there's a whole lot of shaking going on...

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:51 pm

on my workbench now that I've bolted down my lathe! What's up!?

My bench is sort of high, probably about 4 ft. to the surface. The bench is NOT bolted to the wall yet, does it need to be? It only shakes that bad when I put a block of wood in the lathe... when I run it with something that is about even in proportion it's fine. When I put some briar in it in a typical drilling position, it goes nuts.

What am I doing wrong?

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:24 pm

I have left my lathe "free-floating" forever. I figure, if it's vibrating bad enough that I can't use it, I need to slow the RPMs down. For drilling, I run it at 500 RPM. For turning shanks or the tops of bowls, I run it at either 1200 or 1800.

Is it possible that your workbench is simply too light to dampen the vibration? Or perhaps it's hitting a harmonic? Maybe you need to add a couple bags of concrete to the workbench to weigh it down?

flix · Post by **flix** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:55 am

I don't have a lathe, and yet I still have both my benches bolted to the wall. It seems preferable to me to keep the vibrations down. Also, bolting it to the wall will change the natural "resonance" of the whole shebang, including the other tools attached to the work surface. just my $.02

ckr · Post by **ckr** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:37 am

Ben

Size of block also effects how much shakin' is going on. For example, if drilling the tobacco chamber for a long stem Canadian, it will shake all over the place unless all the excess block has been cut off with a band saw thereby reducing the weight of the off center load and as has been said *go slow*.

I have never gotten around to bolting mine down.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:21 am

Very good point. Shave all the excess weight off the block before turning it around to bore the tobacco chamber. If you turn the shank of straight pipes before turning it 90 degrees, you'll cut *way* down on vibration.

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:05 pm

This makes me think of another question...

I need a chisel set for my new wood lathe. What's a recommended middle ground between cheap and good?

ckr · Post by **ckr** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:21 pm

bscofield wrote:This makes me think of another question...

I need a chisel set for my new wood lathe. What's a recommended middle ground between cheap and good?

IMHO, this is not an area to scrimp - I want edges that will hold and not have to constantly sharpen the chisels. Also do not buy a set, get the best (you can comfortably afford) of what you will actually use.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:29 am

I am in total agreement. I made the mistake of buying a set geared towards pen makers for $40.

Then I spent serious money anyhow getting better tools. The roughing gouge alone cost me more than $40.

Post by **Tyler** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:05 am

FWIW, I basically only use two chisels:

3/8" spindle gouge
1/16" parting tool

As has been mentioned, don't scrimp, especially on the spindle gouge as it will be used the most. I think I spent $35-ish on mine, and that is probably on the low end. (Mine is a Robert Sorby HSS, nothing fancy.)

Tyler

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:37 am

On pipes, I tend to use a 1/2" bowl gouge the most, followed by a 3/4" skew and a 1/8" parting tool. Mine are a mix of Sorby and Crown, mostly. I actually have a quite a few that I use for other projects, but I only use a handful for pipe turning.

ToddJohnson · Post by **ToddJohnson** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:51 am

Re: the original question of vibration, you can also counterbalance the weight of the stummel if you're using a four-jaw chuck. Use the elongated slot opposite the block "hangover" to bolt down anything from washers to flat pieces of plate steel. If you have a metal lathe, you likely got a lot of excess crap with it you'll never use. Somewhere in there is something about half the weight of an average block of briar that's flat and will bolt to your 2-jaw chuck. This keeps the centrifugal force from building up momentum that throws your lathe all over the place. In addition, I would bolt it to the floor (if possible) and screw it to the wall. Some bags of sand or cement will also serve you well. For instant concrete blocks, take bags of quickcrete and soak them with a hose. The bag, which for some stupid reason is water permeable, will act as a shell, and in 30 mins you've got 60lb. concrete blocks.

Good luck,

Todd

flix · Post by **flix** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:49 am

Is Woodcraft a good source for high quality wood chisels?

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:57 am

Ayup. It's where I've bought all mine.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:47 am

After seeing my lather hope around like all get out, I bolted the thing to the wall. haven't had a problem since.

Post by **Tyler** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:51 am

Kurt,

I'm surprised by your choice of chisels. Do you use the skew chisel laid flat on the rest like a scraper, or do you use it on edge as the wood turners do? (If you do the latter, my hat is off to you. I have tried to master that tool turning non-pipe projects, and it is tough! I'd be nervous using it on briar.)

I have all the chisels you listed as your choices, but I find them all to big to get into the tight spaces. I'd sure love to see how you use them.

Tyler

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:22 pm

I think the skew, albeit 1/2 inch, is my favored tool. I find it very versitile. I can't imagine it would work well as a scraper though.

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:02 pm

This is really wrong I imagine but I use a skew chisle on its side for everything from roughing out to smoothing the surface while turning. I bet a real wood turner would slap me for that

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:57 pm

Tyler wrote:Kurt,

I'm surprised by your choice of chisels. Do you use the skew chisel laid flat on the rest like a scraper, or do you use it on edge as the wood turners do? (If you do the latter, my hat is off to you. I have tried to master that tool turning non-pipe projects, and it is tough! I'd be nervous using it on briar.)

I have all the chisels you listed as your choices, but I find them all to big to get into the tight spaces. I'd sure love to see how you use them.

For the longest time I was using it like scraper, then I saw a turning on a show in the D.I.Y. network using it on edge. I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a shot. Word of warning, briar is really difficult to learn that on. After getting a number of dig-ins, I grabbed a piece of maple dowl and started playing with a planing cut. For pipes, I would say I almost never use it on edge - though I have started turning shanks on straight pipes so I use it like that when I do. But on the bowl itself, I use it like a scraper. The angled edge helps me get into tight spaces, and it's more comfortable and allows me to "roll" the edge along the bowl - absolutely necessary for billiard-ish shapes.

ckr · Post by **ckr** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:18 pm

Nick wrote:After seeing my lather hope around like all get out, I bolted the thing to the wall. haven't had a problem since.

Nick,
*to the WALL* ?? Like in the leg thingys bolted in the wall and you are running the lathe sideways?

ToddJohnson · Post by **ToddJohnson** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:28 pm

ckr wrote:
Nick wrote:After seeing my lather hope around like all get out, I bolted the thing to the wall. haven't had a problem since.

Nick,
*to the WALL* ?? Like in the leg thingys bolted in the wall and you are running the lathe sideways?

I forgot to mention that mine's actually bolted to the ceiling. It was tough getting it up there, but now I love it. Occasionally I'll get a little light-headed being upside down, but I've only actually passed out four times.

Todd