PDA

View Full Version : Tail Stock Steady



Nubsnstubs
14th January 2016, 07:12 AM
Hey guys, in reply to several others that commented on my reply to Bodgia's thread, "New turner after some advice", (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/turner-advice-201917)I will try to clear up a couple comments made about my Tail Stock Steady. Also, when I replied to Bodgia's thread, it was tougue and cheek reply. Here in the states, we pretty much are at the mercy of imported stuff ourselves, and the mantra, Buy American. Well, it doesn't exist much anymore. Tucson Arizona started a program in the mid '80's, called "Tucson First", meaning if we wanted to purchase anything, look towards local shops and shop owner for your needs. Well, Tucson city people ordered the brochures and other 'Tucson First" advertisements from a firm in New York City...... Never figured that one out.

Ok, below is long winded, so you are warned.

The first is from Tongue Tied, Hi Jerry,
Have you thought about adding a retractable live centre to the Tail Stock Steady? Something that you could extend and use to position the bowl. Then you could retract the live centre back into the Tail Stock Steady, knowing that the bowl would be centred. Just a thought http://d1r5wj36adg1sk.cloudfront.net/images/smilies/standard/rolleyes.gif.......

YessireeBob, TT. heheh In fact, this invention started as a live center with a threaded body that had a female threaded ring that screwed onto the live center body with a pair of wheels attached like what you saw in the video. The live center body was 1 3/4" od with a 2" long shell that had three bearings inside, one thrust, and 2 axial bearings, a ring cup nose as the center. The ring was was threaded to fit with 16 tpi to give a somewhat idea of a dimension as it was being adjusted, or screwed in or out, depending which direction you needed to go. I developed it in November, 2012, and all during 2013, I used my one prototype while also making 16 more. A disclosure; I'm not a machinist, but just a cabinet/furniture maker.
Anyway, during the day, I was making all these live centers, and in the late day and evening, was using prototype #1, getting a feel for the tool. As the year progressed, I was turning all types of wood forms, and then set up and remove these tenons. I would set up a jam chuck, mounted into my Chuck Plate,
368454
another tool I invented. The jam chuck is nothing more than a flat piece of MDF 3/4" thick with a few holes drilled into it to match 5 screws in my Chuck Plate as I didn't want to drill all 13. Since I made the CP also, I have several and have dedicated one for just tenon removal. So, drill the holes, making sure it fits the Chuck Plate, bring up the tailstock and live center, and turn a groove that fit's the rim of whatever form I'm going to remove the tenon from.

After it's fitted, I would remove the live center I was using, and mount my Live Center Steady in the tail stock, mount the form into the jam chuck, bring up the tailstock to the dimple on the tenon, tighten the tail stock into the form, and then turn the ring in the direction until it reached the pressure needed to hold the piece in place while I was turning off the tenon. When the tenon was completely gone, I would detail the bottoms with a few grooves, or whatever I chose to do, then sand it. It was done after sanding and was still between centers.

Well, that was how it was done for almost 12 months using the Live Center Steady. In the meantime, during the day, I was at a friends shop maching other live centers, refining them from issues I might have had the night before using the prototype I had. I gotta say, there weren't any issues . I suppose the execution of the first prototype was flawless, because all I did was get better at my machining experience.

During that early period of 2013, I started a patent application. Later on that.

In December 2013, I was done with 16 other Live Centers. There were about 10-11 parts needed to be made for the Live Center Steady, and the whole time I'm making all those parts, all I could think of was, How am I going to get the cost down to where I can sell them, and purchasers could afford them. That was spooky to say the least. Anyway, as I was packing up all those parts for the Live Center Steady, I slapped myself up side the head with an Ahha. moment. All that time making the jam chucks, rim chucks, friction plates, plugs, and any other of holding device to steady my forms, I realized that fitting them into the rims of the forms already centered them. I did not need a point from a live center. Duh!!!

Back to the drawing board. It took 2 weeks to make 14 of them, has only 3 parts to be manufactured, and best of all, it's now affordable. In this video at youtube, Chas Thornhill, "Finish-Turning 20" Natural Edge Pecan Bowl", Chas is using the finished product starting at 18-19 minutes. That is what I'm marketing. Copy and paste on the bold, and it should get you there. I'm trying to get it posted directly to this site, but not smart enough yet.

