Faceplate Screws - What Size?

Take your faceplate with you into a hardware store. I use 2 different lengths of self tapping metal screws . Avoid drywall screws as they tend to be a bit on the brittle side.

-Kevin

Avoid using the traditional wood screws, the tapered type. They don't give you enough pull-out strength. There are several designs of screws that have a uniform diameter over their entire length (think sheet metal screws), giving more resistance to pulling out. Some have extra deep threads that give maximum strength. They are your best choice. Many of the woodworking catalogs have descriptions of the different choices.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

As a manufacture of faceplates and long-time user I go with drywall scerws on everything up to about 10" in diameter. After that I go to steel. Never had a failure with the drywall. 50-70 students per semester are using them in the Cerritos Community College turning program and no problems there. If you would like to dicuss it further, e-mail me your telephone number and I will call you on my nickle.

Don Pencil Wood Products From Don Pencil

Don --

That's interesting. I avoid using drywall screws for anything but drywall, as I've had a number of them shear off (either during tightening, or suring use of e.g. a jig). They're hardened to the point of being quite brittle.

-- Andy Barss

Don Pencil wrote: : As a manufacture of faceplates and long-time user I go with drywall scerws : on everything up to about 10" in diameter. After that I go to steel. Never : had a failure with the drywall. 50-70 students per semester are using them : in the Cerritos Community College turning program and no problems there. : If you would like to dicuss it further, e-mail me your telephone number and : I will call you on my nickle.

: Don Pencil : Wood Products From Don Pencil :

:> Can't find the info anywhere. :>

:> Also, the same question, if I order additional generic faceplates from :> a place online, how can I tell what size screws it will take? :>

:> Thanks, :>

:> James :>

:>

:>

Thanks for the replies.

James

My favorites are sheet metal screws from the local hardware store. They have a straight shank and deep sharp threads. But most important, you can drive them with a hex bit in the drill without stripping any slots. I can reuse them pretty much forever.

- Bruce

You are very strong. I must eat more of my spinach. :)

After having had a blank come bouncing off the faceplate following a catch, I now use 1" (25mm) by 1/4" (7mm) lag screws with a pre-drilled pilot hole.

Two days ago I got another (increasingly rare ... thank goodness!) catch in a maple bowl while truing the outside. It broke my 1/2" gouge and pulled the tool out of my hands ... just snapped about 2" off the end. But the blank stayed on the faceplate.

After finding the center of the blank, it takes me about 2 minutes to fasten the blank to the faceplate using only a hand ratchet wrench and an electric hand drill. IMHO, it's time well spent.

Bill

aaah, if you got a catch that broke 2 inches off the end of your tool, you probably had the tool rest pretty far from the work - that's not good practice, particularly when you are beginning.

snip]

IF someone is breaking 2" off a bowl gouge....??? 2 suggestions:

1. Get some PERSONAL instruction immediately!
2. Failing that (No. 1 ) ....take up basket weaving..........You'll live longer.....

Maybe but not necessarily. I had a couple of inches break off the end of a 3/8 bowl gouge once. Had a metallurgist that I knew take a look at it and he felt that there was a flaw in the manufacture and that I could grind it back to shape and use safely. He's been right for a couple of years anyway

Kip Powers Rogers, AR

Thank you, Kip. The tool rest was within 1/2" of the work. I was still turning the bowl blank down to round or it probably wouldn't have been that far away. The break was actually IN my left hand ... and pretty far into it, too. It drew blood from my little finger at the point where it snapped and -all- of my fingers are -always- behind the tool rest when I am cutting stock. Moreover, I didn't say that it was a bowl gouge. It wasn't. It was a spindle gouge being applied to the outside diameter. (It has since been reshaped into a bowl gouge.)

I spent the better part of ten years of my life working as a prototype machinist and then as a diemaker. I know better than to leave excessive tool hanging out ... and I DO better.

Kip, I'm using this posting to reply to you (directly) and the fellow you were responding to (indirectly).

Well you have certainly convinced me that you don't need any instruction........Sorry I offered you some sound advice...........Uhhhh Good luck???

Or, at the least he doesn't need to be reminded of the obvious. Delicate business, constructing some replies. You hate to give the dumbguy treatment even if you have a suspicion that it may be appropriate. On the other hand, if you go with the odds - REALLY tough to snap a tool using it properly - you still might be wrong. .

I think he felt the basketweaving suggestion was a bit overboard. You can get hurt quickly there, too, if you make your own splint! DAMHIKT

Hello Anonymous

I thought something like that also, You don't just break a piece off a HSS turning tool, (was it HSS ?) you are definitely doing something really wrong and dangerous, unless there was a flaw in the steel, does not happen often I think, or people would bring this up in the posts.

I didn't say that it was a bowl gouge. It wasn't. It was a

Bowl gouges are for bowls, spindle gouges are for spindles

being applied to the outside diameter. (It has since been

mind telling us how you change a spindle gouge into a bowl gouge, now I assume it was maybe a homemade tool?.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

And the difference between a big spindle and the outside of a bowl is ?

Not another test???.....Let me guess.......USUALLY (but not always for those that want to start an argument) one is side grain and the other is USUALLY (same disclaimer) end grain???? Am I close? So much to learn ....so little time.......

I agree wholeheartedly George. When we see or read of someone doing something stupid or dangerous we should all look the other way just in case we hurt someone's feelings. I will do so in the future................Now back to my basket weaving course................chuckle..............