Face plates or face plates rings?

Peter, I have used faceplate rings for the past 7 years on my Selbix chuck. In that time I too have screwed them to very uneven and grossly out of balance pieces. If there is a problem with them it is only that they tend to slip round under heavy cutting but it is nothing of any real concern.

A very good plus side is that I can mount them on several pieces at the same time which saves time in production situations.

Regards, Peter Charles Fagg Freshwater, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom.

Each can do but little! But if each DID that little, ALL would be done!

Faceplate rings for initial roughing? Ever considered pin chucks or a set of pin jaws for the Super?

Or, a guy who takes a bit from both camps. Neat thing about the pin chuck is that, like the rings, the hole stays in place as the piece dries, offering a great place to begin again.

I've been looking at trying 'em for some time myself and decided to take one for a test drive. I borrowed a 75mm Nova ring from a mate and tested it out on my Supernova2 chuck. (I hope he's not reading this...) Being chicken, I started relatively small; a 7" length of roughly 8" dia air-dried redgum. Unbalanced enough to give me problems with a walking lathe when started at the lowest speed.

After quickly knocking it down a notch or two and roughing it down to safer proportions I thought I'd try a jam test. I have a sharpened 3/4" rod I use as a "roughing" scraper, which I'd rather sacrifice than a good HSS tool so I cowered behind the headstock, brought it up to about 1200 RPM and literally harpooned the beast. (PS: Don't try this at home, kids!)

To my surprise (and waste of adrenaline) the faceplate stayed secured, the chuck simply stopped dead. On restarting, the wood was still as centred as I'd roughed it. The faceplate ring had certainly passed the worse I'll ever dare to throw at it! I'm impressed! I already have a couple of faceplates, so have no immediate need, but 'tis definitely on my wish-list.

One downside: I wasn't accurate when harpooning (it's not a skill normally associated with turning) and it jammed on the very end of my 10" tool-rest, bending the bugger down some 1/4". Methinks I'll think thrice before trying that test again, if ever...

- Andy

My thanks to Peter, George and Andy the spear chucker. It looks as if the balance of opinion is in favour of the rings so I will give them a go. BTW Andy. Before your next excursion on the lathe you may pick up some useful hints by reading Moby Dick first. Peter

I don't think I'll be trying that particular test again in a hurry. Even though I'd planned for the worst and taken precautions, methinks I was lucky this time.

- Andy

Ed Moulthrop, deceased, used to use a tool he called a "lance" to do most of his monster works. A giant Oland tool in form. So perhaps your reading for future attempts would be better spent on Le Morte d'Arthur over the saga of the Pequod....

Sometimes I think M.de Sade would be more appropriate.

- Andy

"Tony the Turner" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.diybanter.com...

Saves even more if you have two chucks - gloat,gloat.

Hi Peter, Rings are less expensive than commercial faceplates, but consider making or having made several bespoke multiscrewchucks, aka faceplates :). They don't need a scroll chuck and IMO hold better and are stronger than rings fixed in chuck jaws.

Nuts and the steel plates welded to them are relatively cheap and readily available. Also junkyard flanged couplings etc. can be drilled and tapped to fit your lathe.

Trueing the blank or an interposed sacrificial block makes a perfect faceplate unnecessary, but make sure it registers firmly on the spindle hub or bearing cage. Just one of many ways to hold a blank.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Saves even more if you have two chucks - gloat,gloat.

I have two but doing it my way, you can keep the second chuck for th Cole jaws

One advantage of the faceplate ring over pin jaws is that you wil not need to swap jaws after roughing, assuming that your faceplate ring fits the jaws you use for the spigot/recess. This is the way I work and it does save time.-

[/color] Saves even more if you have two chucks - gloat,gloat.

I have two chucks but prefer to keep the second one for the Cole jaws an save even more time

"Tony the Turner" wrote in message >

Then consider a recess for a reverse hold, finishing before reversing, and get those Cole jaws back on the pegboard to gather dust as they're supposed to do. At 8" or under I tend to stick with the 25mm pin jaws for the reverse.

I think my Cole jaws get about as much use time as the 45mm serrated long grabbers do. Not my thing....

As they say, size matters. Most of my bowls/platters are well in exces

of 8

Pounding the pulpit in news:42bbdc9b$1 snipped-for-privacy@newspeer2.tds.net, George did expound thusly:

I often turn bowls with a smooth or pointed bottom, designed to sit in a seperate stand. I dislike Cole jaws but ya gotta do what ya gotta do...

I've done a few like that. Thought a lot of them, but SWMBO and SWMBette panned them. Since the feminine gender is the normal purchaser, I just keep them on a shelf downstairs.

Pounding the pulpit in news:42bc06af$1 snipped-for-privacy@newspeer2.tds.net, George did expound thusly:

The cook doesn't normally get much say, as pens are my big mover. To balance it up, and for similar reasons as yours, she usually does have the final word in anything household related. Bowls, vases, salt-mills, etc.

Still, if a particularly interesting bit of grain or figuring is obscured by the foot in what was supposed to a "kitchen bowl" who am I to argue with the wood gods? They obviously want it to be seen... and I don't particularly wish to incur their wrath. ;]