Joe, thanks for you comment, but as above, the center isn't needed if you fit the bowl rims to whatever holding device you choose to use. They will automatically be centered, and you just need to bring up the wheels, and remove the tenons.


Here is a form that I struggled with368463. There really isn't a a true center I could find to use a stick type plug to bottom out on the inside, and there isn't a flat spot on the top to use a jam chuck. How I hollowed this was to go into a natural hole in the wood as my entry point, hollowed it, and then it took a while to figure it out. I made 4 of this type of form that I call a Natural Top Hollow Form. They are a challenge, but using your head, nothing is an obstacle.

This picture is a centerless ring I made. Needed 14 of them, and was a piece of cake to do. 368468 I've taken very thin bark and sapwood cuts, and made frames from it. What you can't see in the picture is my Chuck Plate mounted into my chuck. I do not like removing my chuck. Bad things happen when I do remove it, like dropping it or hitting my spindle threads and causing some grief. More later as I need to get to the post office ...

I've got to take care of some stuff, so will add more pictures later. ............ Jerry(in Tucson)


Ok back with a few pics.

368474 This is how my Chuck Plate is configured to remove the tenons on my stuff. The center point has a smooth smooth to protect the center hole on the plate.


368475 The plate shown shows the back side with the screw holes. The center hole is exactly 1/4", and the other holes are 5/16". The center hole is important because when you're fitting the rim , if the center hole is large or wallowed out some, you will never really get the mount centered as you would if the hole and pin were exact. The hole that is offset is that way only to indicate where my #1 screw is, and where the #1 jaw is on my chuck. The hole directly under it is how I first started doing it back in early '13.

368476 This picture just shows how easy it is to mount.

368477 The Tail Stock is mounted, the plate is mounted, and will fit the plate to the rim of my ugly form.

368478 The rim step is now cut, and fits the lip of my ugly bowl lying next to the plate, or, in this case, a Rim Chuck.

368479 The U B is fitted, and is secure for removing the tenon.

368480 Spinning, and staying on...

368481 At this point, a small piece of tenon fell away from the live center. I was seconds away from losing it it the rest of the nub had given way.

368482 It's done. Sanding is all that's left, but since this piece still has it's bark, I'm not going to sand the bottom. There is also a bunch of bug holes that would probably give me some grief by catching my sand paper. Tomorrow I'll post a full picture of the form, "Ugly Bowl", tomorrow. It was made as a challenge in one of the other wood turning sites I belong to. The challenge was to leave a square corner on it somewhere... I left all four corners and bark except where my tenon was.

You should notice in the last picture the wheels are chewed up some. That me doing some strange mountings. Some were effective, and others would eat up the wheels if I hadn't stopped. I have to know the limits, and so far, only two things are apparent. One, watch the bottom wheel while sanding in forward rotation and reverse rotation, watch the top wheel. That caution becomes an automatic response after a few days using the Tail Stock Steady.
The other caution is, Do Not apply too much pressure on the wheels. Only you can determine that because of the thickness of your form. Even though you think it's not tight enough, I try to turn a wheel by hand while screwing in the quill. When the wheels stops moving by your hand, it's tight enough. If your form is really thin, you're on your own....... Please let me know what you think of this tool. ...... Thanks for taking time to look through this book............. Jerry (in Tucson)

Sturdee
14th January 2016, 07:17 PM
Please let me know what you think of this tool. ...... Jerry (in Tucson)

Jerry, I like the centre steady very much, such a clever idea and very useful for a number of reverse turnings.

I'd appreciate a bit more details about it, such as costs, weight and shipping to Aussie. It may be that with the exchange rate it would be too expensive but worth looking into.

A few more photos about it would also help.


Peter.

Nubsnstubs
15th January 2016, 03:50 AM
Sturdee, thanks for you interest. I will not post price on this thread because I think it's not proper for me to do so. I will contact you with a PM if that's ok with you. If you think my price is fair, I think you can post it without any problems, but here, just mentioning the Tail Stock Steady has gotten me banned from from one of the sites I visit. I would like to thank the Australian hospitality and interest I experienced with showing my Tail Stock Steady.

