• Congratulations to Alex Bradley winner of the December 2024 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Gabriel Hoff for "Spalted Beech Round Bottom Box" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 6, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

It's Finally Here!!!

Dudley

Dudley

Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
96
Likes
0
Location
SW Pennsylvania
I picked up my lathe on Sat. The snow melted enough for John and I to get his trailer out for loading. I'm glad we did. This thing's heavy! I ran a seperate circut to the leathe and grinder on Friday and made my first attempt to turn Sat. afternoon. What great fun! I used a ripped piece of 2x12 (made it square) and turned to to a VERY rough cylinder. I'm pretty sure the tools I got from John need sharpened, but I want to wait for my Wolverine to arrive so I can be sure to get the correct edges.

So far I have only attempted to turn once. Did it on a dead center in the tail stock. It started out ok, but the it started to squeel, just got home from Woodcraft (bought an inexpensive live center!).

I'll post pictures this weekend. My sister-in-law has our digital camera, but we'll be getting it back later this week.

And to all those who mentioned a face shield, I have a one and USED it in conjuction witht the safety shield on the lathe. I think I'm going to get addicted to this hobby. Mabe my wife will stop calling me a Hobby Hopper!!!!!
 
He Dudley.

Welcome to the vortex.

Ya gotta, gotta, gotta track down your nearest AAW chapter and give them a call (just call the president or VP). It's pretty likely you'll find a mentor fairly close to you who will walk you through alot of the basics and get you well started.

Enjoy,
Dietrich
 
Dudley said:
I think I'm going to get addicted to this hobby. Mabe my wife will stop calling me a Hobby Hopper!!!!!
Click to expand...

That's hilarious! I can certainly relate to that. My brother in-law says that even my interests have interests...

Congratulations on the new lathe, and be safe, and have fun!
 
Ditto times two to Al's comment, Dudley. You will reap far more benefit from some lessons at the get-go than later when you've started to self-teach yourself into bad habits that get hard to undo. You'll get terrific information from this forum and others, as well as from dvd's available, but there's simply nothing better that a day or so spent with a good turning teacher.

Mark
 
Last edited:
I'm hoping to attend the Turners Ann. meeting in Jauary. They're about an hour away... that's the closest. The Quad State group is about an hour and forty-five min. away. I talked to the guy at Woodcraft about their Turning 101 class... looks good, but it's $115. Think I'll try the local club first!

My wife and I took a little trip the past few days and we stopped at the Cabela's in WV. They were selling kiln dried fire wood for 99 cents! I bought six bags of it hopint to get a few pieces to practice on and the rest for the fire place. Hope to work on my truing up a piece before the meeting!

BTW, I bought a live center on our trip. It's one of the Woodcraft models for $14.99, but it'll get me started. I started a jug for spare change for a chuck. Hopefully it'll have enough money in it when I'm ready for one!
 
Last edited:
Dudley,

If you can sell a couple of pieces then you might get the "change" for the chuck in short order. The trick is to pick up a simple job (like a batch of handles) that you quickly can turn between centers.

I'd have a little more money in my "change" jar, since I've made eight more handles, but the guy hasn't picked up the balance of the handles yet.

So... I need to sell some stuff... letter openers anyone? 🙄
 
Dudley,

Give a call to the president of the nearest AAW club. Ask about folks who live close to you. Chances are there will be several and most will be happy to have you drop by and turn/learn.

good luck,
dietrich
 
I sent the President an email. I'll give him a call after the New Year. I really appriciate all of the advice I've been getting here! Thanks so much.

My Wolverine came today, I'm going to mount it this evening and maybe cut up some of the tree that fell across the street.

I'll have pictures later!
 
Pictures

Here's the pictures of my lathe and the tools that came with it. I got both the tools and the machine for $500. I think it was a GREAT DEAL!

Please Note the face shield. So far I've never turned the machine on without it!
 

