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Vacuum chucking on the Laguna 18/47 lathe

Joined
Jul 20, 2008
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I own a Laguna 18/47 and a Jet Mini. There are not a lot of the 18/47's out there.

I recently went on a quest to add vacuum chucking to the Laguna. I was very fortunate to learn of two gentlemen Steve Schlumpf and Tom Steyer.

Steve supplied me with his excellent vacuum chuck tutorial. I adapted it to allow it to run my Jet Mini as well. Steve I owe you. Steve used a rotary adapter from Tom Steyer in his system. I contacted Tom and after a couple of conversations and few pictures sent to him I was the proud owner of a high quality rotary adapter for a Laguna 18/47. I am running the Jet off a Holdfast rotary adapter. But I am going to have Tom build me one for that as well, I had purchased the Holdfast before I knew of Tom's. As with Steve I owe Tom he made this a simple task.

I have added four pictures of the system and the adapter
 

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Joined
Jun 27, 2005
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Location
CarmelHighlands, California
Looks very nice. I have the Oneway system and wonder if it or some of it couldn't be adapted to other lathes. Plainly the vacuum pump would need no adaptation but it seems to me that most or all of the system would work on other lathes.

I don't see discussion of it but a collection of round blocks I have ready to mount on faceplates are drilled through the center. A bit of turning makes a suitable surface to vacuum mount a bowl reversed to finish the base, one that doesn't mount well on the regular holders.

For anyone who hasn't gone to a vacuum system, it really opens a door on many things one can do.

Malcolm Smith.
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
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Malcolm, my chuck heads are simply a piece of wood rounded on the lathe with a hole bored on the lathe. Then a piece of PVC mounted (epoxy) in a groove cut while on the lathe. After the epoxy sets re-true the PVC and use a closed cell foam to make a sealing gasket on the PVC. I use self adhesive Foamies from the craft stores. I think a lot of people make their chuck heads this way. If I am making them for the Jet Mini I have a 1x8 Beal tap and use that avoiding the face plate. Some day I will get the 1 1/4 tap.

O yeah don't use Red Oak unless you seal the bore and the outside edge with a couple coats of Shellac or something similar, DAMHIKT.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Messages
173
Likes
0
Location
CarmelHighlands, California
Malcolm, my chuck heads are simply a piece of wood rounded on the lathe with a hole bored on the lathe. Then a piece of PVC mounted (epoxy) in a groove cut while on the lathe. After the epoxy sets re-true the PVC and use a closed cell foam to make a sealing gasket on the PVC. I use self adhesive Foamies from the craft stores. I think a lot of people make their chuck heads this way. If I am making them for the Jet Mini I have a 1x8 Beal tap and use that avoiding the face plate. Some day I will get the 1 1/4 tap.

O yeah don't use Red Oak unless you seal the bore and the outside edge with a couple coats of Shellac or something similar, DAMHIKT.

Sounds good. I have yet to try it but wonder if some rubber cement couldn't be painted on and then the bowl applied with some pressure from the tailstock while it dries. It would be easy to remove. Mostly I get a good seal but occasionally some sort of gasket or the above would help.

I haven't found the self adhesive foamy around here but will keep looking.

Have not turned red oak, A rarely turn anything other than dense tropical hardwoods which sand very smooth.

Thanks for the reply,

Malcolm Smith.
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
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Malcolm, you can buy the Foamies at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's crafts if you have one in the area. If not both stores sell the stuff online as well. I use white to avoid any marking on the bowl in the event of any slippage.

I used the red oak as the base for the PVC on one of my chuck heads. Dang red oak is like bundled straws, you can literally blow water through it end to end. Of course this means you can suck air through it as well. Took me ten minute to figure out why I could not pull more than 10 inches of vacuum :mad:. I had to seal the bore and the rim then everything was fine :eek:.

I know a lot of folks use MDF but I am concerned about how often the screw would strip.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
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Location
Daytona ,Florida
Vacuum chucks

I have an assortment of vacuum chucks I have made using any scrape of pine or oak or MDF. I make my own face plates by welding 1 1/4 " nuts to 3" washers with 4 holes drilled around the washer edges for the screw holes( I made 10 of them one day and still have extras) I attach the face plates to the single or multiple layers of wood or MDF glued toegether to the depth I want . I coat the bottom and outside of the entire wood chuck with any type of silicone caulking I have laying around. This turns even the most porous wood into an air tight structure. Make sure all the screws are also well coated with caulking. If there are any leaks you can cover the center hole with the chuck in place and hear the leak so then just recoat that area with more caulking. I tried the varnish and shellac route to seal the chucks but the thicker caulking works much better. and is cheaper. I then turn the chuck either with a male or female profile to fit the piece I am working on. If I use the PVC to create more depth for a deeper piece I am working, I will turn a wood ring to fit on the outer end of the PVC so there is more surface area for a better seal and it makes it more versatile for the next time I use it for a slightly different piece. I can also turn this ring so its edge is turned up or down slightly to accomodate the pieces better. I use tool box liner from Harbor Freight as its cheap and tough. I attach the liner with contact cement. I now have a collection to fit just about any piece.
These have made it so much simpler to finish pieces that I used to struggle with and has really saved me alot of time.
Frank
 
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