face plate question

Re: face plate question

Rodney in Maypearl, TX

>Ken,

If I'm going from start to finish with a faceplate, I only mount it once -- on the foot. You have to allow for the length the threads project into the blank and part it off beyond that when you complete the hollowing. Best to leave at least 1/4" or so beyond the threads. Turn the outside profile first, then hollow it. Be sure to allow for the threads when hollowing also.

Be sure to use the tailstock when roughing the outside and keep it there until you get the face turned (as far as you can without contacting the live center)until it is even.

With the blank you have on there now, you're going to have to remount it on the foot, as close to centered as you can get it, and re-turn the outside.

You can get it pretty close by mounting it the way you originally had it and flattening the foot and marking the center. Use a center punch (or nail) to mark the center of the foot.

Now comes a little trick... get (or turn)about a 3" dowel that just fits inside the threads of the faceplate, find center on the dowel, and drive a small nail (paneling nail size, maybe)into it ~1/4 - 1/2" and cut it off so that about 1/8" is protruding. Tap this dowel with the nail lightly into the center mark you made on the foot of the blank. Gently slide the faceplate over it, and you're about as close as you're gonna get. True up the outside (use tailstock), then hollow.

PM me if this don't make sense and I'll send you a pic of the dowel with the nail in the center.

Rodney

Re: face plate question

John Lucas

>Ken

You probably didn't get it centered. What I do in that case is to turn a very short tenon on my bowl and then turn a mating rebate in a scrap piece of wood mounted on the faceplate. Then I can glue these 2 together for perfect alignment.

Another option is to turn the rebate into the waste wood on the bowl bottom. Make this the exact size as your faceplate. Then screw it on. This also aligns them.

Re: face plate question

JL

>Yes, it has to be dead center. I second the above advice. I like screwing a piece of poplar to the face plate and then truing the face and rounding it (not in that order). I then glue the planed piece I am working to the poplar. I have also used MDF, pine, etc. Poplar is relatively inexpensive and light weight. After the piece is almost done (inside and out), I then take off the face place and pop the piece off. I clean up the foot area by mounting the piece on my Stronghold with the large Cole jaws.

Re: face plate question

Barry Irby

>Welcome to the world of wood turning. As you can see, keeping up with the center is important. If you turn something and have a center mark on it from either the drive center or tail center, don't be in to much hurry to remove it. I remember starting trunnion, thinking "I don't have Cole Jaws or a chuck for that matter." and "I don't want to use all my wood for glue block and jamb chucks." and "I want to make bowls, not spend all my time making dowels and other bits and pieces." You as they say are in the "steep part of the learning curve".

I spend an hour making a piece of wood that fits over the live center on the tail stock and just spins with it so that I can bring it up against something I want to push against without leaving a mark. One hour years ago and I have used it fifty times.

If I were making a bowl without a chuck or set of Cole Jaws I would glue on a waste block to what would be the bottom of the bowl and mount it on a face plate. I would turn the bowl, outside first, down to the foot or flat part of the bottom, being careful to leave some wood in the bottom. Sand the inside and the outside of the rim. I would mount a scrap of MDF on the face plate bigger than the bowl and turn it round and turn a recess into it abut an eighth deep the same diameter as the rim of the bowl and jamb the bowl into it using the tail stock to hold it. Then I would turn away the waste block, leaving only a stub in the center and shape the foot and base of the bowl. After sanding and finishing as much as I could, I would remove the bowl and pare off the stub by hand and touch up the spot with sand paper.

There are as many more ways to do this as there are people doing it. Most of them are right, but not all. Once you start, you will find what works for you. Read and learn. Look at videos. Join a club. Take a lesson. All these things will move you out of the steep part of that curve faster. Once you get going, nothing beats time on the tool. Practice. Except, don't practice bad habits.

Re: face plate question

Rodney in Maypearl, TX

>I agree that the waste block is the best solution for saving depth on your bowl... mind blurry after midnight.