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Charlie Knighton

Charlie Knighton

Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
2,052
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Location
Martinsville, VA
I have several aluminum 3" faceplates, the screw holes are too small to use the craft supply screws with....would drilling the screws holes out slightly weaken the aluminum too much to be useable.....I am no metalworker
 
charlie knighton said:
I have several aluminum 3" faceplates, the screw holes are too small to use the craft supply screws with....would drilling the screws holes out slightly weaken the aluminum too much to be useable.....I am no metalworker
Click to expand...

Depends on what you means by slightly -- 0.001" and 0.250" could both be slight to different folks. If you don't run into an interference problem between the screw heads and faceplate body, a "slight" enlargement shouldn't be a problem, but it also depends on what are you attaching to the faceplate. If it is something that weighs 100 pounds then maybe you ought to think about a steel faceplate. If it is a bowl blank that weighs five pounds then no problem at all. Then there is the gray area in between.
 
the blanks I have been using are like 7 w times 7 h nad I rough them to like 6 or 5 w times 6 h.....I usually start out between centers and then use a chuck , I want to try using faceplates instead of chuck more, when doing that I would make them probably 2 inches longer with faceplate

i have 2 of the 6" steel faceplates that i could use the inner screw holes with no problem, just sort of hard working around them sometimes
 
charlie knighton said:
the blanks I have been using are like 7 w times 7 h nad I rough them to like 6 or 5 w times 6 h.....I usually start out between centers and then use a chuck , I want to try using faceplates instead of chuck more, when doing that I would make them probably 2 inches longer with faceplate

i have 2 of the 6" steel faceplates that i could use the inner screw holes with no problem, just sort of hard working around them sometimes
Click to expand...

If I read correctly, you want to mount a 9" long x 7" dia blank on a 3" dia faceplate. In my opinion, the 3" dia aluminum faceplate is too small for a blank that long. In my opinion, a 3.5" to 4" dia tenon would be a better mounting than the 3" dia faceplate. The diameter of the hole/screw circle on the 3" faceplate is quite small, and the needed extra length to accomodate the screws adds to the leverage to dismount that cutting will create. This is especially true for an endgrain blank. Using the 6" dia faceplate with the outer screws would be a better mounting, and depending on the eventual foot diameter, the screws might be able to be placed in the waste portion of the blank and the screw holes turned away when reversing to finish the foot keeping the length of the blank at a minimum.

I don't think there will be any any appreciable weakening of the face plate by drilling the holes another 1/64" or 1/32" larger.
 
Dale, you are probably right that the 3" faceplate is too small, when you actually write down what you will be doing, it does point to the weakness of what I was attempting. 6" faceplate would be better and adding an inch to 10" long blank would probably give me more room.

Dale and Bill, I probably will go ahead and drill out the screw holes on the aluminum 3" faceplate, I like the square hole screws and the ones I have are just a little too big to fit......do not use the faceplates because I do not like the hardware screws locally....guess I could order from mailorder, just hate to pay all that shipping for some screws
 
The Robertson (square drive) screws are good as long as they are not the brittle kind that will snap. Some of them are brittle. You can test them by driving some into dry white oak with a drill. You might also want to get a countersink bit so that the screw heads can will seat flush.
 
I have drilled larger holes in most of my faceplates and also extra hoes if they only have 4. Can't imagine it would weaken the faceplate any. I only have 3"
Faceplates and use a minimum of 6 screws and have been able to do anything I want so far. I haven do e anything really large on them however so can't comment on that
 
I've got a couple of 3" aluminum FPs but I only use them for jam chucks rather than real weight-bearing duties.

All my other FPs ( 4-6") are 1/2" steel, welded, drilled with champhers on each side, and then machined to run dead true.

I also bought a number of Bill Nobles' $5 welded nut/4"washer sets to make things like vacuum chucks.
 
