Thread: A quick question

You only really need a chuck for the drilling operations , I got an el-cheapo one from bunnings some time back and it does the job fine I mostly do the 12" grinders for a break from pen turning ,and I only use the crush grind mechanisms with a 25 year guarantee you will need some forstner bits for the holes as most are stepped to take the mechanisms and conceal them . you can turn your body to round between centres then cut to your desired lengths and drill them out, its handy to make some tight fitting plugs one to hold in the chuck , and one with a centre to support while you do your final shaping and finishing ,Fun projects to do and again very useful Mine are basically 60mm dia so you need a chuck that will hold around that size ,extended jaws are an advantage as well to give a stronger support while drilling , have fun ,hope that helps , you can do a search of forums for more info if needed ,cheers ~ John

I am pretty sure the chuck you need will have to have a 30mm X 3.5 mm pitch thread to suit the woodfast lathe , same as mine

I would hold the outer of the mill blank with the standard dovetail jaws to drill the hole through. I then turn 2 tapered bungs for either end then use the drive dog from the headstock and live center in the tail stock. That is how I made the last one.

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

You only really need a chuck for the drilling operations...

GP,
Are you talking about a jacobs chuck or a scroll chuck? I use a jacobs chuck in my tail stock to hold the forstner bits and my scroll chuck to hold the blank.

PG,
Are you talking about turning it on the Woodfast M305? Unless you're turning a very short grinder I think you're going to need a bed extension. Once the blank is mounted in the scroll chuck and the jacobs chuck has a forstner bit in it you're talking about a reasonably long working area. This is purely speculation at the moment as it's too cold for me to go out the shed and measure up my gear. If I remember I will look at the tollerances tomorrow

Corbs

Thanks for the advice everyone. I do have an extension bed for the lathe. They were going pretty cheap when I bought the lathe so I have one still in its box. The pitch thread is 30mm x 3.5mm - just checked on the Woodfast site. I will get a chuck from McJings.

Thans again

Thank you all once again. I emailed David at Timberbits and he phoned me back and discussed my precise needs and offered a lot of advicce. That guy really runs a great business and its no wonder so many on here buy from him.

Suggest you look at one of the Gary Pye chucks.

Their jaws aren't brilliant but the chucks have worked fine for a number of us. I posted a review of the 110 in the Review section some time ago.

If you drill out Vicmarc 90/100 jaws from 5 to 6mm they go on nicely and in my book are among the best in the business.