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woodwormer
12th April 2012, 10:58 PM
Hey guys,
I got myself a lathe late last year and since then iv been making pens, chess pieces and doing a bit of spindle turning like handles, mallets ect and iv finaly gotten around to making a bowl, nothing fancy but i figure it will be a good exersize. I have a piece of queensland maple that i have trued up and smoothed off on the faceplate. I have the Nova g3 chuck and i was wondering which way is the strongest to mount the bowl for hollowing, ie with the jaws in expanding or contracting mode. The piece of timber is aproximatley 170mm by 40mm and as this is my first bowl i want to try not to have something come out of the chuck at me, and any advice on how to cut an internal dovetail for expanding jaws would be great.

thanks for your help

Woodwormer:U

dabbler
13th April 2012, 12:06 AM
Hi woodwormer,
I'm sure there are better bowl turners than me but here goes.....
I'd keep my qld maple until I had a few up my sleeve. There are places in Melb that sell bowl blanks. I was looking at a website link for one on this forum last night. Camphor is nice to turn. Some get an allergic reaction though.

I prefer to clamp onto the foot rather than expand out. But more often than not I remove the foot at the end.
You can turn a foot that accepts both an expanding and contracting grip.
You can also turn a bevelled recess in the bowl base instead of a foot then use an expanding grip. This allows the jaw to push against more wood than an exposed foot.

Whichever way, use your skew to turn the bevel edge for gripping. Try to match the angle of the jaws so you get maximum contact between jaw and foot bevel. You would nornally do this at the same time as you do most of the external shaping. I usually start the foot with a parting tool to define its size. Measure the jaw size first and leave as much meat as possible on the foot if using a contracting grip. It can stay solid unless your want to be decorative. I sometimes used to turn a few decorative concentric rings inside the foot in case someone looked.

Some people sand and finish the foot before reversing for the interior.

Do you have a screw for the chuck? I rarely use the faceplate now. In fact mine's now a sanding disk. I turn my bowl exteriors with a screw chuck.

Be wary of getting "inside out" when doing the interior. It's easy to forget which is the tool's cutting edge, where the grains going and which way things spin when first doing interiors because unlike spindle work you can access to both coming and going when the tool rest can be rotated.

I've probably not thought about everything. I'll wait and see what other have to say and repost later. Clear as mud???

Oh. And think about joining a turner's club or men's shed. Nothing beats face to face instruction.

Good luck with it.
dabbler.

dabbler
13th April 2012, 12:12 AM
Here's the website I mentioned.
Woodturning Tools, Woodturning Timber, Woodturner Accessories, Woodcarver Supplies, Woodturning Equipment - Pop's Shed (http://www.popsshed.com.au/About_Us.aspx)
There are many others too.

Jim Carroll
13th April 2012, 10:04 AM
Woodwormer where in melbourne are you as I am sure you could be close to other forum members who could guide you through your first bowl.

The easiest way is with a faceplate or the woodscrew supplied with the chuck, as it is a shallow bowl make sure the screws dont go in too far as they may show up when shaping the base.

The safest way is with a spigot and this is sized by opening the jaws 5-6mm and measuring this opening. This gives the jaws the most grip and less chance of the blank coming out.

Shape the outside allowing for the spigot on the base.
Once completely finished take of the screw and put the spigot in the jaws and hollow out the inside with your bowl gouge and get an even wall thickness. Once finished step back and admire your work and keep this one for yourself as it will be a reminder of where you started.

If you want to remove the spigot or reshape the base you will need a set of Cole jaws to hold the blank , do this at around 600rpm.

Apply the finish you like.:2tsup:

woodwormer
14th April 2012, 01:49 AM
Thanks for the advice guys,
I actualy had a luck turn today. I was doing a favor for a friend of a friend by having a look at a drill press of his that was having trouble starting (im an electronics tec) and he had a couple of lathes in his workshop. I told him what i was doing and he has offered to come around to my house over the weekend and give me a hand and show me a few more tricks. So much for friday the thirteenth being bad luck!

By the way for anybody who is curious the drill repair took all of about 20 minutes including the 10 minute trip to the shop to get a replacement starting cappacitor.:D

RETIRED
14th April 2012, 08:41 AM
Maybe you should come to this as well: http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/cliff-invading-forum-gtg-149340/