A safe method for attaching a piece of hard maple.

I have turned a few bowls since getting my lathe (Jet 1236) back in August and for the most part have been mildly satisfied. Seeing all the wonderful turnings on many websites I find on this group provides me with both ideas and a level of expertise to shoot for.

Last night I used a faceplate for the first time. I had a piece of hard maple and attached it to the faceplate (the 6" faceplate that came with the Jet) with a piece of 1/4" plywood between the maple and the faceplate using 4 #10 1.25 sheet metal screws. I've cleaned up one face to a slightly concave surface and the dimensions of the piece are 1.5" X 6.25".

Now I would like to turn this into a nice bowl but am somewhat concerned about the best way given my equipment as to attaching it, err, turning it around and hollowing it. I have a a large set of the Nova jaws that will contract on a

3" minimum diameter if I wish to go with a tennon/foot. Or I suppose I could go with a dovetail recess. This would be a mimimum diameter of about 3.75" for the cut. If I choose to go with the dovetail (and I have no dovetail scraper), would a skew do a good job? I am a bit reluctant to go with the expansion method as I really don't want to screw this piece up. I already have enough failures.

I also have a hot glue gun but have never used it on the lathe. Are they really as good as some would say?

Thanks for all the help.

Reply to
Kevin
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Kevin, I would recommend -not- using the plywood, since it's layers of wood glued together. I'd rather have a solid piece of of some medium to hard wood for a glue block. If you want to use hot glue, you need to have to use the high temp stuff and heat it in a pan so that you can get the glue evenly distributed with a good solid seal. The glue guns allow the first part of the application to begin to cool before you finish the application.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

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Reply to
Ken Moon

I have used both the tennon and dovetail method using a chuck as you described. I have had much better luck using the tennon and compressing the jaws over it. This is much stronger and more stable. When using the opposite, expanding the chuck in a recess, I have had bowls explode when I get a catch or if a hidden crack is revealed as you hollow the bowl. Now that I have learned my lesson, I only use the chuck in the compression mode whenever possible.

Leslie

Reply to
Leslie Gossett

Hello Ken, The plywood I am using is not for a glue block but used as a spacer between the faceplate and the block of maple. I wanted to be able to form as much of the exterior of the bowl as possible and reduce the chances of running my gouge or scraper into the faceplate. I am kinda thinking that a good thickness of plywood could work for remounting the bowl after hollowing and cleaning up the base/foot. Is this acceptable? Hows about MDF? Failing the first two, I could likely scrape up a chunk of hardwood for the finishing. And on the hot glue, is there a FAQ/info somewhere on the differences between the types of hot glue and how I can tell the difference? I just picked the thing up at Menards and used it forprojects not related to turning.

Thanks for the input

-Kevin

my own stuff >snipped<

Reply to
Kevin

Don't give up, just change your style a bit. The recess is a great option for items which might be too shallow for a big tenon.

Reply to
George

Yea, I know. I do use the recess option on shallow stock. In fact, when I first got my chuck I prefered the recess. But after a few recent disasters... Well, we all hate to see a nearly finished bowl fly apart. It kinda makes you sick. When you look at the disaster and it seems like if you were using a tenon it might have held together. Probably not, but you look at all the mistakes you made, like using a gouge too close to the edge...oops, I hate it when I do that!

Leslie

Reply to
Leslie Gossett

That's called a sacrificial or glue block.

Use solid wood. Make your block out of 2X6 and you'll have plently of thickness and plenty of width.

Many packages say High temp on them. Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
dave

Here's a demonstrated method that seems to work really well:

  1. Put the bowl blank between centers (yes, centers) on the lathe, with the foot towards the tailstock.

  1. Turn the outside of the bowl and sand, and turn a foot (tenon).

  2. Remove bowl blank, install chuck, put tenon in chuck, turn inside of bowl, sand and finish.

  1. Remove bowl, install jam chuck, install bowl on jam chuck, trun tenon off, finish bottom.

There are a couple more steps involved if turning a bowl from green wood, but the concept is the same. I have found that you do not need a faceplate at all, and unless you're turning a 20" or larger diameter bowl, you definitely do not need a 6" faceplate.

There's another method I'd try with dry wood - in the side of the blank that will become the inside of the bowl, drill a recess with a forstner bit and put it on the chuck. Bring the tailstock up to the blank and turn the outside. Then reverse the process as in steps 3 and 4 above.

