I was at a craft fair last weekend with my wife and and her two sisters when they were oogling over some small wooden ear rings. These were undoubtedly mass produced machine turned by someone in a foreign country but without thinking I said I could make those better and cheaper to the women and now I am stuck with that very task. On the plus size I told my wife I would need to buy some new tools for the task and she agreed. My problem now is figuring out the best way to hold onto a 1/2 to 3/4 inch piece of stock that is not very long. i tried my drill chuck but it was hard to get it to tighten on small pieces without crushing the wood and throwing it off center. I thought about the beall collete chuck but it really isn't in my budget at the moment as the car transmission went out the day I bought my other tools. I could wait and buy some 1" jaws for my chuck and just use biger stock but that seems wasteful of fine wood. I though about mortising a square hole in a piece of wood that I could mount to the face plate and slip tight fitting pieces of square stock into it. Anyone have other thoughts that I can make myself without spending more than $20.00?
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miniture turnings
- Thread starter woodboy
- Start date
Can you say Mortise and Tenon?
Back when I use to do small work, I would begin by turning a tenon on the blank to be shaped. I then turned a tight fitting tenon onto a larger block held in a chuck or screwed to a faceplate and super-glued the tenon into the block - instant chuck. The side grain in the tenon should get the glue.
Have fun.
-nick
Back when I use to do small work, I would begin by turning a tenon on the blank to be shaped. I then turned a tight fitting tenon onto a larger block held in a chuck or screwed to a faceplate and super-glued the tenon into the block - instant chuck. The side grain in the tenon should get the glue.
Have fun.
-nick
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2004
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- Location
- Southwest Missouri
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- www.hiltonhandcraft.com
Woodboy,
I have been known to do some small'ish things. I use a variety of holding methods for mine beyond what you've already mentioned. Here are a few...
- "I though about mortising a square hole in a piece of wood that I could mount to the face plate and slip tight fitting pieces of square stock into it." This is a pretty good method. Might try some glue in there to get a better fit and tighter grip. Unfortunately, it's really really tough to get a mortise precisely centered on that block. It doesn't take too many insertions and retractions to widen that square hole to where it's unusable either.
- An alternative to the above is a metal "chuck" that I think is called a Lace Bobbin Chuck. It's basically just what you describe above but in a much smaller form and it's metal that either screws onto your spindle or goes into the Morse Taper. Doesn't have the problems of doing the mortise in wood and having that large piece of wood on there.
- Yet another alternative to the above is to make one yourself out of an appropriately sized socket ('ala socket wrench) and either welding it onto a Taper for your spindle Morse Taper or drilling a waste block of wood so that the socket will fit into that hole.
- If the blank you're working with isn't too long, you can simply glue your blank to the face of a waste block. It's quick and easy but can get expensive with the cost of glue. You'll not waste expensive wood though because almost all of the wood is accessible.
- I use the Internal Step Jaws for my Oneway Talon chuck. They're serrated and not smooth. You get a lot of gripping surface area and they go down to grip around 1/4" diameter blanks. I don't like the spigot jaws (serrated or smooth either one) for various reasons but you might so that's another option.
- Simply form a taper on the end of your blank that will fit into your spindles' Morse Taper. It doesn't take much length for the taper on the wood especially for smaller length blanks. I like this best for making my trembleurs (up to 3' long and down to 1/32" diameter stems). No chuck or other blocks flying around where I'm working that way.
"Tease a carver .... make something out of their shavings"
I have been known to do some small'ish things. I use a variety of holding methods for mine beyond what you've already mentioned. Here are a few...
- "I though about mortising a square hole in a piece of wood that I could mount to the face plate and slip tight fitting pieces of square stock into it." This is a pretty good method. Might try some glue in there to get a better fit and tighter grip. Unfortunately, it's really really tough to get a mortise precisely centered on that block. It doesn't take too many insertions and retractions to widen that square hole to where it's unusable either.
- An alternative to the above is a metal "chuck" that I think is called a Lace Bobbin Chuck. It's basically just what you describe above but in a much smaller form and it's metal that either screws onto your spindle or goes into the Morse Taper. Doesn't have the problems of doing the mortise in wood and having that large piece of wood on there.
- Yet another alternative to the above is to make one yourself out of an appropriately sized socket ('ala socket wrench) and either welding it onto a Taper for your spindle Morse Taper or drilling a waste block of wood so that the socket will fit into that hole.
- If the blank you're working with isn't too long, you can simply glue your blank to the face of a waste block. It's quick and easy but can get expensive with the cost of glue. You'll not waste expensive wood though because almost all of the wood is accessible.
- I use the Internal Step Jaws for my Oneway Talon chuck. They're serrated and not smooth. You get a lot of gripping surface area and they go down to grip around 1/4" diameter blanks. I don't like the spigot jaws (serrated or smooth either one) for various reasons but you might so that's another option.
- Simply form a taper on the end of your blank that will fit into your spindles' Morse Taper. It doesn't take much length for the taper on the wood especially for smaller length blanks. I like this best for making my trembleurs (up to 3' long and down to 1/32" diameter stems). No chuck or other blocks flying around where I'm working that way.
"Tease a carver .... make something out of their shavings"