Thread: Lathe vacuum chuck setup

A vacuum cleaner is all we use at our club.
Be sure to control the air flow via the suction hose valve or you could wind up with a collapsible bowl!

Gidday vicmarc make a unit that is operated using a domestic vacuum cleaner that connects between the faceplate and chuck and is available through carbatec even though not listed in the current '"cattledog"
you must ensure that there is always a flow of air through the hose as it is the flow through that cools the cleaner motor preventing overheating. this is more certain and more embarrassing [if it is swmbo good cleaner]than a collapsed bowl.the barrel electrolux gives ample suction and also 2 bleed systems 1 on the hose and 1 on the body the latter is in case of full bag and operator having a blonde moment. The one on the hose needs to be open aprox 10 mm. and cleaner should be happy You really only need enough vacuum to hold the object on to finish it and thus weight should not be a problem . happy turning and best wishes WW Wally

Higuys
I'm in the same boat i am looking for a vacume chuck as well.

I thought you could turn a bowl using the vacume chuck, But according to ww walley you don't.

Regards
JAMC

My pump is a 42litre/min model made by MasterCool Inc. Got it for nothing from my auto-sparky son-in-law as he had upgraded to bigger units and this one was going to waste. I've seen units that look to be exactly the same going on Ebay for less than $300 so you should be able to pick up used units for less than that. Try your local auto-electrician or refrigeration mechanic.
I haven't tried the vacuum-cleaner arrangement so I don't know its capabilities but you can make reasonably good cuts with a deep vacuum pump holding your work - certainly capable of more than just finishing. I have cracked pieces with it by letting the vacuum get too strong - have to keep an eye on the gauge.
Interesting session on it tonight actually - hollowing a red cedar 'dish' shape with the vacuum set to about 25Hg to start off. Once I got down to about 4mm thick, the vacuum reduced to only 10Hg because the Cedar was letting so much air through. Once I started sanding, it jumped right back up to around 25Hg again as the dust filled the weak areas

Hey fredo, I have a Vicmarc Vacuum Plate and a Chuck that is about 100mm and they both work fine with an old vacuum cleaner. In the handle is a slide that regulates the suction and as stated all works very well
DanF

Didn't read your post properly!

Vacuum cleaner on Vicmarc vacuum chuck. POC.

I have a vac system as well. I bought a pump when I got the Stubby, packaged with the lathe maunfacturer, Omega Tooling in Victoria, cost about $250.00 from memory. Works really well. I have it linked with the Stubby and the Vicmarc.

I also bought a couple of Vicmarc Vac chucks, not the vacuum cleaner one. They make three different sizes, got the two smaller ones. They needed a little extra padding (adheasive rubber) on the face/edge where the chuck makes contact with the wood as there is bare metal and it marked some pieces. They work well and are balanced. It would be quite easy to make your own vac chucks too.

I would recommend it to anyone, very good, easy and quick. I use it a lot so it has become a very useful system. Just a little bit of advice, I always mark the centre of the chuck tenon on bowls and forms (live centre in the tailstock) to make centering the chuck on the Vac more easy.

Great system so it you have the dollars go for it.



Peter

Remember...Always turn off the lathe before you turn off the vacuum cleaner!!
(I learned the hard way)

Well, here is what I did...........

I set about making up some new vacuum chucks.
Attachment 71795 Attachment 71796
OK, here are the pieces, I have four sizes of PVC pipe connectors for the bodies of the chucks, four threaded blocks and four chunks of of MDF for the backer boards of the chucks.

I pre-drill the threaded blocks, and countersink the holes.

Attachment 71797
I draw lines from each corner, on the MDF, and then line up the threaded block, and drill one hole, and drive one screw...

Attachment 71800
...and then drill the other three holes.

Attachment 71798
Once the dust is cleaned off, I spread the glue evenly on the two surfaces....

Attachment 71799
...and then drive the four screws to hold the block in place on the MDF backer board.

Attachment 71801
Now I have four backer boards ready to go on the lathe, once the glue dries.

Attachment 71802
I had two round boards from when I made the mini cyclone for the shopvac, so I used them, but the other two boards are square, so they had to be rounded off. Turning the MDF is MESSY, I use the DC and I wear the Triton Power Air Cleaner Helmet, and it is still NOT much fun

Attachment 71803
Once the piece is rounded, I then use the dividers to mark the outer size of the vacuum chuck body.....

Attachment 71804
and using the parting tool, I cut a groove in the backer board, to fit the vacuum chuck body. A good fit is needed, it should be snug, but not tight.....

Attachment 71805
OK just a little point here, on the pipe couplings that I'm using, one end has a bunch of numbers and stuff on it, the other end is smooth, so I made sure that I put the smooth end into the groove in the backer board.

Attachment 71806 Attachment 71807
I drill the center holes in the backer boards before I attach the vacuum chuck bodies, I make sure I use a bit that is SMALLER than the hole in the spindle of the lathe, so I do not have to worry about the bit hitting the spindle.

