Turning This Burl

Find a friend with a bigger lathe...

steve antonucci

>and a coring setup.

be a shame to turnout the whole center for one bowl.

Then, take the largest core and make a big bowl. Explain to the Mrs. that you need a bigger lathe to finish it...

Steve

Re: Turning This Burl

RonZ

>Well, you can send it to Israel for evaluation. =o)

Seriously, fine lathe you got there and it is possible. Turn your headstock out 90 degrees. Take your banjo and tailstock off of the ways and place down several bags of sand and you're in business. I also agree with the coring system a lot of fine wood to turn into shavings.

Re: Turning This Burl

Richard Allen

>Hi Dan

I see you have the outboard attachment. So you shouldn't have any issue with swing.

Add some weight in the form of bags of sand. Just drape the bags of sand on the bed of the lathe. You should be able to put several hundred pounds of sand on the lathe.

Before I knew I couldn't hang big hunks off wood on my first lathe I would find the static balance point. I found that point by balanceing the hunk of wood on a Coke bottle.

Good Luck

Richard

Re: Turning This Burl

Doug Trembath

>Well, Dan, it seems you have everything you need at present to turn the burl. I would do a couple of things first if you are concerned that the lathe will rock and roll. One of the issues I would be concerned about is the tendency for the belting under the lathe to amplify vibration. It's a no brainer, of course, that you want as solid a base for the lathe as possible. I found early on that rubber caused more vibration rather than less. YMMV, of course.

I'd evaluate the burl for desired orientation, and what you wanted to get from it. If it's bowls, you would do best to mount it on the curved side, and core out multiple blanks.

To do this, I'd find my desired center, and remove excess material with a chainsaw or Arbor-Tech to more efficiently balance it first, then mount it up and turn it slowly, removing the remainder of the waste, again, slowly.

If you have a serious imbalance problem due to varying densities, you can compensate for this by adding weight in a static balancing routine, find the heavy spot, and add weight opposite the heavy point until it's statically balanced, similar to the way auto wheels and tires were balanced before dynamic balancers came along.

This will help a lot, but static balancing will only take you so far, of course. If the lathe still wants to rock and roll, then get some sandbags from a big box store, and tie them on with duct tape or something. Sometimes they will fall off due to vibration, and the sudden shift in balance can result in some radical situations. DAMHIKT!

I don't know how experienced you are, Dan, but if you need a bit of help and encouragement, get it before you tackle a project like this, okay? If you're well versed in turning large out of balance blanks, just be safe, and go for it!

Watch for voids and bark inclusions, because they will cause some rather immediate problems on the way.

Keep us informed, and don't hesitate to email for additional thoughts before you get in trouble.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: Turning This Burl

Doug Leite

>Dan,You seem to have the outboard capacity, but my first concern would be that the lathe is not bolted down and would rock and roll. I would address that by increasing the width of the base, at least on the headstock end, by bolting either some angle iron( 3" X 3" X 1/4") or a piece of lumber (4 X 4 or at least a 2 X 4) across the bottom of the base. If extra weight is needed, I wouldn't place it on the bed, but on some platform running across these leg extensions. This would lower the center of mass and help to prevent a tip over. Just MHO.

Aloha,be safe & have fun. Doug