More Spoon Bit Questions

[d6monk]

I have been using the spoon bit I made a while ago and have a question about its use I was hoping some of you may be able to answer.

First, I have gotten the best results from just pushing the stummel against the spinning bit by hand and not using the tailstock, but I was wondering how hard it should should normally be to push the stummel against the spinning bit. I really have to muscle it on there to get it to cut--I mean all of my body weight, pushing with my legs, the thing is squeaking like hell, etc. Sometimes it may even start to burn the tobacco chamber a little (around the area where the spoon bit is curved to transition into the flat section) if I am not careful. I am running the lathe at around 550RPM and using a 5/16" pilot hole, spoon bit is 3/4".

Looking at my spoon bit I can't see that there are any obvious problems: It is between 51-52% width and it is flat and sharpened to 600grit.

Is this normal for a spoon bit? Should I be doing something different?

Thanks, any help would be appreciated!

[d6monk]

Well, after playing around some more I've gotten slightly better results using a larger pilot hole, but it's still not going very well...any tips?

[Nick]

Sorry. I really don't have any tips. Make sure the bits are sharp, is all I can think of.

[geigerpipes]

After drilling a pilot with a twist bit you can enlarge the hole with a "rotating file" something like this find a profile that sutes you so that you only need to remove a few mm with the spoon bit also having different sizes of spoon bits helps start with the smallest and go larger.

Also something that helps me, if your lathe allows you to do so is to stand behind the the 3 jaw and pull the pipe towards you for better force like this

[T3pipes]

I can see me bleeding to death as the chuck rips my wrists apart. I've already lost most of 2 finger nails from the disk sander.

[caskwith]

I can see me bleeding to death as the chuck rips my wrists apart. I've already lost most of 2 finger nails from the disk sander.

Try wrapping electrical or masking tape around the fingers that seem to get hit most. I did this at first to save my nails. 40grit discs take bit bites lol. Now however i have got more used to the sander so its not such a problem, still always have little bits missing tho lol.

[Ryan]

I will drill my bowl with a 5/16 pilot then drill with a 9/16 spoon bit then my final drill 3/4. For me drilling from a pilot to a final diameter is a pain in the ass.

[d6monk]

Thanks a lot guys, I will definitely try out all of your suggestions. Practice practice practice I guess!