Accessories That Become Necessities

Being able to turn a knob and dial in a higher or lower speed rather than moving a belt and changing pulleys has become almost a necessity - for me. Being able to dial down the rpms for a very delicate cut or to clean up a narrow deep V now seems crazy at higher rpms. I'm still playing in the lowest rpm range on the JET mini/midi .

Being able to turn the lathe on and off without having to pull the tool away to get to the on/off switch has become a necessity - for me. There are delicate cuts that must end with the cutting edge at a specific point, and tool orientation which I formerly blew often pulling the tool away.

A long goose neck lamp that puts light right where I need it, yet shields my eyes from the bulb has become a necessity - for me (and will no doubt require a higher watt bulb as my vision goes).

An MT jacobs chuck for the tail stock makes drilling, either with a forstner bit or brad point bit, beats TRYING to drill a hole in the end of a turned piece on a drill press - and therefore has become a necessity

- for me.

Turning a tenon on the end of a finial that must fit a hole in the lid of a turned box - when you can't fit the tenon to the hole while the finial is on the lathe - necessitates a dial caliper - a digital dial caliper.

Having a decent scroll chuck - and several sets of jaws has become a necessity - for me. The possibilities it/they opened up changed not only what I can do, but how I can do it. Definitely THE lathe accessory.

Have you got an "accessory" you didn't know you had to have until you had it and used it? Why?

charlie b

Reply to
charlieb
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Reply to
robo hippy

Hi Charlie, Gates and different length tool rests in addition to the one that came with my mini Jet are necessities for me.

Variable speed even for my mini is sort of like power windows once were for my truck. Seemed unnecessary til I used them a while.

BTW, your perceptive questions, essays and illustrations have become "necessities" for me and they are terrific "accessories" for all of us. Many thanks.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

I change the tool to suit the cut. Speed doesn't make the shaving, the edge does. Sometimes I change speeds when roughing. Once per bowl.

So what are you using, a foot switch? Can't think of a cut that I can't stop anywhere safely by rotating back on the bevel and lifting the edge off the wood. That is if I can't back it out altogether. Hollowing inside a small opening is the only place I use the former. Makes it lots easier to stop the cut if you can get the rest up close, of course.

Mine's a clip flood. Actually two. One up, one centerline. I used a gooseneck for a while, then one of those spring-countered desk lamps (with magnifier) that kept needing adjustment, and so now lives on the scrollsaw.

THAT is a great item. No suitable substitute in any V-block arrangement I've ever tried.

I use an inside/outside caliper or an open-end wrench. A loose tenon is so easy to get into shape with bit of sawdust and glue that the error, if any, should be in that direction. Stuffing an oversize tenon in a smaller hole splits stuff.

Handy. Even handier to have two or three bodies so you don't have to spend time with magnets or a broom to find the #$5%!! screw you dropped.

Asked for and got a bowl steady for Fathers' Day a number of years back. Love it for bowls, goblets, whatever "hollow forms" I do, and occasionally for long spindles. Not a necessity, perhaps, but it saves me a lot of fussing with fine-fine cuts and sanding. Rather have it than a more expensive "famous name" gouge, that's for sure.

Other is the pin chuck. Can't ask for a more secure hold to start on a big ugly misshapen lump.

Reply to
George

"> Have you got an "accessory" you didn't know you had

is an air compressor an accessory? I find that indespensible, and a couple of air drills and a spray gun also, vacuum chuck in a range of sizes and one of those little 200,000 rpm drills, and a foredom drill with carving attachment

but the spiral turning attachment that is a fluted wheel on a stick (robert sorby, I think) sits unused

Reply to
William Noble

Key word - bowl. And I'm betting you're doing long sweeping cuts for long radius curves. But when doing small radius beads separated by what look like thin washers like the ASCII drawn example below it's nice to use a lower speed when cleaning out the bottom of the narrow almost vertical side of the "V" cut. Having the foot switch also lets you place the cutting edge exactly where you want it, with a tiny bit of the bevel touching the vertical side and THEN get the piece turning for the clean up cut. =||( )||( )||=

Again, you're thinking in terms of bowl cuts, inside or out. Think spindle type stuff, especially small, very delicate, fine details stuff. In some of that type of turning, if you tilt or rotate the tool even a little when backing out you can take out a detail you careful made in a flash.

