Brmorgan
Addicted to ArboristSite
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,248
- Reaction score
- 348
Very nice stuff. Especially like the figured grain of the knife/awl set.
I have that slippery-slope problem with all tools in general - I could have a hundred-thousand-dollar shop and I'd still find a reason why I "needed" a better this-or-that. I started out a couple years ago with one of those cheapo single-tube-bed style lathes, but had nothing but problems with it. It was near impossible to keep the headstock and tailstock perfectly in-line which resulted in way too much wobble on longer pieces. And, the headstock wasn't sufficiently sturdy to turn a decent-sized bowl, which is something I really enjoy but haven't been able to do much. Last year my dad gave me the like-new 4' Viel duplicator lathe that my grandfather gave him 20-odd years ago and had sat dormant since. It does an amazing job of turning spindles & dowels etc. but has an odd off-standard 5/8" chuck thread, like a tablesaw arbor. Thus it's impossible to find a good chuck or even a faceplate for turning bowls. This little 12" lathe I just picked up does have a standard 1" X 8TPI thread but would be severely underpowered and underbuilt for bowl use. So... lacking the $1000+ minimum for a single lathe to suit all my needs, I think I might end up keeping the duplicator for spindle use, 12" for small stuff, and probably build a good strong headstock for turning bowls. This way I'd have virtually no size limit either, since I'd build it outboard-style with no bed in the way. I am looking into switching the Viel to a standard 1" thread, because its bearings and head spindle are in fact 1" but machined down to 5/8". I'm going to see if my machinist neighbor can mill me a 1" spindle with a morse taper so I can use my drill chuck in it. I think it should be doable.
For the record, sorry for horribly going offtopic here.
I have that slippery-slope problem with all tools in general - I could have a hundred-thousand-dollar shop and I'd still find a reason why I "needed" a better this-or-that. I started out a couple years ago with one of those cheapo single-tube-bed style lathes, but had nothing but problems with it. It was near impossible to keep the headstock and tailstock perfectly in-line which resulted in way too much wobble on longer pieces. And, the headstock wasn't sufficiently sturdy to turn a decent-sized bowl, which is something I really enjoy but haven't been able to do much. Last year my dad gave me the like-new 4' Viel duplicator lathe that my grandfather gave him 20-odd years ago and had sat dormant since. It does an amazing job of turning spindles & dowels etc. but has an odd off-standard 5/8" chuck thread, like a tablesaw arbor. Thus it's impossible to find a good chuck or even a faceplate for turning bowls. This little 12" lathe I just picked up does have a standard 1" X 8TPI thread but would be severely underpowered and underbuilt for bowl use. So... lacking the $1000+ minimum for a single lathe to suit all my needs, I think I might end up keeping the duplicator for spindle use, 12" for small stuff, and probably build a good strong headstock for turning bowls. This way I'd have virtually no size limit either, since I'd build it outboard-style with no bed in the way. I am looking into switching the Viel to a standard 1" thread, because its bearings and head spindle are in fact 1" but machined down to 5/8". I'm going to see if my machinist neighbor can mill me a 1" spindle with a morse taper so I can use my drill chuck in it. I think it should be doable.
For the record, sorry for horribly going offtopic here.