I used to turn bowls years ago in highschool by mounting the blanks directly to a 3" faceplate. While the results weren't pretty, the outside alwyas got turned first.

Jon E

Reply to
Jon Endres, PE

Kevin,

With a small 6" diameter blank, you can just about take your pick of mounting options. The dovetail recess/expansion chuck method is what I would use. Your skew will cut a quite acceptable dovetail recess. Just try to match the taper of the jaws you are using. Yes, the tenon/compression jaws might hold better, but for a 6" blank, either method is quite acceptable. I would skip the hot glue method altogether.

Barry

Reply to
Barry N. Turner

I agree with that, had two nice chunks of yew do that yesterday, on a cheap expanding only chuck, which tightens with the lathe's rotation. in article JxAPb.17980$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net, Leslie Gossett at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 1/21/04 11:37 AM:

Reply to
Reyd Dorakeen

in the school shop most people start with the plywood, and glue it bowls/layer of glue/piece of normal paper (not paper towels)/layer of glue/plywood, and then screws into the plywood, most people make 4-5 inch dimater bowls, and out of the hundreds that have done it, nobody was hurt(at least the teacher said nobody's been hurt and he's been there for 32 years) in article bummd8$7v3$ snipped-for-privacy@hood.uits.indiana.edu, Kevin at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 1/21/04 12:10 PM:

Reply to
Reyd Dorakeen

May I suggest a look on my web site under roughing a bowl? I turn a bowl without a chuck but with a hot glue block. No problem with a gun for bowls up to 18".

Reply to
Darrell Feltmate

Wow Darrell great site with lots of info ! Thank you. Puff

Reply to
Puff Griffis

The two things which will do the most are:

  1. Work between centers until the last moment. That means things are at their lightest and most balanced when loaded against the dovetail alone.

  1. Help your wet dovetails, especially sap/spalted wood, or your 1/8 deep "artistic" ones with a bit of water-thin CA to provide a firm footing.

Peek at

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I turned some hearts for Valentine's Day yesterday out of end trim flat stock. Bored a 1" hole 3/16 deep for the pin jaws to start the back, used about the same or less depth to hold while hollowing the front. After I had them sitting on top of the tablesaw I realized that They were so light and so narrow based for their size that a bon-bon more than two inches off center would tip them, so I had to go back and quick turn some "feet" to glue on for a wider stance and some weight. Sometimes I get too cute for my own good!

Oh yes, with a recess, as long as you sanded or decorated it before reversing to grip it, you don't have to clean up the bottom.

Reply to
George

George,

One thing of note that I saw on your page, among many useful suggestions, was to place a bit of water-thin CA in the recess of a dovetail to protect against splitting out. This I will certainly give a try.

Reply to
Kevin

Careful with stuff like red oak, as CA will come flying when you restart. Acid retards the cure, and the porous nature of the wood itself allows pretty rapid running. Plenty of time, and/or some accelerant!

Reply to
George

Hum...that is more "plate" than "bowl" thickness, but can work ok. It sounds, though, as if the screws penetrated into the maple about 3/4" (guessing from the thickness of MY 6" faceplate). Hope that is the part that is going to be the INSIDE.

I would not recommend this path, simply because the piece is PRETTY thin and either a tenon or dovetail recess will suck away enough thickness to hurt the depth of the bowl.

Well, it varies. I have used hot glue, with good results. However, it has to be REALLY hot, or the glue will not stick well. I would have a couple of suggestions. I would second the suggestion elsewhere to glue on a "foot" of wood to act as a holding device. I would recommend poplar or Maple, though, as Pine is a bit squishy for my tastes. The good news is that the foot can be used a couple of times, if parted off carefully. Alternatively, one thing I do that works REALLY well is to turn a flat surface on the bottom of the piece, then, attach it to the faceplate using the thin, foam, double-sided mounting tape available in framing and craft stores (as well as other places I believe). It is fairly thin...1/8" or less, and will REALLY hold well, especially if the faceplate is warmed slightly. There are some "gotchas" though. One has to have a very clean faceplate. The base of the piece has to be clean and FLAT, although the thickness of the tape helps deal with some variations. The tape is not infinitely strong, so, one must be sure to take light cuts on the work. Probably the simplist way to do this is by gluing on a nice,thick disk of wood to act as a foot and attachement point. This way, one can attack both sides of the work, and there are fewer issues with keeping the inside and outside concentric Regards Dave Mundt

Reply to
Dave Mundt

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