Carving stands aren't in ever workshop, but they are somewhat popular, so I thought I would share this idea. I recently bought a Woodcut Pro-Mount carving stand, which I am pleased with. But like most of the other varieties of carving stand out there it suffers one flaw if you use it at the lathe. By the time you add the chuck and mount the stand in the typical banjo the workpiece can be pretty high off the ground, particularly if it is a piece of any size. I was trying to use my Pro-Mount while standing on my biggest turning block. Then I had an idea. The "smoke stack" design of my banjo (and many others) was contributing a great deal to the work elevation. What I needed was an upside down banjo. Hence this idea was born.
A large dowel, bored out to accommodate the carving stand's tool post, is glued to a piece of plywood. The plywood is fixed to the ways by means of pressure plate and screw.
It brings the piece down about 3 1/4 inches, which is a big improvement. I made the two U pins to snap on to the tool post in the event I wanted a little more height, but I doubt I am going to be using them. Overall this seems to work well. It has a good deal of adjustability. I made this one to fit my lathe, but feel free to copy any or all of the idea that might be useful to you.
A large dowel, bored out to accommodate the carving stand's tool post, is glued to a piece of plywood. The plywood is fixed to the ways by means of pressure plate and screw.
It brings the piece down about 3 1/4 inches, which is a big improvement. I made the two U pins to snap on to the tool post in the event I wanted a little more height, but I doubt I am going to be using them. Overall this seems to work well. It has a good deal of adjustability. I made this one to fit my lathe, but feel free to copy any or all of the idea that might be useful to you.
