Drilling Tenons

November 25, 2019 Dave Leave a comment

I make goblets, and use a very shallow (1/16″ to 1/8″) tenon to align the stem to the bowl and base.

To drill these tenons, I use a 1/4″ straight router bit. These make flat-bottomed holes, which is important when the hole is only 1/16″ deep. A regular twist drill makes a pointy hole, and a brad-point bit has a point that will go too deep (and through the bottom of the goblet’s base).

I drill these on the lathe, with a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock. The quill on my lathe (Powermatic 3520B) has 16 TPI (threads per inch) pitch. That means that one revolution of the handle will move the quill 1/16″. I use this fact to measure the hole depth – advance the quill till the bit just starts to cut, then one revolution more is 1/16″ deep. Two gives me 1/8″, or 1 1/2 turns would be 3/32″, etc.

Corian Bandsaw inserts

November 22, 2019 Dave 1 Comment

I needed some inserts for my “new” (1968) 20″ Rockwell bandsaw. I had some squares of Corian countertop material sitting around, and it was just right.

I turned the inserts to the correct size, being careful about the diameter and thickness so they would sit just right in the saw table.

After cutting a slot for the blade, I marked where the slot in the table was, and super-glued a tab there to keep the insert aligned.

The one insert with the round hole is for wet wood, to help the chips clear through the table and (hopefully) get to the dust collector.

Sanding Disk Storage

September 17, 2019 Dave Leave a comment

This is how I store sanding disks, in PVC pipe end caps.

They are in a drawer so they stay clean of chips and sawdust. And Velcro-up so I can pick them up one at a time using the mandrel on my sander.

I don’t rely on the PVC to align the disk on the mandrel. I haven’t had any problems aligning the disks by hand.

Fixed my Wolverine Vari-Grind Arm

January 25, 2019 Dave Leave a comment

I got a new spindle gouge, and discovered that it bumps on the huge “pocket” on the end of the Wolverine arm.

I’ve never really completely liked the huge V-pocket in that arm anyway.

I found a scrap of plastic (I think it’s Delrin, but it really doesn’t matter). I sanded an angle on one end and used a countersink bit to drill a pocket.

Screwed that to the back of the arm with sheet-metal screws.

And now my gouges don’t bump the arm. Also, I think this pocket works much better than the original.

One screw goes thru the tube, and I ground off the other one (the lower one in these photos) so it won’t interfere with the existing pocket. I don’t plan to use that pocket, but I do loan my grinder to the club’s symposium and having the “expected” setup is probably useful for demonstrators.

Wolverine makes that pocket huge like that so you can drop the butt end of a tool handle in there. Same reason the square bar comes so excessively long (I cut about a foot off of mine). All the Wolverine advertisements show skews and roughing gouges being sharpened like that. I think it’s a terrible idea – way too easy to have a gouge dig into the wheel and cause alot of damage (to the operator, the grinder wheel, and the gouge). Also, every time you sharpen, the tool gets shorter, which changes that angle. Just get a platform and make some angle-setting jigs. Much safer and pretty easy.

Bowl Bottom Center Finder

December 15, 2018 Dave 1 Comment

I made a center finder thing to mark the center of a chucked piece. I often have a bowl or hollow form that has a tenon for my chuck, but no center mark. If I want to reverse mount it, like in a jam chuck or vacuum chuck, it’s really helpful to know where the center is.

This tool fits right down into the spindle threads, and I can tap the knob to mark the center.

I took a scrap piece of wood and carefully turned a cylinder to just match the threads. I then drilled a hole to match some scrap rod I had laying around. I sharpened the rod to a point and epoxied a knob onto the end.

Goblet Repair

November 19, 2018 Dave Leave a comment

A client knocked over a goblet while dusting, and the stem broke. So I repaired it.

There was no way to put the stem back together, so I had to make an entirely new stem, matching the original. Fortunately I had a bit of Ebony sitting around, as that was the original stem material.

I usually attach my goblet stems with a small 1/4″ tenon. The bowl has a tenon that fits into a hole in the top of the stem, and the bottom of the stem has a tenon that fits into a hole in the base.

So the next step was to cut the broken stem. I made a jam chuck that just barely fit the base, and held it in with a few dots of hot-glue.

Then I cut off the broken bit of stem (making sure to remove all the glue) and re-drilled the tenon hole.

