A recent project required a number of small spindles to be turned on my Jet mini using 3/4" square stock. I made a mini-chuck to grip the blanks. It is similar to a 4 jaw independent chuck and it screws onto my headstock spindle. A short #2MT center is used in conjunction with the tailstock live center to position the stock.
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ken looks nice, any reason not to use a3/8 or 1/2 drive center! tb
Nice to do things for yourself, isn't it?
I just use the pin jaws for that purpose as well.
No, they would probably work very well, but I don't have one. I have split small stock with my standard spur center (which doesn't work well on small turnings) and thought this approach might prevent that problem. I like the convenience of not having to prepare the stock, other than a very small hole to accept the point of the center.
Ken
I haven't bought a scrolling chuck for the Jet mini yet. It's not really the money, but I really enjoy making jigs and fixtures from scratch. Hey, I'm retired and time isn't an issue!
But, while we are discussing scrolling chucks -- is there an acceptable sized scrolling chuck which would fit both my Jet mini lathe (1" x 8tpi) and also have an insert for my metal lathe (1.5" x 8tpi) ? I know the Oneway Stronghold will allow this, but that would be a lot of weight for the small Jet to handle.
Faceplates and accessories made for the PM90 and Conway lathes fit my metal lathe spindle perfectly, so it is a common 1.5" x 8tpi size.
Ken
I'm using standard Nova chucks, but I fear that 1.5 x8 inserts are out of limits. You might have to adapt the 1.5 x8 spindle to 1 x 8 and use the 1 x 8 in the chuck.
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