Yesterday, I sent one to a turner here in a USPS flat rate box. Total weight was 2.7 pounds. The cost here in the states is 6 dollars anywhere in the country. I shipped the same sized box to Canada once, and the postage was $15+. I will find out and let you know in a PM. Usually it would take about 2 weeks to send a flat rate box to England, so I'll guess it would take the same time to make it to Australia. You also need to consider what your taxes would be. England has a 20 dollar limit before they charge for taxes.......... . ....... I'll get back to you with a pm.............. Jerry (in Tucson)


More pictures, huh?

368541 This is my Chuck Plate with a piece mounted. I'm in the process of doing nothing more than getting it round, as it's a candidate for Alumilite casting.

368542 Another piece that I turned a tenon on, but put it aside as I need to get the cracks filled. I think this piece is Desert Ironwood, even though the bark looks like Palo Verde, Arizona's state tree.......

368546 This piece and the next few are pieces that were done months ago. I was lucky I didn't give them away and could find the actual rim Chuck I used to remove the tenon with. Mesquite, 10 3/4" od.

368549 Centerless turning. I started doing this a couple years ago since I can. No other reason than that. I normally use the cutoffs from near the bark and sapwood that are usually about 3/4" thick and odd shapeed. I use them as round picture frames. The thinnest so far started at 3/8" ending at 1/8" final thickness. Easy to do, and not one equal edge anywhere to locate off of. I'll try to find a pic of it.

368551 This is the jam chuck or friction plate? I used to hold my forms in the next two pictures.

368552 This piece is shoulder mounted. I feel it's a lot safer than using the stick method that some turners use. What I'm referring to is the stick that fit the mouth of the form, and bottoms out at the bottom. I chose to keep doing this as it is bottomed out on a wider space than the stick, and a lot more secure.

368555 This piece is the only one that I was unsure of when I started it. I made the plate you see that cause the form to set on the shoulder, but also the plug in the center of the plate was the same size as the mouth of the form. The form is about 5 " tall, with a 1 1/4" bottom. Note the wheels placement on the disc.

368556 This wheel position caused a lot of anxiety as I was so unsure it waould work. Needless to say, I did what I wanted it to do. One problem, you can see the tool rest position is away from the work area, and created about 1 1/2" tool overreach, but like it said, I gotter dun. heheh Contrary to what the welding looks like, the other side is fully welded. I had him do tacks because they were going to be ground off later because they get in the way.

If you want more, let me know, and if I'm posting too much stuff, please let me know as I will slow it down.......... Jerry (in Tucson)

joe greiner
15th January 2016, 04:42 PM
Last two pictures: The wheel placement clears up the mystery of the "extra" slots in the hub.

Joe

Sturdee
15th January 2016, 09:28 PM
In this video at youtube, Chas Thornhill, "Finish-Turning 20" Natural Edge Pecan Bowl", Chas is using the finished product starting at 18-19 minutes. That is what I'm marketing. Copy and paste on the bold, and it should get you there. I'm trying to get it posted directly to this site, but not smart enough yet.



Posted for you Jerry.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_v4WjM3mxc

Peter.

Nubsnstubs
16th January 2016, 03:07 AM
Last two pictures: The wheel placement clears up the mystery of the "extra" slots in the hub.

Joe

Joe, the way the wheels are mounted in the last two pictures, they are in the same slots as the pictures just above them. I just turned the wheels around.

If you go up to the first post, and look at the last picture, you'll see the wheel angle is pointing inward. They are in the second slot.

There are those 3 adjustments you can make for wheel width. Then there is a slide in or out adjustment of 1" to get about 5/16" more or less width if needed............. Jerry (in Tucson)

Nubsnstubs
16th January 2016, 03:10 AM
Posted for you Jerry.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_v4WjM3mxc

Peter.



Thanks Pete, I was gonna try to do it after stuff gets done around here today.

What video zone or region are you guys in? ............ Jerry (in Tucson)