I attached the goblet burl to my vacuum chuck, using the broken stem to align it.

The vacuum chuck doesn’t hold very well on such a small piece (and also the burl had some holes that made it leaky). So I used plastic wrap and tape to secure it. Then it was again cut off the broken stem, remove any glue, and reform the tenon.

I then used the lathe to align and clamp the three pieces together. I use epoxy to glue the pieces together.

Demagnitizer

November 2, 2018 Dave Leave a comment

Sometimes my tools get magnitized. Sometimes I’ll used a magnet to hold a chuck key to the headstock. Sometimes it just happens for no apparent reason. But when you don’t want your tool sticking to the tool rest, etc. you need to demagnitize it.

I made a demagnitizer from an old soldering gun. I figured since the soldering tip is basically a short-circuit (a chunk of heavy nichrome wire), the transformer in the gun should be beefy enough to use this way.

I wound up some wire I had sitting around – it looks like 12 gague – and replaced the soldering tip with the coil.

To use it, I stick my magnetized tool through the coil, turn on the gun, and move it up and down the tool a couple times. Then slide it slowly off the end of the tool. The alternating current through the coil randomizes the magnetization of the tool, leaving it neutral. If it still seems magnetized, just repeat the process.

Bug Hole Blaster

October 26, 2018 Dave Leave a comment

I seem to end up turning alot of wood with bug holes. The bugs always leave behind gunk that I have to clean out. That usually involves scraping with a dental tool and blowing out the holes with air. Well I have found a way to make that a bit easier.

At this past year’s Rocky Mountain Woodturning Symposium, I was talking with Roper and he turned me on to this. It’s a basketball ball inflater needle, with an adapter to fit it onto my an gun. I sharpened the end of the needle, so it blows air out the end and can dig bug gunk while blowing it out. I still use a dental tool too, but this helps make the process a bit faster.

Headstock Lock

March 10, 2018 Dave Leave a comment

My Powermatic 3520B (and Jet 1642) are lacking when it comes to locking or indexing the headstock. I don’t do indexed work, but do want to lock the headstock. Usually, I want this when I’m sanding a section or otherwise want the piece held still while I work.

The provided option is a set screw that you have to wind into the indexing holes. Probably good for holding the shaft in place, but not easy to lock and unlock.

So I took an old drill bit of appropriate size and epoxied it into a handle I had laying around.

I tapered the end slightly, and now it fits into the indexing holes. And I can lock the headstock in place quickly and easily.

Remote Control for my Lathe

March 4, 2018 Dave 1 Comment

I made a remote control for my Powermatic 3520B lathe. I didn’t like reaching around a spinning chunk of tree to hit the controls – especially if things go south and I need to hit the off switch.

You can purchase a remote, but it’s just a shutoff switch, and seems a bit expensive.

So I turned the standard control pannel into a remote.

This sort of remoting should work with just about any VFD controled lathe. I’ve done it on my Jet 1642 also.

I got a cable (about 10′). You need 5 wires – cable usually comes with 6, so one doesn’t get used. I think I used about 16ga. It’s a low voltage control circuit, so doesn’t need much.

Next, I found a PVC electrical box that the control would fit on/in, and a mix of plumbing and electrical PVC parts to reduce the large opening down to a cable strain relief .

I cut an opening in the box’s lid for the lathe’s panel. The box had another outlet on the back, which I cut off and sealed up with some epoxy and a panel cut from a PVC outlet box.

Wiring is easy – the cable should fit thru the back of the headstock, where the other control cables go thru. I suggest photos and notes of the wiring before you start, in case something gets confused. With the lathe unplugged, detach each wire and attach a wire from the cable. Hook up the control panel to the same wires. Some terminal connectors and wire nuts are helpful here. Get everything neat and secured inside the headstock, making sure it’s all out of the way of the belts.

Add a cover to the opening left in the headstock. I made a cover from some 1/4″ ply, but I might go back and replace that with something from steel someday – I have found that I want to stick the control on the headstock sometimes, and the door to the belts just doesn’t seem sturdy enough to hold it up (I already replaced that plastic hinge once).

I added 4 rare earth magnets to the back, but didn’t do it well and the control wouldn’t sit flat on all 4. So I replaced that with a big round magnet screwed to the back of the box. the only issue I have is bed ways on the 3520B are curved, and don’t let the magnet grab as securely as I’d like.

DL WoodTurning