faceplate question

Re: faceplate question *LINK*

Don Henthorn

>Everybody does it his own way. I mount the workpiece with the bottom on the glue block. I turn the outside, sand and then turn the inside to the thickness I want. I then sand and finish the inside. I next part off the bowl and use a jam chuck or a compression chuck to hold the piece to finish the bottom. Works for me.


http://users2.ev1.net/~henthorn

Re: faceplate question

David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA

>I still get some wobble with a 4-jaw chuck Ken. I've got an Axminster and a Vicmarc, and it's still hit or miss when I turn a finish-turned bowl around onto the dovetails, as to whether or not it's perfectly true - but, a 4-jaw chuck will help tremendously. I've found that most of the time I do have to barely true up a bowl once I turn it around, and blend the slight difference with a power sander.

David

Re: faceplate question *LINK*

Craig Daymon

>I'm still a hack turner. I'm reading like crazy, watching videos and taking classes. My 4-jaw is a cheap $40 jaw (dovetail jaws) that I use on a JET mini, where I try to turn 10" bowls. (That's capacity.) I get wobble.

Still, I have big ideas for what I want to turn and stability is going to be very important for me. A very well known turner in our turning group tells me to bite the bullet and get a Stronghold. Others here were recently touting the Vicmark. The one key point the of both is a single key for tightening. That beats the 2-bar method of my cheap chuck.

That being said, one idea that I have yet to try, but seems to make a great deal of logical choice, was one I saw related to mounting and turning end-grain bowls. He starts between centers with a 60 degree live cone center on the tail. He slips a washer over the cone to keep it from penetrating too far. The washer is also the same diameter outside as the hole in the middle of his faceplate. He trues the face on the bottom of the bowl, shapes the outside and turns a short tenon on the bottom the diameter of the washer. Whe he turns the bowl around to turn the inside, he is perfectly centered on the faceplate thanks to the tenon that fits in the center.

This should create a very balanced remounting and won't suffer from crushing the base in the jaws unevenly due to variations in compression of end grain and face grain that I believe is the main cause of my wobble when turning a face grain bowl.

This tip comes from Darrell Feltmate's article that you can find at the link below

-Craig


Turning an Endgrain Bowl - Darrell Feltmate

Re: faceplate question

Duane C.Leach

>For the reasones you have found I seldom turn the outside to finish from the tailstock and remount. The piece is sometimes off just slightly,barly nonicable, but I know it, and I can't stand knowing it's off even slightly. So I turn the outside first, finish it. Then the inside. Holding it with a faceplate or chuck.

Just about everybody has their own way or method for doing every thing. The only methods that are correct are those that are safe successful.

I hope this is helpfull.

Turning should be fun.

Duane

Re: faceplate question

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Ken, some truing is always necessary, IF you want to keep it round and true (not always required). When you grip a tenon in a jawed chuck, the wood will compress at different rates in different jaws. It will send your previously trued up bowl blank out of true.

Because of this, if I'm rough turning a wet blank, I don't spend too much time with refining the shape while the blank is mounted on the faceplate. I just get the basic shape, and then call it quits. Then after turning it around and putting it in the chuck, if it'll spin at the rpm I want for hollowing without making the lathe wobble, I'll often hollow out the center without even retruing. This saves mass for the drying process and thus the final product, too. After the blank dries, retruing will be necessary again anyway. The fewer times this has to be done, the more bowl you'll be left with - if it can be done safely.

You mentioned "meticulously" finding the center. You should look into a faceplate centering device. Finding and marking centers couldn't be easier.

When I scribe a circle for bandsawing my blanks, I mark the center with the protractor's point and then enhance it with a punch. Then when I mount the faceplate, the centering device sits in the faceplate, dead center, with a point/punch that I center on that previously marked spot. This perfectly centers the faceplate. Or, if you're screwing on a plate and then truing up a blank, after you screw it on, mark the center with a punch on the faceplate centering device - perfect spot to put the tailstock center when you turn it around.

You can find faceplate centers in all of the big turning catalogs.