Attachment 71808
I used the large cone on my Oneway live center to line up the vacuum chuck body on the backer plate. I used 5 minute epoxy to attach the vacuum bodies to the backer plates......

Attachment 71809
....and then used silicone sealer to make darn sure there are no leaks.

Attachment 71810
There they are, ready for some tuning up.

Attachment 71811
I true up the edge of the vacuum chuck, and round over the edge.

Attachment 71812
I also put a hole in the threaded block, just in case the chuck gets a bit stuck on the spindle, this will make the chuck easier to get off, make sure you don't drill too deep....

Now that these are done, I'll spray on 3 or 4 coats of poly on the MDF, to seal it, as it is very porous, but honestly, a quick thin coating of epoxy would be better and quicker too, in fact, I doubt I'll use MDF again, it is just so bloody porous.

I'm not sure if I'll attach a seal to the edges of the vacuum chucks, or use a pad that will have a hole in it and NOT be attached to the chuck itself

I make my blocks just a bit thicker than the length of the spindle, then when the backer board is attached to the threaded block, there is only a small space between the backer board and the front face of the spindle.

I cut a rubber washer, or gasket to fit in there, here is how......

I use some rubber sheet that is stiff, but not "hard", if that makes sense.

I had a cheap holesaw set that a buddy gave me, after he used it once, to cut a round hole in his motorcycle fairing to put some crash bungs on his bike. I found that one of the holesaws was exactly 1 1/8", the size I needed, but, I would have to grind the inside of the holesaw, so this is what I did.

Attachment 71813
I put the holesaw together on it's mandrel,
and then mounted it in the drill chuck on the lathe.
I had ground off the teeth of the holesaw on the bench grinder before hand.
Attachment 71814
I put a grinding stone in the hand drill and then I turned the lathe on, around 800 rpm,
and then I started to grind. I had to dress the stone several times, as it clogged up with ground off steel,
but it did not take long to get a nice sharp edge on the new hole punch!
Attachment 71815
I then just tapped it to cut a nice round gasket/washer.

Attachment 71816
I had a hole punch the right size for the center hole
Attachment 71817
I just popped it in place, and it works REALLY well, not leaks that my pump cannot overcome!

Here is one more vacuum chuck that I made, it is more like the aluminum bell chucks that you can buy. I must again caution that the MDF is REALLY bad for leaks, and at the very least you have to seal it up good, with something, a light coat of epoxy works well.

Attachment 71818 Attachment 71819
I glued a seal on this one, cut from old tire inner tube.

In use......

Attachment 71820 Attachment 71821

Hope this helps, the vacuum chucks work good.

Cheers!

Nice one Stu.

Would like to have a vacuum system - maybe get round to it one day, but I'm very wary due to the fact that we get power failures on a very regular basis - as in daily (sometimes several times in a day).
Have been working on the lathe quite a number of times when the power goes out - would hate to have that happen whilst spinning a large bowl and the vacuum suddenly gives out.

Our power company goes by the initial KPLC (Kenya Power & Lighting Company) - no wonder we say it stands for Kenya Parrafin Lamps & Candles!

Andy, I could certainly see why you would be wary, but that too could be overcome, just build a couple of large reserve tanks into the system, they would give you plenty of time to get the lathe stopped and get the piece secured.

I have lived in Japan for near on 18 years now, only had one power outage in that time, the phone company was doing some work on stuff down the street, all of our phone, and electrical lines are buried in my area (better chance of survival during an earthquake) and the access points to these underground trenches are large steel framed rectangular hatches, filled with concrete, the dropped one when they were removing it, it fell the full 6' to the bottom of the trench, and sliced the main power cable in two, instant neighborhood black out.

Took them about 6 hours to fix it.

Vacuum systems for finishing the bottoms of bowls etc are really really sweet

Cheers!

Yep that would be the way to go - thanks for that Stu.

Only one power cut in 18 years. We could easily get 18 in one week!
Our generator works overtime!

Transformers get destroyed just to steal the oil.
Telephone lines get stolen for the copper! (Haven't had a 'landline for about 3 years now).
Reckon the milk would get stolen out of your coffee if you didn't drink it quick enough!

Life goes on.

Could build your own treddle pump!

Hi all, I have the Vicmark (vacuum cleaner type) chuck. I find it doesn't grip too well, so I don't like it much. It could be that the wife's old reject domestic vacuum is not up to the job (SWMBO would hang me be the short hairs if I was caught using the Dyson). If the vacuum cleaner system works for you, stick with it. My preference is for a vacuum pump system.

TTIT and Little Festo, thanks for the information, I'll have a ring around and see what comes up. Sounds like you've had great success with the vacuum pump system, it confirms what I thought all along.

Stu - information overload! Fantastic how-to (with pics), as soon as I get that far, I'll be right on your instructions. I'm sure many others here will make use of your wealth of experience. Thank you.

Andy, you have great machinery, access to fantastic wood, and even with the power problems some very nice work comes out of your shop. Keep it up.

Artme - Treadle pump, sh-- yeah!

To all those who commented, thank you for your input.

Fredo