Fun with the vac chuck
Mike Schwing from Md.
>I am happy to say that I do not have a picture of the ambrosia maple I was finishing up on the vacuum chuck last evening as it flew across the room. Fortunately it was only a likely scenario that didn't actually occur.
I made a conscious decision to not fill in the holes in the bowl I was working because I thought it was just too nice for food use, and you could see straight through the tiny little ambrosia beetle holes, it was kind of neat.
When I went to stick it on the vacuum drum, I realized some of the holes were inside the drum's diameter, so having run into this before, I simply covered them on the interior (twice) with blue painter's tape. It is effective.
Everything was proceeding nicely (pic soon), and then suddenly I heard the vacuum motor change pitch (uh oh). I had uncovered another hole as I was finish turning the bottom, and I had not taped it over on the other side. Fortunately it only dropped the vacuum by a pound or two, but it was a heart stopper.
I always leave the tailstock in place when reversing till the last possible moment, which of course was exactly where that little bugger had tunneled a hole.
Just trying to help others avoid this potential disaster as well.
BTW, the vacuum drum comes in very handy for securely holding work that no longer has a mounting to do repairs or hand sanding finishes.
