Help Needed ...

Re: Help Needed ...

Bill Howatt

Don't know what you are doing but it isn't hard to find a 3/4x10 tap and make one out of wood or....

Bill

Re: Help Needed ...

john lucas

Dick I'll see what I have tomorrow. I have think I have a tap that size. If I have any metal close to that size I can turn it on the metal lathe. I have never learned to make threads on my Smithy Lathe Mill yet so I have to do it manually.

Re: Help Needed ...

john lucas

Describe what you need more accurately. I have a 3/4 10 tap. I have some aluminum rod 2 1/4" in diameter and could probably make it out of that. Bear in mind that I am not even close to a machinist. I can probably make it look like it's supposed to be and with luck it may run true. I might even be able to true it up using my Powermatic live center as the drive after I get it roughed out on the metal lathe.

I looked at my scrap steel and really don't have anything that would work for that right now.

Re: Help Needed ...  *LINK*


http://www.wbnoble.com/wood_turning/faceplates/faceplates.htm

Re: Help Needed ...

Hugh Buttrum

Dick,

What about making a glue block up and epoxy a 3/4" nut into the end that fits on the live center. Maybe use one of those coupling nuts as they are longer?

Hugh

Re: Help Needed ...

Robert Edington

Tractor supply has the nuts. Sold by the pound. ~.50 each. That's where I got mine.

Epoxy into a piece of wood and you're done.

RP

Re: Help Needed ...

George Balock

Oneway has adapters so you can mount your chuck or faceplate to the live center to align a piece for vacuum chucking. Get one of them to match the threads on your headstock and you will be set.

Re: Help Needed ...

Randall Mack

Best Wood Tools has adapters for live center 3/4-10 to common spindle sizes. Download the catalog or call them. You should be able to find them with google.

Re: Help Needed ...

Alan Hollar

Best Wood Tools also has 3/4x10 small facepltes intended for making fixtures

Re: Help Needed ...

bowlman

I have a tap of the correct size. It is just that when I am doing hands on classes or demos for sphere turning, part of the process uses cup chucks on both the headstock and tailstock. I normally ask that they provide good hardwood to make our own cup chucks. Some people struggle mightily with the tapping.

So, I though that if I could find nad inexpensive source for small faceplates ... around 2 inches diameter ... with a 3/4x10 thread, then they could just mount a block of hard wood to the faceplate, and once shaped into a cup chuck they would be set to go. Much simpler than what I have been doing for the past few years.

Re: Help Needed ...

bowlman

I have a tap of the correct size. It is just that when I am doing hands on classes or demos for sphere turning, part of the process uses cup chucks on both the headstock and tailstock. I normally ask that they provide good hardwood to make our own cup chucks. Some people struggle mightily with the tapping.

So, I though that if I could find nad inexpensive source for small faceplates ... around 2 inches diameter ... with a 3/4x10 thread, then they could just mount a block of hard wood to the faceplate, and once shaped into a cup chuck they would be set to go. Much simpler than what I have been doing for the past few years.

Just tap a bunch of 8/4 stock and add the cost

Dick Coers

Add the parts to class material charge. Faceplates are never cheap.

non-threaded wooden cup?

John K Jordan

I don't know if it will work for your application, but when I turn something like a sphere that needs to be gripped by a cup on both sides (or more often, when I make a jam support for a long spindle with a hole drilled in the end) I make the tailstock support from wood and simply press it into the work firmly with the tailstock.

It is important to get the floating piece well centered so I turn it between centers, preferably supported with the same center I'll use later. I make sure the end is flat and perpendicular in the center. I don't like to use wood that is too soft so the tailstock contact won't deform the wood and I always drill a small hole in the center before turning so the live center point won't drift. If making a cup or inverted cone, I'd still turn between centers but cut the cone from the headstock side except for a little support to remove by hand. Could also turn a piece between centers and turn a tenon with a flat seat on the tailstock end, put that tenon in a chuck being careful not to deform the wood, then turn the cup. Hard wood might help here, too, depending on how precise the cone needs to be.

Seems like you would still have one problem even if you had a faceplate that screwed into the live center: turning the cup to be perfectly concentric. I've done this before with a piece of wood threaded with the 3/4"x10 tap. I mount the Oneway live center in the headstock and use it as a drive center. I put a piece of strong wire through the locking hole to keep it from spinning. This would work for turning and truing a piece of wood on the small faceplate as well.

If I wanted a small faceplate to fit the live center, I'd probably weld a bolt to a piece of steel and drill some screw holes. Would require some metal working and welding equipment, though. I suspect someone would be willing to make a bunch you could sell if properly enticed. Cheapest might be to mill them from aluminum on a CNC machine. What about that guy who was selling nice anodized aluminum faceplates a couple of years ago?

