Bowl Bottom

Re: Bowl Bottom

Craig Daymon

>Jumbo Jaws aren't hard to make if you already have a chuck. But, you can also:

1) Use a jam chuck.

2) Use a jam chuck and bring up the live tail center and cut in toward the live center until there is just a small nub to cut off and hand sand away.

3) Build a Doughnut Chuck (only requires a faceplate and a few hardware store bits). There is a good article on building one (in PDF format) written by Art Liestman in the Articles and News section of http://www.woodturningonline.com .

-Craig

Re: Bowl Bottom  *LINK*

Ron in Drums PA

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Donut Chuck

Re: Bowl Bottom

John Lucas

>D

For a long time I took a scrap piece of plywood and screwed it to a faceplate. Then I would turn a ring to match my bowl inside diameter. This would center the bowl. Then i would tape it on using painters masking tape. I would use the tailstock until it the last possible cut and then pullit out of the way and turn the last little bit. I did a lot bowls this way and never lost one.

Re: Bowl Bottom

Carles, in Barcelona

>Hi, I'm a beginner too.

When I turn small bowls, I turn the bottom before and then I reverse the bowl (I have a screw chuck) to turn the inside.

Some examples:

another example 

Carles, in Barcelona

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Jam Chucks

Jennifer@Indy.USA

>Hello D.Dix,

I think you're right, finishing the bottom of the bowl is just as important as the rest of it. One of the first things I do when looking at a bowl is flip it over to look at the bottom....kind of like the Hallmark Card thing. I tend to lean towards using a tenon on my bowls for holding it in the chuck and when it comes time to turn the tenon off or make a foot out of it I use a jam chuck. Sometimes the jam is a piece of wood that I have turned to fit inside the bowl or sometimes it's a piece of PVC pipe with some sort of protection on it to keep from scratching the inside of the bowl. I use a live center in the tailstock to hold the bowl against the jam chuck and turn the bottom to finish, sand it and then all that is left is a tiny nub that is directly under the live center. After I take the bowl off the lathe I use a Flexcut fishtail chisel to cut the nib away and then sand that area to finish. It's very easy to finish the bottom this way, and it doesn't require any fancy reverse chucks or an expensive vacuum chuck. Here is a link to a thread regarding reverse chucks. There are a couple of pictures in this thread to give you a sense of what I'm talking about.

Good luck,

Jennifer

Ooops...here's the link!  *LINK*

Jennifer@Indy.USA

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Jam Chucks Thread

Re: Bowl Bottom

Dick Hines

>I have 2 jam plates I use. I cut a piece of MDF board and mounted a faceplate to it. Then I glued a piece of sheet cork from HD to the MDF. To finish the bottom of a bowl I find the center of the foot hold the rim of the bowl to the face plate and bring up the tail stock. Works for me

Don't take the the face plate off the MDF it is hard to get trued up again. Buy a cheak face plate and leave it on the MDF.