Vibration Dampener

attach a piece of threaded rod to a very stiff (say 3/8 inch thick) steel plate and bolt the plate to the headstock - threaded rod sticks straight up,

You probably saw the article I wrote of the vibration damper Jerry Glaser made up for himself and later passed on to me. There may be a draft version here in the archives, and the full article with photos was printed in More Woodturning and should be available as a back issue or on CD from Fred Holder.

I'd advise against using all thread rod as Jerry was quite adamant that the threading serves as stress risers and will make such such a rod prone to fail from the vibration. I give the specific information in the article for what Jerry used.

The damper works very well and IMO is well worth making. It is always left mounted to my lathe.

Lyn

Suds wrote:

At some point in the past, I _was_ the vibration dampener for my friend and turning mentor Phil. Before he bought his Woodfast with the variable speed motor, he turned on an old Delta 12x36 machine with three speeds he got from a school auction. Even at low speeds, and with a lot of Sackcrete under the bed for weight, it would bounce when he roughed out big bowl blanks. My job was to sit on the end of the bed and keep the whole thing from dancing out the door until he got it roughed down to a more balanced shape.

I think the ideas offered sound more elegant, and they don't demand a beer after a particularly rough session.

Happy turning!