BTW, the Rubber Chucky guy sells rubber cup chucks for both ends plus the arbors and things, but I assume you know that. Not cheap. (I would personally be tempted to give up woodturning before buying from him again but the rubber things seem OK.)

JKJ

Mallible floor flange

Ken Vaughan

Years back i chased the pipe threads on pipe floor flanges with 3/4 by 10 tap. Not a high precision solution, but cheap and easy for under $10. Home Depot quality should do just fine.

Re: Help Needed ...

Barry Irby

Years ago I went to an industrial junkyard and bought some nuts that fit my lathe. Then I bought some round metal disk they had as "blind Plates" that were about three or four inches in diameter. Took them to a machinist and he welded them up and trued them for me. I drilled the holes in them for the screws. Made about ten faceplates for about $8 each.

Re: Help Needed ...

Ivan Clark

As others have said, Best Wood Tools has face plates for those live centers as well as the adapters and drawbars to turn jam chucks on them before you mount them on the live center. I have a set of them, but have not had the opportunity to use them yet.

http://bestwoodtools.stores.yahoo.net/

They are a husband and wife small business. I have always been treated very well by them.

Re: non-threaded wooden cup?

mikeee12345

There are a number of solutions for this challenge, you can use some threaded nuts

the same size as the spindle thread on your lathe. Weld, braze, solder, epoxy the nuts

to a flat piece of steel. You can also epoxy or glue the threaded nuts onto a block of wood,

you can also drill a hole in the wood block and recess the nut into the wood block, this will

give you better support when you glue/epoxy the nut into the recess. After securing the

nuts to the plates and blocks you will need to mount them and true them up on the lathe

and turn the cup centers. You can also use a threading tap and cut threads into your billet

and then mount the billet onto your lathe and turn it true and turn the cup center. I have

turned these types of supports from various materials (wood, composites, plastics, metals).

You could possibly apply a mold release agent to a bolt and use a resin to cast a female thread

into a recess on a wood block, you would also need to true this up on the lathe after it sets up if

you are able to remove the bolt after the resin sets. You can also turn a cup center that fits in

the jaws of your bowl chuck.

On the tail stock end you can turn a round wood block with a cup recess on one side and a

centering divot on the other end that your live center fits into. For a more secure solution

you can get a live center with a threaded spindle on the end to mount a second cup center.

Re: non-threaded wooden cup?

John K Jordan

>>>On the tail stock end you can turn a round wood block with a cup recess on one side and a centering divot on the other end that your live center fits into.

I don't know exactly what you mean by a "centering divot" but if it's just a little hole to register the point of the live center, I do that (as mentioned above) and it works very well. Far quicker than drilling and tapping!

For a more secure block on the live center, a very simple thing is to drill a hole in the end the same diameter as the outside of the threads to make a socket to slide snugly over the threads, no threading needed. Cut the cup or whatever on the other end. This will hold the jam block almost as securely as a threaded block.

JKJ

Re: non-threaded wooden cup?

mikeee12345

John,

You need to spend more time on the golf course. :-) Divot was the only term that came to mind

that described a small indentation in the wood for the live center to ride in. I also like to use this

technique when turning lidded boxes, a small round of wood with a "divot" placed on the live center

to compress against the lid and jar while turning both pieces true on the lathe. This technique reduces

the chances of a hard metal live center indenting any marks on the lid.

Divots

John K Jordan

When the golfers hung around with their coffees on Mon discussing the intricacies of the golf course I'd stand and listen for a while. When they asked if I liked golf I said "Sure do! But I do have trouble with the one with the windmill."

I have made some in the ground with lead from a 45, if that counts.

I guess I've made wood divots for years. I keep this cordless drill (gimlet) on a magnet at the lathe and make a hole after marking the center:

I find the divot especially important for thin spindles made from hard woods which are likely to split from the point, especially if the point is not spring-loaded. Another big advantage for me for making the hole is when mounting the blank I don't have to put on my old man glasses and lean close to be careful to put the point exactly at the crosshairs - it just slips gracefully and perfectly into place.

JKJ

Re: Divots

mikeee12345

John,

You got that right, this getting old really sucks! :-)

With my vision slowly fading away and wearing eye protection while running

the lathe it sure can be a challenge trying to see a pencil line on the wood billet.

I usually use a rubber mallet and drive the live center onto both ends of the wood billet

prior to mounting on the lathe. Having the "divot" on both ends helps when turning and

finishing items on the lathe. I also like to do the same when I turn a tenon for mounting in a

bowl chuck having the "divot" always helps me later on when I want to remove the tenon.