Thread: A Couple of Questions

Re the size question Paul, I'd give it a go. Maybe give the hunk a good push before you hit the start button; maybe expect some belt slippage or damage.

Chk the extent of vibration (you've weighted your stand?) - if the gouge keeps bouncing off the tool rest or the lathe starts walking around the workshop, time to stop ;-}

Re your other question: good lateral thinking. You could always turn it into a pole lathe.

What rsser said above. However if it is still impossible to turn on your MC900, would you be able to find a turner with a heavier lathe to do the initial rounding. Your local club perhaps? Failing that send it over to me and I will balance it for you on my VL 300. (You pay freight. )

Paul, I only have a Woodfast 280 with a 300mm swing, and a .5hp motor but I have tacked similar pieces of jarrah. ( not very often) The lathe is mounted on a heavy Jarrah stand and bolted to the floor, and still shakes the ..... out of the place when you start.
Slowest speed, tailstock up tight, stand to one side when you start the lathe, and then use a well sharpened heavy roughing gouge. Dont forget the safety gear.
Good luck and show us the end result.

Macca

Paul
This is a vase?? turned from an old post.
It is approx 280 high and 260 wide in its finished state.
This was turned on my Woodfast280
Macca

Hei Guys,
Just spent the morning in the shed.
What I ended up doing was enclosing the lathe stand up to the braces (about 350mm up) in timber and filling it with gravel for ballast.
It would ideal to bolt the lathe down but it's across a roller door and has to be shoved to one side from time to time, I thought about sand for ballast but I use a compressor to clean the lathe.

Haven't tried any turning with it yet but I'll let you know how it goes.

In regard to being able to run the lathe at a slower speed, what I thought of doing was run a thread tap up the end of the shaft, run a bolt in to the thread and then use a cordless drill or air ratchet on that bolt to turn the shaft. The bolt could be removed when necessary to put a push rod up the shaft.
As I said in my other post, you couldn't turn with it but I'm thinking it would allow you to turn the shaft at a considerably slower speed than the 500rpm minimum to see how bad an out of balance of peice will be.

Something I noticed on the Vicmarc site is that they sell an electronic variable speed unit that can be retro-fitted to other lathes - anyone know what these are worth.
Having had bit of a nose around I don't see any point in upgrading the lathe unless I went for a Vicmarc and that's something I'll never be able to afford.

That's a gorgeous vase Macca - gives me someting to aim for.

Cheers guys
Paul

Paul......the electronic variable speed control is in Carbatec catalog and I seem to recall from a previous thread Joe was talking $1000.
Do a search under "variable speed control" and you should see what others had to say.

Cheers Macca

Hei Macca,
I just looked in the Carbatec paper catalogue which lists the price as POA and it's not showing at all on the C/tec website - note to Carbatec, your site is costing you business, go look at Timbecon's site and then do something with yours.

Timbecon sell a Sherwood lathe with electronic speed control, but for $900 it's only 75mm more bowl capacity than the MC900, and the lowest speed is only 80RPM less than the MC900 so I don't think it's worth it.

Cheers
Paul

K, pole lathe or equiv.: wrap something like a snatch strap twice around your faceplate edge (if it'll fit) or part of the lump you're not about to shape. Have a good friend, mistress or wife run away from the lathe with the length that will turn the lump in the right direction while you shape with gouge or pref arbortech.

If promising, repeat. Often I'd think!

That might be easier than setting up a springy sapling in your workshop ;-}

Cheap, low tech solution - suits a colony of Australia don't you think?

Hei Ern,
I'm ahead of you mate - already tried it with a length of rope like the old pull cord mowers.
The problem is that I'm on my own so it was hard to tell if the rocking of the lathe was due to the unbalanced wood or me pulling on the rope.

Cheers
Paul

Yeah Paul, the same lathe is in the Carbatec catalogue. Different colour but same species for $995.
Cheers Macca

Originally Posted by smidsy

Hei Ern,
I'm ahead of you mate - already tried it with a length of rope like the old pull cord mowers.
The problem is that I'm on my own so it was hard to tell if the rocking of the lathe was due to the unbalanced wood or me pulling on the rope.

Cheers
Paul

Sorry guys - have to put in a plug for the ultimate fix for getting out of balance blanks tamed...
Hang em on your DVR - start at 100 revs & go up from there!!!

Bah, that's the easy way out.

You'd deprive Paul of all the fun he's having.

Hei Guys,
I gave it a try this morning, still a lot of vibration and probably the first time I've been scared on a wood lathe but all well in the end.
The blue metal in the base definately dampened things down a lot, although now the vibration is being absorbed by the frame so it will be interesting to see how long that lasts.

Attached is a couple of pics, one of the lump of wood, and one of what I've done to the base - the enclosure of the base is probably the roughest thing I've done in the shed for a while but it serves a purpose.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this wood, it's now fairly round and balanced but there's some end grain in the edges so I'll have to think about what to do with it - ideas?
Cheers
Paul