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New Turner

K

ken konwinski

Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
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Location
Detroit, MI
Hello all I am a new turner. I apologize if this post is inthe wrong area. I have a few questions. Can anybody pass on some info on the proper way to mount a blank, or possibly a link to that info? Also my lathe tail stock has only a point that goes into the wood. Is that ok or should I look to replace that with something that turns with the peice. I am not sure what is normal. I recently was playing around and noticed that the point on the tailstock was getting very hot. Friction I think. And my last question. When i was turning that last thing i mentioned about half way through I started getting a loud very high pitched squeal from the lathe. Not the motor, but the tail. Again I think it is a friction thing, what am I doing wrong?


Thank you in advance for the help.
Ken Konwinski
 
In my opinion, the first and very most important thing to do is look up your nearest local AAW turning club. http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp Find out who is near you and ask for help. Go to thier next meeting and start asking questions. This is what helps more new turners than anything else. I would not reccomend just relying on answers to questions on forums although forums can be a great source. Having someone actually show you hands on is the best way to start. It's a lot easier and less frustrating to learn the correct methods from the start than learning to undo bad habits learned because you were afraid to ask someone for hands on help. Woodturners are a great group of people always willing to help out the newcommer.
 
Ken You have what it known as a dead center in the tailstock. I live center is preferable. You can get a good one from Woodcraft pretty reasonably.
There are several ways to mount a blank on the lathe. If you are doing spindles simply mount them between centers. Hopefully you got a 4 prong drive center with the lathe.
If you want to turn bowls and hollow vessels you should have a faceplate that screws onto the headstock. If you have enough wood to spare simply screw the faceplate onto the wood. Use machine screws not drywall screws.
If your bowl blank is too thin screw a wasteblock of wood to the faceplate and then glue the blow blank to this.
There are many ways to mount wood to the lathe depending on what you want to do.
Richard Raffen's books are good for general turning information. If you thin you want to turn bowls Get Bill Grumbine's DVD on bowl turning. It's excellent.
As always we suggest finding a club or another turner near you. You can get more information from them and speed up the learning curve a lot.
Click on the circle at the upper left of this site to get to the AAW website. Then go to Community and look up a club.
 
All lathes have limits

Ken,
When I first started toying with the idea of turning in the 1980s, a friend sold me an old lathe with a washing machine style motor. I did not figured out how to put it together at the time, life happened and I still planned to figure it out. 15 years later I took a pen turning class at a Woodcraft store and decided I wanted to turn. Afterward I went home, looked at the old lathe and realized it did NOT have morse tapers at the headstock end nor the tail stock end so I would not be able to easily change out the drive center nor the dead center. (I have since found pictures of it on the web and it is a 1930s Sears Dunlop (the inexpensive choice at the time).)

So the answer to your question is you probably have a dead center in the tail stock. You may not be able to replace it with a live center if it does not use morse tapers. (read or view some of suggested info to find out what these things are.)

At that time I bought a Jet mini to do my pens and other things. But I eventually fixed the old Dunlop to do tool handles (It does simple things up to 3 feet long.). To deal with the dead center, one uses bees wax in the "cup" around the dead center to lubricate it. You still need to be aware of possible overheating, but dead centers have been around a long time.

I also advise you to find someone to show you things and to look at your equipment to help you figure out it's limitations and abilities.
Ann
 
How about a look at the basics? http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15460 is one place. Another is http://www.turningtools.co.uk/wtintro/wtintro.html . Pretty good stuff overall, and it'll give you a basis for expanding your knowledge and determining which direction you care to pursue.

Your "dead center" should be soaped to keep it from squealing. I like Ivory. If you decide to pursue a live center, one which rotates along with the piece, get one with multiple termination options. Cup centers are a lot more forgiving than point types, which can be side-loaded and work off center.
 
Videos

Ken
Welcome to the forum and welcome to wood turning. You have already been given some great advice. I like videos. A great place to start is U Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_SJcAyPtI This link to the start of a series done for Jet Tool by Nick Cook. You'll find hundreds of videos there and many are by fellow AAW members. In my opinion the best advice you have been given is join a club and join the AAW. The more education you get the more fun you'll have.
Don
 
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