I use 6" faceplates most of the time - on smaller pieces under 150-lbs a 4" is fine.
The critical issue with faceplates is the tenon surface - it needs to be dead-nuts flat or a teeny bit concave. I use #14 SS oval head sheet metal screws - 1.25" in the inside holes and 1" with the tips ground on the outside. Each hole is centered with a drill center and then drilled with a 11/64 with a drill stop - the holes for the outside screws are only about 3/8 deep and the inside are 5/8.
If you are doing larger pieces try a Oneway 6" faceplate and make your tenon at least 3/4". As the last step, you can remove the shorter outside screws and cut under the 6" faceplate to about 4" which is a nice base size for a large piece. The shallow outside holes are removed.
If you want specifics I'll be happy to provide.
But bottom line is that a 3" faceplate should easily hold up to 100-lbs if the tenon is well prep'd. If you're hollowing, it should be close to balanced when you get to that step. Otherwise you should be between centers for all outside work.
 
John Tisdale said:
I use 6" faceplates most of the time - on smaller pieces under 150-lbs a 4" is fine.
The critical issue with faceplates is the tenon surface - it needs to be dead-nuts flat or a teeny bit concave. I use #14 SS oval head sheet metal screws - 1.25" in the inside holes and 1" with the tips ground on the outside. Each hole is centered with a drill center and then drilled with a 11/64 with a drill stop - the holes for the outside screws are only about 3/8 deep and the inside are 5/8.
If you are doing larger pieces try a Oneway 6" faceplate and make your tenon at least 3/4". As the last step, you can remove the shorter outside screws and cut under the 6" faceplate to about 4" which is a nice base size for a large piece. The shallow outside holes are removed.
If you want specifics I'll be happy to provide.
But bottom line is that a 3" faceplate should easily hold up to 100-lbs if the tenon is well prep'd. If you're hollowing, it should be close to balanced when you get to that step. Otherwise you should be between centers for all outside work.
Click to expand...

you mention using a 3/4 tenon. Are you saying that you put a tenon inside the center area of the face plate?
 
I'm not sure exactly how to answer so here goes from step one:
- I mount a chain-sawed log between centers - 1.5" jumbo four-prong and the Oneway live center
- I turn the outside profile of the piece
- At the live center end, I turn a tenon the same diameter as the faceplate - 6" on large, 4" on smaller (under 150-lbs)
- The tenon will typically be 3/4" proud of the ultimate profile of the bottom
- As per the above post, the machining of the surface must be flat or slightly concave
- holes are drilled and the faceplate attached as per post above
- It is critical to drill absolutely no further than the screw requires. A 1" #14 SS oval-head with clipped point will penetrate about 3/8" - this allows you to cut under the faceplate and achieve a 4" base after the piece is hollowed, dried for maybe 8-months, re-turned / re-hollowed, and sanded ready for finishing. Those short screws and shallow holes allow you to cut under and avoid unsightly mounting holes.
- After I cut under, the piece is removed from the now 4" tenon never to be mounted again.
 
John Tisdale said:
I'm not sure exactly how to answer so here goes from step one:
- I mount a chain-sawed log between centers - 1.5" jumbo four-prong and the Oneway live center
- I turn the outside profile of the piece
- At the live center end, I turn a tenon the same diameter as the faceplate - 6" on large, 4" on smaller (under 150-lbs)
- The tenon will typically be 3/4" proud of the ultimate profile of the bottom
- As per the above post, the machining of the surface must be flat or slightly concave
- holes are drilled and the faceplate attached as per post above
- It is critical to drill absolutely no further than the screw requires. A 1" #14 SS oval-head with clipped point will penetrate about 3/8" - this allows you to cut under the faceplate and achieve a 4" base after the piece is hollowed, dried for maybe 8-months, re-turned / re-hollowed, and sanded ready for finishing. Those short screws and shallow holes allow you to cut under and avoid unsightly mounting holes.
- After I cut under, the piece is removed from the now 4" tenon never to be mounted again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. Some very good ideas for future use.
 
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