stock Tail Stock Misalignment

I noticed that my turnings had a distinct wobble. I put the centers end to end and found that they were misaligned by about 0.25mm. I loosed the bolts on the head stock adjusted it a little and tightened down the bolts. Everything lined up nicely. Assume it got bumped out in the move.

I would have thought the tailstock is far more likely to be out of alignment than the headstock, it doesn’t sound like you removed the head stock and I can’t see it moving in the move at all. My lathe wasn’t secured in the back of the van and had fallen over and was sliding around in the van for a couple of hours of driving, and while the paintwork was damaged and the supplier replaced the lathe, I still used it for six months while waiting for the replacement and there was no issue with alignment at all.

My thoughts, for what they are worth.
Check with Vicmarc on the bearings. Most lathe headstock bearings are sealed units.


Alignment woes: this is part of basic checks after moving a lathe. Teknatool have a "Morse Taper Alignar" which makes corrections simple, or you can turn a MT2 on either end of a straight rod.

Tool handles: Jarrah cracked handles they may be ok, but in use the cracks may be noticable by you.
12mm skew, with cracked spigot. Even though you have a ferrule squeezing the spigot, I would not feel safe with a crack there, as it may with use, develop and cause a catastrophic failure. I personally would start again and put it down to practice.

Oval skew, bin it.

Tool rack - it works.

First thing I did was try to play with the tail stock, I found adding a slip of paper to one corner of the tail stock brought everything into alignment but it was not a permanent fix. Shifting the head stock seemed like a simple fix and it definitely aligned everything.

I would be enraged if my lathe was sliding around on a van for a couple of hours.

Originally Posted by Pat

Check with Vicmarc on the bearings. Most lathe headstock bearings are sealed units.

The Vicmarc lathe bearings are cylindrical roller bearing types. I feel like that they must get regular greasing to maintain them.

Attachment 505301

Originally Posted by Pat

Teknatool have a "Morse Taper Alignar"

Definitely on my buy list.

Originally Posted by Pat

Tool handles: Jarrah cracked handles they may be ok, but in use the cracks may be noticable by you.
12mm skew, with cracked spigot. Even though you have a ferrule squeezing the spigot, I would not feel safe with a crack there, as it may with use, develop and cause a catastrophic failure. I personally would start again and put it down to practice.

The Jarrah cracks can definitely be felt during use. So for comfort I will replace.

Thought as much regarding the crack in the blackwood.

TS, Vicmarc Lathe's manual

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

The Vicmarc lathe bearings are cylindrical roller bearing types. I feel like that they must get regular greasing to maintain them.

TS, the bearings only require greasing maybe once every 5 to 10 yrs or even 30yrs. It all comes done to what type of turning you’ll do.

Originally Posted by DJ’s Timber

TS, the bearings only require greasing maybe once every 5 to 10 yrs or even 30yrs. It all comes done to what type of turning you’ll do.

Well then it good that I did it because the machine was made in 2006 and the previous owner never did it.

Originally Posted by Pat

Oval skew, bin it.

I have several of those... never used them as skews, but with a curved grind they make quite a good inside negative rake scraper for final cuts.

Centre alignment can be more complex than first thoughts. See following thread to work out what to check and how to resolve.

Checking centre alignment on a new or secondhand lathe

Do people were hearing protection when turning?

When I see people doing turning no one uses hearing protection. I however have tinnitus and have found that after turning the tinnitus is worse often with more types of sounds in my head. Turning is not loud but it is noise.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Do people were hearing protection when turning?

When I see people doing turning no one uses hearing protection. I however have tinnitus and have found that after turning the tinnitus is worse often with more types of sounds in my head. Turning is not loud but it is noise.

After a lifetime of industrial noise I also have tinnitus. The major source of noise in my woodturning workshop is the dust extraction system... somewhere above 90dB. As I always run the DE system to remove the fine dust (the invisible lung damaging stuff at 2.5μg) whenever I'm turning I always wear soft foam ear plugs. I buy them in bulk. They go in first thing and come out last thing.

If I didn't have the DE running I don't think I would need ear protection. Power sanding with an electric drill is a another source of damaging sound. I moved to a low speed non-geared motor and flexible shaft for that years ago.

There is a school of advice that muffling sounds may disguise impending problems (like cracks in blanks that might fly apart), but I never found that to be the case. Perhaps my hearing is no longer good enough to hear such subtle sounds.

I turned some legs for a stool today and found that the 700mm legs developed a vibration noise when using the ruffing gouge. What can I do to reduce the noise/vibration?

I bought a big gulp to help with dust extraction however the gulp has a 100mm port - but my dust extraction is 125mm - so I bought Dust Extractor Reducer 100mm - 125mm - however it does not fit - How do I connect the 100mm big gulp to the 125mm hose?

I have been practicing my skew trying to get a planed cut of the blade. Will post photos.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

I turned some legs for a stool today and found that the 700mm legs developed a vibration noise when using the ruffing gouge. What can I do to reduce the noise/vibration?

I bought a big gulp to help with dust extraction however the gulp has a 100mm port - but my dust extraction is 125mm - so I bought Dust Extractor Reducer 100mm - 125mm - however it does not fit - How do I connect the 100mm big gulp to the 125mm hose?

I have been practicing my skew trying to get a planed cut of the blade. Will post photos.

More efficient than a Bug Gulp" with a constrictive 100mm ports is a Bell Mouth Hood (BMH), especially when connected to 6" ducting and a decent DC.


BMH offer near zero air resistance to air air flow compared to all other hoods. Relevant to turning is that BMH provide about double the air speed for any given distance away from the hoods which means these hoods don't have to be as close to work to be as effective as other hoods.

And seeing as you have a lathe you can make your own
Improving machine cabinet dust ports

My DC is variable speed. At 50Hz or more, the hood on the lathe emits a fair bit of hissing so I do wear muffs. For light work I sometimes use just 40Hz and then I don't wear muffd.

Originally Posted by BobL

And seeing as you have a lathe you can make your own
Improving machine cabinet dust ports

Or, if you just need one or two, turn them out of wood...

Turned bell mouth on dust hose - sm.jpg

Today I had a go at turning some mauls. Basically XXlarge carving mallet. 150 x 150 x 600mm long. I am however experiencing a problem with my lathe. I am not sure if it is bug or a feature. I machine up the billet square then used the jointer to take a good chunk of the corners off so I had an octagonal. Marked centers and turned the lathe to minimum speed and started to really slowly ruffing out the maul.

The problem is that as soon as their is any vibration from the rotation speed. The motor turns off. When I mean the slightest vibration I mean slightest. If I touch the bed I can feel the vibration but I cannot see it (i.e. things moving about). I think that the magnetic switch is turning off due the vibrations.

It is a bug because it is annoying its a feature because I cannot have any vibration. As the billet got rounder and smaller I could increase the speed without the motor switching off.

My thought is that lathe is not sitting perfectly on the floor. I need to adjust the bolts that are on the feet of the lathe.

Thoughts?

Sheeth

Also I want to add a plastic/rubber sheath to the maul to make it more durable. I see that people have used polyurethane pipe. What else can anyone recommend and a possible supplier.

I have ruff turned the mauls to 110mm diameter so any tube 90 to 110mm would be ideal.

What ever the material is it has to tough enough to survive being struck against froes and axe heads.

BMH

Can I glue together a bunch of pine 2 x 4 to make up a mould large enough to form my own BMH?

Photos

It is hard to gauge the scale of these monsters

IMG_0039.jpg IMG_0040.jpg IMG_0041.jpg