TOOL GLOAT

[Ticky]

I have been a member here on these forums for several years, but I am just venturing into the world of Wood Turning.

So at 4am this Morn, I dragged my sorry butt out of bed & went to the airport to pick up my son. As it turns out, his flight was about 90 mins late, so armed with a cup of tea & my iphone, I hit Gumtree.

I found a Leda MC 1100 on there for $300 NEG, so I felt obligated to ... NEG

$275 & now it's in my shed.

My turning experiance consists of 1 day turning pens with a friend of my brother about 18 months ago, & I recon making pens is a hoot. It's just possible, that this lathe is bigger than I need, but who knows where this will take me. I was actually after an MC 900 & while they frequently come up for a good price interstate, not so much here.

I still need a chuck & some chisels before I can make any mistakes, but I would be in exactly the same position if I had just spent $650 for a new one.

Every new machine I have bought, I have bought from Leda, so this lathe will fit right in. in my shed, but to be honest, I was just after a cheap lathe with a cast iron bed.

You gotta have a bit of luck sometimes, hey.


Steve

[Pat]

Welcome to the slippery slope, your decent into turning has begun. Nothing much on Gumtree (http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php) for South oz atm, but you close to either Leda (http://www.ledamachinery.com.au/index.php/lathes-wood) or Woodfast (http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php), well in the same state:;

Prices on Gumtree look to be close to retail, ouch!

[Christos]

Great going on the purchase. Pens are good to get you going and reasonably easy to make as you have discovered.

The chisels and chucks will come in time and there is a very good chance that you venture into making other things on the lathe.

[ogato]

G'day Ticky - well done with the lathe - hope it gives you many years excellent service before you need to/decide to upgrade. Make sure you get a few good tools - a couple of very good ones will serve you better than lots of ordinary ones.

Looking forward to some pen pics in the not too distant future (not to mention a pic of the new lathe).

Jeff

[Ueee]

Geez my post got deleted, they couldn't even leave the bit in where i said-

Well done Steve!

Ew

[Sawdust Maker]

welcome to the slippery slope

interesting a new chuck will cost more than that lathe

[Ticky]

Great going on the purchase. Pens are good to get you going and reasonably easy to make as you have discovered.
look li
The chisels and chucks will come in time and there is a very good chance that you venture into making other things on the lathe.




Hey Christos,

I agree that the possibility of needing a larger lathe at sometime in the future exists, and thats why I was looking for the 900. Its a lot easier to do small jobs on big machines than big jobs on small machines. The 1100 is just bit bigger again.

I was hoping to mount a sanding disc on the rear of the machine but it doesn't look like thats possible, so if i'm wrong about this then please let me know.

Anyway, it will be a few weeks before I can get into it, but I want to clean it up a bit anyway. It's in really good nick & it doesn't look like it has done a lot of work, but it has a little surface rust etc.

Ill get a couple pics soon

Steve

[Ticky]

Thanks to all and count on plenty of questions.

Ueee, I saw your post & I was wondering about the G Warning... Wasn't sure if it related to the source of my lathe, Gumtree.

Steve

[Bedford]

No, it wasn't related to Gumtree, just unnecessary.

[Ticky]

The specs on my lathe tell me the splindle is a 1" x 10TPI, so I have been looking at a few Chucks. The thing I noticed is that 1" x 10TPI chucks dont seem to be as plentifull as 1X8TPI or 3/4 by.

Is it normal to buy a chuck and an adaptor? Or do most people source the correct chuck for their lathe.

Is there any advantage / disadvantage, to using an adapter?


Thank you.


Steve

[Ueee]

No, it wasn't related to Gumtree, just unnecessary.

*Joke* actually. And i wasn't the only one. I do recall putting a :D there just to make my intentions clear.

As for the cost of your lathe Steve, just think about all that money you have saved that you can buy lots of new toys to go with. Better than buying a machine at full price and making do as far as tools go.

My Technitool has a 1" x ? spindle, my chucks are 1 1/2" x ? with an adapter. I don't see a problem at all, though i'm certainly not the most knowledgeable when it comes to wood turning.

Ew

[Paul39]

The specs on my lathe tell me the splindle is a 1" x 10TPI, so I have been looking at a few Chucks. The thing I noticed is that 1" x 10TPI chucks dont seem to be as plentifull as 1X8TPI or 3/4 by.

Is it normal to buy a chuck and an adaptor? Or do most people source the correct chuck for their lathe.

Is there any advantage / disadvantage, to using an adapter? Thank you.Steve

It is normal to buy a chuck with an adapter.

The advantage is if you change lathes with a different spindle thread, you buy another adapter for around $25 and keep the same chuck.

The disadvantage is having one more fit to be slightly off, as in spindle to adapter, then adapter to chuck, unlikely with good chucks and adapters.

If one has a large spindle with an adapter to a small chuck, the adapter will be longer and there is more chance of the chuck not running true.

I have a lathe with 33mm X 3.5 spindle and found an almost new Chinese chuck set for less than 1/2 price bored for 1 inch X 8 TPI. I opted for the $20 Chinese adapter rather than the $60 USA version. It worked out fine with barely detectable run out. Adapter: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LA3318.html

The ones made to fit a smaller spindle inside a larger chuck hole are much shorter. I have two Oneway chucks from Canada that have internal adapters, one for the 33 X 3.5 and another for the Woodfast with 1 1/4 X 8 TPI.

They both run perfectly.

You will find discussions and reviews about chucks here. Do a search.

[Ticky]

Thanks Ueee & Paul.

