Forward / Reverse option? Why?

You would LOCK whatever you were using that was threaded onto the spindle with a secondary lock if you wanted to turn left-handed.

Some people think that sanding in reverse helps. No need when power sanding, only pushes down what was up and picks up what was down on a bowl. What people want, manufacturers provide, especially since its cheap and easy.

Sure would have been nice for them to include something on the other end to rotate by hand. Good for checking toolrest clearance and such.

I would have been *very* nice. But I guess I'll just have to deal! :) Thanks for the help!

The lathe is a "stepped pully design" (I'm sure there's a term for that) so, reverse isn't going to make mounting a chuck any easier! I'll try sanding in both directions, though. Thanks for the tip!

Hal

Hi Hal, After this thread, you're no longer a newbie, so jump in "early & often".

Is it possible that the flush outboard spindle has a short section of internal (female) threads? I once had a lathe that did. Guelph, IIRC? I turned a nice maple handwheel and bolted it to the spindle's "other end'. What lathe do you have?

Not clear why a stepped pulley drive won't work for you? Like Reed, I use reverse a lot to screw and unscrew accessories to/from the spindle. I stop before slamming them on tight or dropping them off the spindle. Sometimes I use reverse to back out a drill stuck in swarf and to help clean up a long ragged drilled hole. I make sure to hold onto the blank or the tailstock chuck.

Not knowing any better, I find that reverse sanding can be useful when sanding stringy wood or removing burnish marks. Some things 'seem' to work for me that science insists can't, so I just keep on 'doing it wrong' til science catches up. :) I bet I'm not the only woodturner who not knowing any better, does things that can't work. For some hollowing out work, I sometimes turn inboard in reverse, ie. across the lathe bed with the blank coming down to the tool on the other side like the old song "she's too fat for me". A bad description, but don't try it until the blank is secure from unwinding off the spindle and slamming up side your head. :) The woodturning slope is not only addicting, it's slippery. Maybe that's why it's so much fun.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Ah, the power of the placebo!

George rightly suggests the power of the placebo. I add: ...and the success of arguments that appeal to authority. :) Not many established beliefs last forever. Remember that starch and sugar pills were once thought to be inert controls.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

"George" wrote: Ah, the power of the placebo! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I asked my son's shop teacher about this, and he said, "Just reverse the sandpaper."

However, I think I can explain why reversing the rotation works: As sanding progresses in a singoe direction, short hairs of wood fibre are pressed down and not removed. When the rotation is reversed, these fibres meet the sandpaper head-on, and are at least partially removed.

What I find just as effective is to apply a little sanding sealer before the sanding is complete. This penetrates the wood, and holds the fibres from moving, so the sanding has a more solid surface to work into.

This could also be due to the placebo effect--I have never done control experiments, or heard of any.

Arch's point about reversing the rotation, and turning inside and backside should not be missed. You get better visibility, don't lean as much, keep the toolrest on the front of the lathe where there is more room, and keep your arms nearer the body for less fatigue and more control.

Don't know if it works better one way or another, but it is more comfortable to have the machine in reverse when sanding - the dust shoots away from you and gravity helps hold the hand in position. And I can see where I'm sanding better.

Not a necessity, but definitely handy...

...Kevin

On Jan 5, 9:57 am, snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Arch) wrote: > Not clear why a stepped pulley drive won't work for you?

Mostly because it seems like too much effort. By the time I make sure I'm on a slow speed (and/or set the speed) I could have threaded the faceplate on by hand. In other words, it *will* work...I just don't bother.

Hal

The Maple handwheel sounds awesome. My lathe is an old (OK...Very old!) Craftsman single tube. The headstock is bored all the way through (no internal threads) and the "business end" is No.1 MT, 3/4-16 external thread.

While a handwheel (Or the option to mount a sanding disc "outboard") would be nice, I've never had either. So I don't miss them, mostly.

Hal

Hi I've tried using the sander sealer to finish the sanding ( lathe has n reverse ) but all that seems to happen, is the wax in the sealer jus gums up the sand paper. What type/brand of sealer do you use, should let it dry or sand straight away etc. I have tried using a mixture of veg oil and minerial oil, which seem to work well. I have read this would be better with bee's wax added but again think this would just clog the sandpaper. Your thoughts and advice please Mar

Of course you are not dealing with flat stock where the grain climbs or dives pretty much on the whole board, but a bowl. Means there will be a pair of points while rotating in either direction where you pick up, pressing down at the opposite. Solution to one problem creates another. That you reverse and do more sanding may remove more wood, certainly makes you feel involved (placebo), and if power sanding results in a crossing pattern in reverse if you use the opposite clock position on the disk.

As to visibility, not sure. I can see the other side of the bowl better if my hand isn't in the way, especially given the hams I have at the end of my arms. Since things are rotating, I see everything I need to see, just a bit later. Would simplify dust pickup placement, but that which carried and ejected from the rim would be more likely to affect your nose, coming at you as it would be.

Your sanding sealer shouldn't have wax in it, rather a resin of some sort, a solvent, and perhaps stearates (soap). It's really, less the stearates, a thinned version of the lacquer or shellac you would use as a finish. Which is why they put stearates on the sandpaper itself for those who want to use a 1/2# cut of shellac for the purpose.

I say shellac, because alcohol gives a fuzz set better than lacquer thinner. As you sand, you heat the fiber and dehydrate it. When it gets some fresh water or other polar solvent it begins to bind to the cellulose and swells it up again. The resin acts as the mousse (viagra for the otherwise minded), holding the fibers up for the paper to cut.

Unfortunately, shellac melts at about 150 or so, which means it gums the paper. Use an open coat, preferably stearated paper for sanding after a sealer, and your broadest footprint on the powered sandpaper to reduce the load/unit of area and keep the heat down. Hand sanding, lathe off, along the grain is going to give you the optical best. Might want to check while you do that to see if you don't cut opposite after passing the very bottom!

What I do is power sand at 320, set with a wet rag, let dry and sand again at 320 or 400 with as little pressure as possible, usually along the grain. No sense pressing down what I just pushed up above the surface. Rather cut 'em off. If the bowl will be simply oiled for salad/popcorn use, I set at

220 and 320. Makes for less fuzz when wiped with vinegar.

Hi Hal

Hal there are a few good uses for reverse direction lathe uses, most common is the sanding in both directions, it gives a better result than sanding in only one direction, there's the oddball that thinks it makes no difference, however a sandpaper is a cutting tool, and if used properly it does cut the wood not merely lay the wood fibers down, like a wood plane will lift and grab the wood when going against the grain so will sharp sandpaper lift the wood fibers and then cut it off.

Hollowing on the back side is another use, I have used this when working over the ways, though I hollow turn almost exclusively outboard, but there are times I am not able to do this.

Another use is when thread tapping, after tapping into the work-piece one can reverse and take the tap back out, much faster than hand turning the tap back out.

As for the hand wheel, yes that is handy to have, like hand turn> Greetings!

Ahh yes, another reason in favor of slo-speed sanding...

Yeah, right. And which is slow? The sander or the sandee?

In my case, both are one and the same, and slow by all accounts.

150F is pretty hot to the touch - if during sanding I feel that kind of heat, I slow down the rpms. Lightening the touch isn't much of an option as I don't press much at all - just enough to keep the san'paper in contact and working.

Ok, Owen, I'm convinced. Now take your message to these folks.

Or any of the other makers of orbital, random orbital, or other sanders making 10-25 THOUSAND orbits per minute. Or you could try sanding with minimal pressure, then put the push in and burn the hooks off your velcro....