And sometimes you need the tool rest back a bit to allow space for maneuvering the tool - like when using a skew and turning details on a finial. There it may require room to roll the bead or cut a cove.

Think small - real small - 1/8th inch diameter tenon maybe 3/16ths long. Too small and narrow for an open end wrench. Too small to use glue and some sawdust to make a larger diameter if you turn it too small.

Definitely. Hard to make a nice smooth continuous finishing cut when you have to stop and move the rest -or worse yet - have the tool hanging out beyond the rest more than is prudent.

On my list. Simple, requires only drilling a hole in the piece - and works really well.

charlie b

Reply to
charlieb

If it's the one with what looks like a gear wheel, try it angled on a tapered finial and run it up and down the finial. You can cut what looks like a cork screw with it - after some practice of course.

charlie b

Reply to
charlieb

My ceiling is low over the lathe, so I use a ceiling mounted outdoor spotlight fixture with a high intensity spot bulb mounted over my tailstock end. With a wall switch mounted beside it.

Watch that chuck taper when you back out. My chuck pulled off it's taper once while backing out. It was attached to a spade bit and imagine that chuck whirling around slamming the ways every rotation. And the switch was on the other side of the throw line. I just ran and threw the breaker. That is a poor man's stress test.

check. But mine isn't digital.

I just had three more tool rests made by a local guy. A 6 inch long L shaped skinny one for working inside deep small bowls. A 6 inch one mounted on the front of the post with a curve on the end for similar use. A 2 1/2 inch high one for use with my router to round really irregular chunks. The chunk is hand turned while the router hangs over the rest with a home-made brass baseplate that has a piece that clips over the tool rest. He charged me $10 for all three! I paid him $25 plus a small bowl I made using the tool rests.

Before anyone says it, I already had a flat scraper rest for deep boxes and bowls, but I really don't use a scraper unless I have to.

Reply to
Gerald Ross

My Jet mini is not vs, but my Jet 1442 is... being lazy, I don't use the mini much.. lol My next lathe, hopefully in my life time, will be digital speed and reversing...

I like remote switches... I use plastic outlet boxes on my lathes with a "push to stop" button... I epoxy a good size rare earth magnet and large washer to the bottom of the box, so I can stick it on the lathe near my elbow, knee, hip, whatever... very handy and saves wear and tear on the tools own switch..

I'll turn under artificial light, but try only to finish turn and sand under natural light... When I turn at night, I use a 500 watt work light, reflecting off the ceiling... just seems to give me the most comfortable amount of light without a lot of glare.. It helps to have 10' ceilings painted white for good reflection..

Yep... inexpensive item that pays for itself in a hurry.... If I need a really accurate hole in a thin pen blank, I'll use the lathe to drill it.. Beware of the Morse taper working loose, though... pretty nasty when you're backing a 2" forstner bit out of the hole and the chuck decides to part company with the tail stock... DAMHIKT

I have one, but usually use a shop made diameter gauge... Mine's just a piece of

3/8" oak that I drilled several size holes in and then cut in half... No numbers to read, easy to use and if you're really careful, can be used with the lathe running.. (Don't try this at home, kids)

Yep.. My first Talon changed my turning... wish I'd bought one 10 or 12 years earlier! A few years ago, I used an extended visit from the kids as an excuse to buy another Talon.. It's really nice to have normal jaws on one and spigot jaws on the other and just pick up the one you need..

and used it? Why?

The vacuum chuck system that Bill Noble helped my set up...

