I know this sounds a little odd, but I move a lot (active duty Navy) so I have a Jet Midi to do my turning on since I don't always have room for a bigger lathe. However, I would like to do some natural edge bowls and a vacuum rig would help a immensely. Does anyone make one or does someone have plans for such an item or am I just crazy? I have a Fein Turbo II shop-vac that I would like to use for the vacuum source, but I would be willing to spring for a vacuum pump if needed. Thanks in advance for the help.
I have a Delta Midi (Jet Mini clone) and have rigged up a simple vacuum setup with a vac pump.
The pump came from Burden Surplus in Nebraska ($90 > $115 w/shipping - it's a heavy sonovagun.) I bought 10 feet of air hose from the local Ace Hardware, an air filter, a T fitting, a bleed valve (I'm using a
1/4-turn air or gas stopcock) to adjust the level of vacuum and a package of screw hose clamps. I then picked up a sealed ball bearing with an inner bore that was a tight push fit for the air hose to go into. That's about it for hardware to get the vac to the spindle threads
- all told about $25 to Ace.
The layout of the parts is: pump; hose; filter; hose; T-fitting; hose to bleed valve; hose to lathe.
On my lathe I turned a disk that was a persuasion-fit into the recess in the handwheel. But before persuading it, I turned a recess in the backside (the side facing the headstock) that matched the outside diameter of the bearing so that it was a press fit. Then opened a center thru-hole that was slightly larger than the outside diameter of the hose so that after the bearing was pressed in, the inside race would spin freely when the hose was pressed into it.
I epoxied the bearing into the wood disk, being careful to not slop the epoxy onto the moving part of the bearing. Then I persuaded the disk into the handwheel and ran a bead of either latex or silicone caulk at the joint of the wood and handwheel. VIOLA!
Whenever I desire vacuum, I plug the air hose coming from the T into the bearing in the handwheel, flip the pump on and I get vacuum through the spindle to the nose. When I don't need it I unplug the hose and tuck it down near the valve and filter. Vacuum is about 26" at the spindle and someday I may put in a check valve, so that, should I ever lose power while turning I ought to be able to maintain enough vacuum to take hold of the piece before any leaks release it.
For chucks, I've made about 3 using face plates and 1/2" thick scrap acrylic and polycarbonate. Screw the scrap to the face plate (I use Don Pencil face plates), glue on extra pieces of plastic if necessary and turn the outside to round. Turn or drill a center hole and then round over the end if you're going for a cup-type vac chuck. Glue on a piece of rubber or leather. VIOLA!
If you wish I can try to snap a few pictures in the coming days to better illustrate my setup - just let me know.
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