Quartersawn piece for bowl too heavy

[Ben Lloyd]

Hi, I quartersawed a piece of yellowbox, and have got it down to about 15" in diameter, and 6" thick, with a roughly octagonal cylindrical shape,I have it on the faceplate, but when I mount it on the lathe and turn it on, it just about wants to throw the lathe across the room!
I don't have a bandsaw and am finding it difficult to shape it down, advice please?!

[dai sensei]

Hi Ben, welcome to the forums.

What you are trying to turn is a decent hunk of heavy timber and will require a decent heavy lathe for at least the roughing down phase. What lathe do you have and what speed was it on? Where are you from, what's your experience and are there any clubs (ie with a decent heavy lathe) nearby?

[Ben Lloyd]

Thanks Dan, I'm from Ilford NSW, my lathe was my grampas, Rev. Ken Campbell, from Tumbarumba, he passed it onto me, it was made 30 years ago by his friend, and has had good use since, it has a 1 and 1/3hp motor, alas I am a novice and can't tell you much more than that, although the belt has several different size gear options. I think I bit off more than it can chew!

[Uncle Al]

If you have an Arbortech, you could knock off the high points to bring it into balance. Lathe turned off for this exercise!.

Alan...

[dai sensei]

A photo of the lathe might help, especially given it is home made, but could be just too big a blank for the lathe. Bitting off too much is a common problem we all do from time to time :U:U. Try getting the lathe speed down and the blank as round as possible by planing or some other means. Check out this link with videos http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=189081

Your best bet would be to join a club but I'm not sure of there are any around your location.

[Hermit]

If not an ArborTech, maybe a hand-held belt sander?
I was thinking mount the piece on the lathe and have a friend hand-turn it by the handwheel as you take off the highs.

[Ron Rutter]

Have you maybe mounted it off balance?? Are you on the lowest speed possible?? Just because it is home made doesn't mean it can't handle the job!!! Cheers. Ron.

[Ben Lloyd]

Thankyou kindly fellas, I will give it all a go. I'll try post a photo of the lathe soon, she's a beauty.