pipemakersforum.com

One question: The tail stock has a hand wheel on the back. I thought that turning it was supposed to advance the spindle forward but it does not. Is that a special type of tail stock that does that? That should definitely advance the spindle. That happened to me on my Jet lathe once when I took it ...

Yeah, the minis seem to have a steeper learning curve. They're usually fine, but bigger, longer tools are more stable - at least in my experience. I tend to use a mix of them, with no particular reason or rational.

Here is another question. I use a forstner bit in a drill press to face the shank and stem. Still not happy with the results but it might be due to my vice/alignment in the press. I am aware that I can use the same process with the lathe but is there a better way....with a wood lathe...to do this? ...

I have a Oneway chuck that bought almost 20 years ago, and love it: https://oneway.ca/products-category/chucks/Oneway-Chucks-Category/Oneway-Chuck-(Complete) I have a whole collection of jaws for it, including the #2 Tower jaws, which are great for holding briar blocks (only use 2 jaws, not the full...

So now I have a question... How does one drill out something like this and plug it? are we just drilling it as deep as needed and using a plug cutter of appropriate size on some scrap briar? I have no experience with plug cutters, but that's certainly one way to do it. Personally I would use one of...

Just googled the Eskimo shape. Am I to understand its just a shank that tapers in width while being the same thickness relatively top to bottom. Not necessarily. The pipe does taper top to bottom in the shank, and has a large, oblate bowl, the top of which resembles a squat bulldog. The shank and s...

Direct drive and variable speed are fine - a lot of lathes, even if they're not direct drive, are essentially so because the pulleys for motor and spindle are the same size. It's not 100% ideal, but it's perfectly fine. 2MT for the head and tail stock would seem to indicate 1"-8tpi threads - bo...

I also like the Buckskin from Feibings, as well as Light Brown. All the colors can be diluted to give different results if needed. Somewhere I have a dye concentrate from TransTint that bills itself as "Honey Amber", but I was never really satisfied with it. It just never seemed to give th...

On a related note - look at the grain size in that cast iron! No wonder it failed! It might as well have been made of compressed sand.

They're all made in the same factories, to the same rough design. The difference tends to be the spec to which they're built - some manufacturers spec better parts, or demand tighter tolerances. The nice thing about that, is that better parts are available when the cheap ones break.

I used to like bent pipes, but now I smoke almost nothing but straight pipes in all shapes, but light and thin-shanked. Not sure why - it might be the situations in which I smoke them, which tends to be in the shop while working.

I've been using a Beall collet chuck for years now, and have recommended them to folks asking how to best hold rod stock in their lathe. Thing with collet chucks is that there is practically zero runout, and the hold is ridiculously secure - I greatly prefer them to 3 or 4 jaw chucks because of the ...

I'm in.

Coating the bowl is the last thing done before photography for me. I don't get a lot of overage, but what does happen cleans up with a tissue.

Tough to tell from just the one pic. It could be a variant of either.

For compressors, the single most important part of the compressor is its SCFM (sustained cubic feet per minute) rating. Some smaller compressors might look like they will be sufficient, but they post the SCFM at around 40PSI - you will be running at about 90-120 PSI for this application. 15 SCFM at ...

That's a good idea - then you won't have to worry about cleaning it out, swapping media, contamination, etc. Benchtop blasting cabinets can be transported in the trunk of your average sedan (does anyone besides me buy sedans anymore?).

Centering everything can be pretty finicky. Use the shortest drill bit you can, and be sure not to use too much pressure - drill bits can flex and wander when driven hard. Also, make sure your drill bit is sharp - dull bits wander. I tend to start the airway with a bit that's only about 2" long...

The residue from pipe blasting might not harm the tractor parts - assuming they'll be blown off and washed afterward. The blasting media will do more damage if not removed than the wood dust ever will. As for cleaning the cabinet before blasting, I think a good wipe down with Simple Green might cove...