My lathe was cheap, but I still had to spend money I really couldn't afford, so it will be a little while before I can get a chuck or any tools, & I really want to get a pen spindle thingy. It is called a thingy, right? I don't want to come across as one of these blokes that buys a lathe & has no idea about the correct terminology.

I have a nice piece of Mulberry in the shed that I will cut a few pen blanks out of. Looking forward to having a play.


Steve

[Ticky]

Sorry it took so long, but here it is

316279316280316281316282

Steve

[Paul39]

Thanks Ueee & Paul.

My lathe was cheap, but I still had to spend money I really couldn't afford, so it will be a little while before I can get a chuck or any tools, & I really want to get a pen spindle thingy. It is called a thingy, right? I don't want to come across as one of these blokes that buys a lathe & has no idea about the correct terminology.

I have a nice piece of Mulberry in the shed that I will cut a few pen blanks out of. Looking forward to having a play.


Steve

If you have a drive and tail center, you might want to get some reasonably hard scrap wood and do a bit of practicing. Shipping pallets or skids are free for the picking up from behind buildings around here. Some have quite nice timber in them. Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, etc., most are oak and some pine.

You can make tool handles from 50mm thick stuff.

For terminology of lathe stuff, get a catalog locally or look here: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/pen-turning-supplies.html

Or: http://www.packardwoodworks.com/

Also see for wood turning terms: https://www.google.com/#q=wood+turning+terms

Nice looking lathe you have. If it does not have a Morse taper fitting in the spindle, you can buy an adapter that will thread on to the outside of your spindle and let you use Morse Taper (MT) 1 or 2 drives, a Jacobs chuck to hold drill bits, and your pen mandrels.

[Ticky]

Thanks Paul,

Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, etc., most are oak

You guys have the nicest pallet bearers. We used to use jarrah & redgum here, but I haven't seen anything except scabby old pine on a pallet for ages.

Yeah, it does have No.2 MT, and as it happens, I have a big swag of MT drill bits so they may come in handy as time goes by

Specs are here
http://www.ledamachinery.com.au/index.php/lathes-wood/ledacraft-mc-1100-wood-lathe-detail

The bloke I bought it from gave me a few bits & pieces but I haven't had a chance to see whats there yet. I know there is no chuck or chisels but there is a face plate and a couple of tool rests but I'm not sure what else. I'll have a look later.

Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, etc., most are oak. I still can't get over that.


Steve

[Oldgreybeard]

316353316354

I opened these images in Photoshop and and was able to bring out much more detail. The images are posted with Ticky's approval.

Bob

[Christos]

Keep reading the wood turning sub-forum and you will find yourself learning more as you go. It takes some time to build up knowledge, the skill level will come when you spend more time turning.

[Paul39]

Thanks Paul,

Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, etc., most are oak

You guys have the nicest pallet bearers. We used to use jarrah & redgum here, but I haven't seen anything except scabby old pine on a pallet for ages.

Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut, etc., most are oak. I still can't get over that. Steve

I would kill for some Jarrah & Redgum.

I heat with solar and wood, so any time I see something burnable along side the road it goes in the back of the car - 1989 Ford Festiva, Kia Pride in your part of the world. Back seat is out so it's like a mini minivan.

Solid wood bed posts are nice for turning spindles. Pallets used for shipping motorcycles from Asia often have some nice timber.

When we have high wind and branches are broken off, or trees down, the city or power company will often cut them into 4 foot pieces and leave them along the road. First come, first served.

There is a small company that makes upholstered furniture. The frames are made from kiln dried rock maple and oak. The scrap makes nice turning wood. They are happy for me to take it as they don't have to pay to have it hauled to the land fill.

[ian thorn]

And if you want the stand to be a bit more ridged screw a piece of ply to the back and onto the rails helps for a bit more storage space as well. if in the future you get a chuck needing an adapter get the best you can to avoid runout. If you don't belong to a club it is well worth joining one for the help you will get.

[Ticky]

Hey Paul,

It's interesting how woodworkers always seem to want the timber they can't get. I have seen american wood work shows where they use beautiful timber, & you would kill for some Jarrah or Red gum. Hell mate, it grows on trees over here.

Actually, South Australia is a little shy of good timber, & you cant just go out & cut down a tree, or they hang you from a Stobie Pole.

(A Stobie pole is a power line pole made of two steel joists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joists) held apart by a slab of concrete in the middle. It was invented by Adelaide Electricity Supply Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adelaide_Electricity_Supply_Company&action=edit&redlink=1) design engineer James Cyril Stobie (1895–1953).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stobie_pole#cite_note-1) Stobie used materials easily at hand due to the shortage of suitably long, strong, straight and termite-resistant timber in South Australia.

Wikipedia)

Now Tassie has some real nice timber, & the east coast, & Jarrah comes from Western Australia, but we grow pine trees. We cut then into thin strips & put a point on one end, & then just leave it for a few hours & then we can use to pull the cork on our wine bottles. Not the most stable of timbers.

Steve

[Ticky]

And if you want the stand to be a bit more ridged screw a piece of ply to the back and onto the rails helps for a bit more storage space as well. if in the future you get a chuck needing an adapter get the best you can to avoid runout. If you don't belong to a club it is well worth joining one for the help you will get.

G'day Ian,

I'm going to make a new stand for it and mount it on wheels. My shed is full of machinery, & I dont have any room to work in there, so nearly everything is on wheels & I work in the carport. I don't really have room for my new toy, but I'll squeeze it in some how. I might have to get radical & clean it up a bit.

A chuck will be a few weeks out I think, but thanks for the good advice.

I was just looking online to try & find a club around here. No luck yet, but I'll keep looking. I agree with you that it will be well worth it.


Steve