Thread: Guaranteed square edges how?

Dave,
No I don’t
Did the pen mill thing, then the disc sander thing, didn’t like either one very much.
I use a old Delta midi lathe and a Grizzly 4000 machine lathe.
Most of what I turn I do on the machine lathe.
Watched an machinist buddy of mine turn up a gun barrel and square the end one day, realized he had the solution.
I drill two (2) 60 degree pilot holes, one on each end of my blanks and turn them round between centers , then chuck the blank up in the lathe and drill the tube hole.
Glue in the tube, re chuck the blank and use the cross feed on the Grizzly to true up the ends and remove excess material.
Put the dead center back in the headstock, mount the blank on the bushings and mount the whole thing between the two centers and turn…no wobble or out of round ever that way.
If you have a 3 or 4 jaw chuck on your lathe, you could do the same, drill a hole in each end of the blank, mount between centers and round it out, replace the drive or dead center with the chuck and mount the blank, use a parting tool to square up the end.
Did it that way for years with the old Delta before I bought the machine lathe.
You would be amazed at how good you can become at turning stock round and cleaning up the ends square.
If you would like, I can take a few photos and show you.
Oh, here is a link to another forum, check the pdf tutorial, it will give you an idea of what we mean about turning between centers and drilling on the lathe...you dont have to use the pin jaws though, that is just his choice.
http://www.penturnersparadise.ca/for...ead.php?t=2251

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

Hi Ed,

just looked at this jig and it looks solid enough. Do you have one at all? I'm asking as the picture seems to show the blank with a lot of slop around the shaft holding it. If you held it still it should be ok, but I would imagine it would want to jump around a lot. I guess you could turn up sleeves, but the jig doesn't mention that...

Cheers,
Dave