Working with a faceplate has its advantages but also some dissadvantages. This may be overcome by making wooden ones. Bear with me and tell me if youve tried this. Simply buy a tap according to your lathe's threading and create a thick faceplate from any moderately tough wood (maple, beech, etc). Do make a marking with a red felt tip to indicate were the thread ends. You now dont have to be afraid when parting the final piece and can have as many faceplates as you wish for a 15 usd tap (enco or such). Would that be a left handed tap? how does this sound?
"Max63" wrote: (clip) Would that be a left handed tap?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It sounds like what has been done many times before, so, Yes, perfectly do-able. But the left hand part is probably wrong, unless you are making faceplates for the outboard end of your spindle. You can think of these scrapwood mounts not only as faceplates, but also as jam chucks and vacuum chucks. After repeated use has taken away much of the wood, just glue on another chuck, and continue to use it.
I do have a question or two about attaching the bowl blank to the wooden faceplate. I have read in this newsgroup that folks use several methods - glue between the faceplate and the blank, the same procedure with kraft paper between the faceplate and the blank, and finally using double sided tape. I went out and purchased a glue gun from Menards(?). Nothing fancy and it had several glue sticks. It's usually used for making passive sanders. Now would I be correct in assuming that a lighter touch is needed when using the above procedure (as well as using double backed tape)? For some reason using glue alone unnerves me a bit.
Hello, Kevin. Nothing at all wrong with a real healthy respect for your working procedures. If you stay that way, you will probably keep all your toes, your eyes, etc.
The kraft paper glue process was tried and true for years and has a great track record. At one time chucks were almost unaffordable (I paid the same thing for my Vicmarc in '97 that I paid in 2005 for my last Vic) and all kinds of other methods had been developed over the last 40-50 years to hold pieces. I don't know how long the kraft paper trick has been around, but certainly as long as I can remember.
A few tips:
- Don't glue an unbalanced piece onto your wood chuck and think you will do some massive roughing out. Rough out the piece first, and do all operations you can do until you need to get at the piece while it is held (rather than suspended between the centers)
- Use good paper, clean, NO wrinkles
- Use good glue, not Dollar Store white. Allow your glue to dry overnight
- Make sure your mating surfaces are dry, clean and smooth. If the wood is really green, it is NOT a good candidate for this method
- Apply glue to each wood surface, then to the paper as well, then clamp tightly
- Do not use this method to turn deep bowls, deep vases, hollow turn tall forms, etc. It is great for shallow bowls (think cereal bowls and maybe a little deeper), and just about any kind of plate, platter, dish, etc.
A good rule of thumb (your mileage may vary, your experience may differ, your wood may make this formula incorrect, etc.) for dry wood is to make the glued surface about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total diameter of the piece you are turning.
For example, if you are turning a 12" plate, make the foot 3" - 4". That will provide a lot of holding power The more balanced and stable your piece is, the smaller the glued foot can be.
To remove the glued faceplate from the object d' art, some take the whole shooting match off the lathe and part it with a chisel carefully aligned along the glue joint. I never did that as I thought it easier to part off on the lathe. That way I could dress the wood plate while on the lathe and it would be ready again.
Can't speak to the carpet tape. I bought some and never used it.
And of course, since I got my scroll chucks, I haven't used the kraft/ glue/wood faceplate in years. But it works! It is easier than it sounds. And is isn't nearly as time consuming as typing this out!
. This may be overcome by >making wooden ones. Bear with
athe's threading and create a thick >faceplate from any moderately
SNIP
Max - if I were looking at that as an option to build my vacuum system, I could see buying the tap. If I wanted to faceplate turn (which you see some of the "pro" turners going back to so they can get
110% alignment when returning to a piece) I would get in touch with Bill Noble (he is in and out here) and check out some of his faceplate offerings. I haven't seen his product, but his prices seem fair enough.
The are affordable, and apparently pretty good as I haven't heard of a failure or a problem with them. You didn't say what size lathe you had, but if you are looking at using wood faceplates on a lathe with a relatively fine spindle thread, you may not like them. Once again, I would get an affordable faceplate and simply screw a piece of wood onto it and replace as needed.
Hi Max, Some of us here like to argue about every suggestion or opinion posted, but enough about me. :)
Obviously tapping threads to make wooden faceplates does work, too many good turners use them, but....
I wonder if for a turning shop, a hefty pin chuck, pin jaws or even a quality screw chuck might be a better overall investment than a large often non-standard tap plus an expensive bit for drilling the right root diameter, if that's important. There must be a reason that taps and dies made for threading wood cut large threads. but then I remember threads for box lids aren't so big.
I suspect that most threads made with a machinist's tap into all but the hardest (and most expensive) timbers are more crushed than cut. If so I'd think they would break easily allowing the blank to slip. The lathe spindle itself or a bolt with filed flutes with sharp edges might serve just as well as a machinist's tap in wood.
I heard that tapped threads in wood can be hardened with ca glue. I also heard that scroll chucks and faceplates are a better way to go, but I agree with Mac. You can buy a lot of 1X8 nuts for the price of a big tap & bit, not so many 1 1/4 X 8s.
YMMV about these unimportant comments, but as with the ole one liner about Cleopatra, "I'm not prone to argue". :)
Arch and others, I use wood faceplates a lot. I cut them from 3/4' baltic birch ply scraps and use 2 layers at the tapped hole. New 1"x8 Tap from local flea $5 and I already owned a 7/8" bit. Tapping wood is fine and yes the tap does cut. If you want to be really cautious then treat the threads with CA and then run the tap through again when glue is dry. Pro is you can attach any shaped piece in any position with a variety of fastening devices from wood screws to glue or glue and paper, rubber bands, duct tape, etc. All of which are cheap and available. When you are done you can clean off any glue etc very easily and if you start to thin down the faceplate you can just glue on another layer of ply and away you go again. I make plates from 3"-8" in diameter. Rub some beeswax on the spindle thread and you will have no problems with the plate sticking. You can also attach support strips and blocks and wedges very easily for those artsy eccentric thingies you always wanted to try. Cons? None I can think of. Just another old fart who does things a bit different. PS there is a thread on this subject over on WC and I posted pics over there
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