I thought it would be nice to use for a bowl bottom once in a while, but constantly find more uses for it... I've been "re-turning" stuff that I thought was really well done a few years ago... I guess we've all been there, but usually there isn't a lot you can do but just not look at it..lol I've been taking thick walled, chunky stuff that my wife had stained and poly coated, (we thought it was really nice at the time), and turning them again, inside and out...

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Nope and nope. Spindles and ornaments too. 1/8 inch stuff.

And I'm betting you're doing long sweeping cuts for

Nope, you may assume, but I mean what I say. I'm a "feedback" turner, and work my bevels in two full and one partial dimension. Simple thing to do as I do if you plan ahead. But if you don't believe anything I've said, only what you think, no reason to think you'll believe it now. Turn a few more years and you'll probably get where you find yourself doing it too.

I guess you don't have a set of point wrenches. I find glue expands the grain pretty well, much less the dusty shims on any thickness, even veneer. Don't use a skew to cut beads, use a chisel. Why take chances?

Curved rest should be on your list. Not one of those round things, one with good control at close quarters like

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which allows you to snuggle up close to the swing point and still have clearance to cut below center. Not sure why anyone would want to use it outside, but they say it works that way too.

Reply to
George

Said as only George can say.

If everyone was all they think they are this would be such a wonderful world:)

Charlie, you just turning and trying. One of these days you just might reach those lofty heights. Meanwhile, keep communicating candidly with the rest of us as we journey along in our ignorance with you LOL & :-)

TomNie

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> which allows you to snuggle up close to the swing point and still have > clearance to cut below center. >

Reply to
Tom Nie

I don't know what Tom said, but I like the way he said it...

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

I think Tom values his opinions as anyone else does. I value mine as well. When I say that speed change doesn't matter to me except to slow for an out-of-balance piece, and that any tool can be stopped from cutting by not advancing and steadied while the lathe is turned off by letting the bevel ride on the piece and rest, I mean just that. Consider the classic reciprocating lathe where that was done alternately as the piece was rotated into and away from the edge. It's a simple concept. Now expand your mind a touch and consider that when you can't see it, you can still feel what's happening. Charlie's contention that some things need to be stopped to move the tool to a new cutting position doesn't make sense, because the tool must still be steadied until the rotation ceases. He's doing it, he just doesn't choose to acknowledge it. It's similar to people who say they must have infinitely variable speed, and then don't vary it as they're cutting. They still have one speed at a time!

Floor switches are a potential problem, both for their position beneath shavings generated, and the dampness of green wood shavings. If the switch place there is not just a break, but also a make, the chances of initiating rotation accidentally must also be considered. I prefer the method of mounting the switch above and behind the ways, out of the damp and the mess, and out of the throw zone for faceplate, though not just faceplate, mounting.

Doesn't matter what you're cutting, though for some reason Charlie decided it only counted in bowls of a certain type.

Reply to
George

Nope, you may assume, but I mean what I say. I'm a "feedback" turner, and work my bevels in two full and one partial dimension. Simple thing to do as I do if you plan ahead. But if you don't believe anything I've said, only what you think, no reason to think you'll believe it now. Turn a few more years and you'll probably get where you find yourself doing it too.

George,

My objection was simply your arrogance. The tone, not the content. Maybe, in fairness, I simply took it the wrong way.

TomNie

Reply to
Tom Nie

snip

Arch:

When there are good examples to follow, and this group has so many good examples, you certainly being one, it encourages topics of discussion and observations and experiences to share that go beyond What Tool, What Wood, What Shape, How Should I. There's an abundance of info on WHAT & HOW but very little about WHY.

If nothing else, my hope is that someone in the group will read or see something I've done and think "If even that quy can do it - well I sure as hell can!" - and try something they were interested in but thought was be too difficult. And by providing some about WHY, perhaps it'll get someone thinking about the way they approach their next project a little differently.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words - and encouragement. Much appreciated - especially coming from you sir.

charlie b

Reply to
charlieb

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