Attachments

  • Lathe 1.jpg
    Lathe 1.jpg
    44 KB · Views: 92
  • Outboard.jpg
    Outboard.jpg
    40.5 KB · Views: 86
  • Lathe 2.jpg
    Lathe 2.jpg
    40.1 KB · Views: 91
  • Tools1.jpg
    Tools1.jpg
    36.2 KB · Views: 91
Ok...

I feel better already. You've taken a picture of the lathe with sawdust on it...

No glam shots for you! You can be my friend... :cool2:

I'm never gonna be brave enough to take a picture of my shop til I get it cleaned up!

That's nice lookin lathe you got there. Hope you enjoy it. And I re-iterate that exhortation to join a club. Sorry the local one is an hour away...

We started one right here in town last year, and I love it. I've learned so much....
 
Get a couple of real wrenches right away. One for the outboard, and one to fit the chuck you'll be buying. I use a couple of adjustables, because they were cheaper than good single wrenches.

DON'T use the index pin to hold the spindle for you, it's just a pin through a piece of sheet, peened to hold. Always use counter - turning wrenches. Might even want to turn the index pin so that it is outside the index plate, because you can bump the knob and develop some nasty-sounding grinding noises if you don't.

Looks to be in too fine shape to have been a school machine. Either that or you're good and rapid at restoration. Might as well take the static-making shaving grabbing sawdust attracting plastic shield off right now. Truthfully, take the whole arm and apparatus off. It assumes you're dumb, and are standing in the line of fire rather than facing into the turning. Stored mine for fifteen years before pitching it. Was on the lathe for perhaps a month.
 
Last edited:
MichaelMouse,
You're right, it wasn't a school machine. I bought it off of a friend of mine who used it three times when he bought i and stored it ever since. The paint at the bottom of the motor cabinet is flaking off. I'm waiting for it to warm up before I give it a shot of Rustoleum.

So that pin is as useless as it looks? I have a lot of adjustable wrenches... when I get to using a face plate or chuck, I'll be sure to use them!
 
Georgetroy,
Thanks for the advice on the hand wheel. I have been thinking about how I can make one, you just saved me a lot of aggrivation.

What's wrong with Delta's outboard? I'm glad you said something before I tried it!
 
Listing the web site for the Delta Faceplates
http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=139&p=1184

I had a lathe just like yours for years. I also had an outboard stand for same. The free standing outboard stand is dangerous. A small catch is dangerous and a large one will break a tool rest, I know. If you want outboard go with the Vicmarc and bolt to your lathe. That is what I use now for my Vicmarc. The Delta lathe was sold 5 years ago. I wanted to upgrade to computer control speed ranges. GT
 
You think it was a great deal??? That was a fantastic deal!!! Looks like a nice lathe with some good tools to get started with.

At least you can still see the lathe. Just wait until you really get into it and you have a 3 foot pile of shavings with a path thru the shavings leading to the lathe. :cool2:
 
Cutting with a toolrest not referenced to the tool is a risky business. As mine was the 4-speed variety, it was no problem to extend the table the lathe was mounted on, and make a couple mounting holes for the banjo. You either have to elevate the banjo ways as I did, limiting the depth of the turning, or get longer posts on the toolrests. Other manufacturers bolt their rests to the cabinet.

I'd use what you have, as is. Your final products will only be about 11 1/2 if you turn green, but there's a lot of salad in a bowl that size. I have the 3000 now, and the first large turnings make me wonder what people will do with them. Big enough to serve as thunder mugs.

The gap bed will pretty much force you into the method I still use for bowls, where the outside is turned, including a hold to reverse and turn the inside, then re-mounted. If you get a pin chuck - http://www.bestwoodtools.com/ and ask for it - you can do this easily. Moreover, you can leave a pillar in the work to get a nearly perfect center after the piece dries, assuring you of the largest possible diameter from a given blank.

Oh yes, even though I now have an outboard handwheel, I don't use it. The L/R threaded faceplate will serve if you feel it necessary. I never did, preferring the more positive approach of loosening against wrenches. I think outboard handwheels are for lathes with no nut to grip on the outboard side.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top