Thread: Outboard turning Dilemma

Originally Posted by efgee88

Can anyone tell me if they are happy with the Vicmarc outboard turning tripod (part no. V01481) and how much it costs roughly.

Good questions. I'm in a similar boat to you and have been thinking about either making or buying a tripod. So I'm following with interest...

The other alternative is to mount a solid supported bracket at 90deg from the stand at the head end of the lathe and bold a DVR bed section onto it. Anyone had a go at such a setup?

I know a bloke who has made a similar setup, except the extension bolts to a slide that fits the ways. Sort of like bolting it to the tailstock. He bolts the extension bed to it, mounts the blank and then slides it up as close as feasible to the edge of the blank. Personally I'm not too impressed... as for large bowls in outboard mode (which is when you want to use it, right?) his banjo often needs to be "fully extended" (ie. hanging way off the bed) in order for the far end of the rest to be near the centre of the bowl.

The combined overhang of the rest & banjo causes him a LOT of chatter.

This could be fixed with a pole extension to the floor from the bottom of the tool-post, but if he's gonna do that he may as well have made a tripod instead in the first place!

I like the idea of a floor-mount at the headstock end, a la a Stubby bed, but I think that'd cause me grief when turning in spindle mode.

Frank, IIRC DJ uses and maybe made a free-standing tripod-base tool rest.

The VM outrigger costs in the order of $500; you could get the max extension figure by ringing or emailing them.

Frank ,
remember this [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydDQQQww1AA"] video clip [/ame]with the |DVR and the big vase .
Check out how he has his banjo and a bed extension set up on a small moveable stand .
It may be the answer you are looking for .

What size is your Toolrest post?

I can loan you mine and if you find it suitable you can either buy that one or I'll make you a new one.


This thread shows one that I had, I've sold that one but still have another one here.

Frank's will be 1"

Thanks Skew, I thought about the bed idea and realised that the toolpost would have to be very tall, and thus very solid. I'm putting this idea aside for the moment.

Thanks Ern, I thought the cost would be at the high end for something like the vicmarc tripod, but it looks good! I actually prefer the design of theVL175 outrigger for the same sort of price.

I followed the thread of DJ's.
Thanks DJ, but I've spent the entire day in the shed modifying a bit of a contraption that I welded up some years ago. It may just do the trick - or maybe not! I'll just have to try it out I suppose.

Thanks Manuka, I did see that before, but it is not my thing I'm afraid. It would just take too long to reassemble the lathe when I want to do something different. I really just want to swing the headstock around.

I'm going to finish my contraption tomorrow & I'll take some pictures if it works. I'm putting it on some pretty hefty castors, two that lock down, and it will be interesting to see if that is stable enough.

Yep Ern, I've got a 1"er - never thought I'd say that!

Cheers,

FrankG

Originally Posted by efgee88

Yep Ern, I've got a 1"er - never thought I'd say that!

FrankG

I was leaving it to DJ to say how big his was

the posts are going downhill rapidly

what i did years ago when i first built my lathe and wanted to turn big on the out board.
my lathe was used under our highset house and in one spot there were 2 house stumps that were only about 4 foot apart so i clamped a piece of hardwood across from one stump to the next at the correct height and dragged the lathe over to the sumps ....well it worked ..

Ok, I have had to ditch the idea of lockable castors, after I bolted them to the stand and found there was way too much play in them. So I decided to just sit the stand on some blocks when in position. I remounted the original small swivel castors, as this thing is pretty heavy.
The cross bar (aka tool rest) can slide up and down the aluminium column which is filled with cement for stiffness. This aluminium column is attached top and bottom to some pretty hefty steel welded frame.
I have now started roughing the root ball, and the setup works a treat.
Below are some pictures of the beasty.

Cheers,
FrankG

That's a big un Frank.

... nah, nice solution.

Very nice solution! And you have crazy money left over. (Crazy money is what is left after all the basic needs are covered, to spend in tool stores, book shops, saloons, etc.)

Crazy money is like a health insurance rebate .... it comes well after the expenditure so feels like a windfall that can be spent; or yes, money saved by getting a bargain, a DIY substitute or the like.