Vacuum set up

Thanks for posting them Dick. Dumb newbe quetion, what do you use a vacume system for??

Lee

Lee... They'll be tons of answers to this one, but the basic use is to reverse a bowl and trim/finish the bottom.. I've tried jam chucks, jumbo jaws, etc. and nothing really worked for me until I built the vac system.. (with parts and a lot of help from Bill Noble)

I also use it to put things back on the lathe that I thought were done until I looked at them a few years later... *g* You can put a bowl on, thin and sand, reverse it and make it "new"... great for the clunky, poorly finished stuff that I thought was so cool a few years ago..

mac

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A good question Lee, and Mac gave a really good answer.

Being married to a "downeaster" scot for over 40 years does intersting things to a fellow. I knew I needed a vacuum chuck, but "oh the cost." The solution was simple and the parts few. Take a face plate (Reed made a nice system that used face plates that screwed onto an adapter with 1" x

8tpi threads and I had an extra) bandsaw a circle as large as your lathe can handle from GOOD 3/4 plywood (my first was from MDF and wiped out my dustcollection system when it came apart) center the face plate and true up on your lathe - making sure to flatten the face of the plywood, otherwise you will have a chuck with a wobble.

Next drill a half inch by 1/8"+ in the dead center of the face, on the side opposite the face plate. The drill 3/8" hole all the way through the plywood, centered on the 1/2" hole. The cover the face with some

5/32"cork, applied with contact cement. After the cork is set, clean out to the half inch hole.

Get a 30" piece of 3/8" metal brake line from your local auto store and cut one flange off and remove both flange nuts. Slide the brake line through the front of the faceplate and glue in place with some hot glue (the recess allows the flange on the brake line to be below the level of the cork).

Now, find a SEALED bearing with a 3/8" center, turn a small piece large enough to hold the bearing in a recess on one side and drill a 3/8" hole all the way through the turned piece.. Hot glue a short piece of that metal brake line to the center of the bearing, the outside race of the bearing to the recess and another short piece to the opposite side of the turned piece. A couple of pieces of 3/8" rubber braided brake hose and you are in business (a short on for the coupling between the pipe that goes through the headstock and a longer piece to connect to your vacuum pump).

Now for the vacuum pump - you can pay about $325.00 for a Gast pump (and that is what you want) or you can go to

and get one for a LOT less. Mine runs off 220v. If that is a problem for you, buy it anyway and get a 2-1 stepdown transformer. The two together would cost a lot less than the vacuum pump elsewhere. Bye the way, the sucker (in more ways that one :-) ) is noisy but works like a champ.

For what it is worth.

Lee.. Bill's being humble, as usual, so I'll do an ad for him....*g*

I priced vacuum chuck systems and decided that it would be great IF I had an extra $400 or so... Bill sold me a nice pump, gauge, water/dust filter, etc. for less that $200, including shipping.. THEN, he exchanged several emails from me and answered all my questions and made some great suggestions.. He the MAN..

mac

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