Occasionally there is a need to re-mount a finished sanded turning, For those who have the OneWay live center or similar, a tennis ball fits nicely into the inverted cone and will give adequate pressure without the chance of marring the wood.
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Non-marring Tailstock Pressure
- Thread starter William Rogers
- Start date
Great tip! Thanks William.
Well now I need to buy this cone
I have seen the tennis ball trick before, but can't remember where. Maybe Mike Waldt?
robo hippy
robo hippy
There was an old post using a tennis ball for a goblet support, but I haven’t seen using it in the cone to support a bowl or platter.
Tennis Ball as Jam Chuck?
I recently saw a picture of a "goblet" being turned using a tennis ball on the tailstock end for support; sort of like a jam chuck I guess. It seemed to me that, while the shape of the tennis ball might fit some pieces, a tennis ball might not be rigid enough and may vibrate loose. Given that...
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Tom Gall
TOTW Team
Or make one out of wood and a 3/4"x10tpi nut - or thread the wood - or just drill a 3/4" hole and slip over the threaded shaft.
I've also used a racquet ball
Racquet ball may be easier to keep clean, but a good trick either way.
I’ve got the OneWay live centre and bought a rubber ball to use with it. It can come in handy at times. It was recommended by someone as giving better grip than a tennis ball but I wouldn’t know as I only have the rubber one.
I have an assortment of rubber balls for this method, just choose the one that seems to be an appropriate size for the task at hand.
Another simple way is to just use a cone shaped faucet washer over the point of your Oneway live center. You will need to slightly enlarge the screw hole in the washer, then just place the cone side of the washer towards the Oneway live center. The cone part will center and stay centered in the Oneway live center. Very simple to use without adding any extra attachments to your center. Doesn't mar your wood at all. You do need a faucet washer about the outside diameter of your live center.
I like the tennis ball idea!
I sometimes use a standard live center pushing a disk of wood for extra support, the wood perhaps shaped a bit if the inside is not flat, protected by something soft. But the tennis ball should work immediately on almost anything. Have the cone.
JKJ
Great idea but limits access to the bowl interior. I sometimes use a piece of cork between the wood and the live center.
The diameter of a champagne cork is greater than a wine bottle cork and can spread the forces over a greater surface area if concerned. You only need 1/4 inch or so of the cork so one cork can provide several interpositions even though each can be reused.
The diameter of a champagne cork is greater than a wine bottle cork and can spread the forces over a greater surface area if concerned. You only need 1/4 inch or so of the cork so one cork can provide several interpositions even though each can be reused.
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Tennis ball is a great idea for lots of applications
A wood cover for the tail center with leather tip works well where I want a smaller profile.
I drill a hole for a press fit turn it down to about 1/2” glue on a square of leather rough side out.
If it’s a bit loose on the center a turn or two of masking tape tightens the fit.
Here is the wood cover holding a ball in a cup getting close to round
A wood cover for the tail center with leather tip works well where I want a smaller profile.
I drill a hole for a press fit turn it down to about 1/2” glue on a square of leather rough side out.
If it’s a bit loose on the center a turn or two of masking tape tightens the fit.
Here is the wood cover holding a ball in a cup getting close to round
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I got a 2" diameter x 12" long dowel of UHMW off amazon, drill out and tap 3/4-10 to thread on tailstock live center and part off however long I want it to be, then simply turn it to whatever shape I need - Very useful to make custom live center points and soft enough to not mar the wood - the only one I made and used so far is a parabolic curve to about 1/8" diameter at the tip (rounded) and works nicely to support hollowed ends of boxes , peppermills, etc, no matter the diameter. (as long as it isn't more than 2" I.D.")
Darn it all! All those years of pulling the cork and throwing it away. Now if I can just get my significant other to understand why I'm buying more corks.
On the serious side, this is a great re-purposing idea.
I have a small block of UHMV ie Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMW) polyethylene is a plastic material that is highly resistant to abrasion, friction, and corrosion. It is often used as a replacement for stainless steel when transporting difficult materials.
That I fit between the centre and the work the same Brian has done
That I fit between the centre and the work the same Brian has done
High-density polyethylene, HDPE, Works well too. Not as hard and dense as UHMW polyethylene.
I’ve made lots of things from it. Can easily be shaped, say as a disk to fit the inside bottom of a larger rought-turned bowl for final turning. It machines well on the mill so I’ve used it to make special brackets, spacers, and such as well. Can be cut on the bandsaw, shaped on the lathe.
I found some 4x8’ sheets 1” thick at a recycling yard for scrap prices - a company had cut some shapes from them but most of the sheets were left. If anyone local wants a piece or two cut and shaped come visit - I could make some and send them but I”m sometimes forgetful and unreliable about sending things out. (I plan on going to the TAW this year, could bring a piece or two there.)
Apparently layers of the stuff can be glued together somehow - I have one piece someone glued up about to 2” thick before machining.
JKJ
I’ve made lots of things from it. Can easily be shaped, say as a disk to fit the inside bottom of a larger rought-turned bowl for final turning. It machines well on the mill so I’ve used it to make special brackets, spacers, and such as well. Can be cut on the bandsaw, shaped on the lathe.
I found some 4x8’ sheets 1” thick at a recycling yard for scrap prices - a company had cut some shapes from them but most of the sheets were left. If anyone local wants a piece or two cut and shaped come visit - I could make some and send them but I”m sometimes forgetful and unreliable about sending things out. (I plan on going to the TAW this year, could bring a piece or two there.)
Apparently layers of the stuff can be glued together somehow - I have one piece someone glued up about to 2” thick before machining.
JKJ
John do you frequent the salvage yard often? I've been tempted to check out some local salvage yards for scrap aluminum for building some shop tools.
Gregory
There is an amazing and unusual scrap yard just 10 miles from here. Some of their "scrap" is in good quality and useful sizes. They get things from all over, including some high tech and specialized industrial facilities in our area. They sort everything out and put useful materials in racks, bins, piles, shelves, and boxes and let people wander around looking for treasure. A semi trailer out front has nothing but shelves and small bins with fasteners - all sorted by metal type and sometimes size/function - I found large stainless steel bolts and nuts that would cost a fortune to buy new - but they sell everything at scrap prices.
I once found a box of dozens of surgical instruments from a local hospital - forceps, pliers, specialized bone hammers/chisels/saws, new long-shaft scalpels, all types of scissors (one with tiny blades was for eye surgery), torque wrenches. I bought the whole box for a few dollars (again at scrap steel prices). I gave a bunch to some veterinarian friends, some to my accordion technician (to work on things in tight places), kept a bunch for my tool boxes. (They had been sterilized)
I’ve found big chunks of aluminum offcuts (great for milling) by diving in their aluminum dumpster, plate stock, lots of bar and tube stock in aluminum, heavy brass cylinders, and all shapes and sizes of steel. The place is a gold mine for those of us who have machining, cutting, and welding capabilities and like to make things! Once my buddy found a bundle of 1/2” thin-wall titanium tubing 10’ long, all in new condition, laying in the dust behind some pallets! They weighed it, charged scrap prices for titanium which came out to about $2 or so a piece so I bought every piece - I looked up the numbers on the side and found these would cost over $200 each to buy. Yikes. We’ve made a lot of things from that (still have some if you need any titanium tubing!)
Found a big pressure pot, the big white HDPE sheets, some green fire-retardent HDPE, and lots of useful small things like copper bars, thin sheets of stainless steel, lead - way too much useful stuff! They also buy scrap metal - I save up old steel (old brake drums and disks, broken drive shafts, bent wheels, chunks of iron, rusty 55-gal drums, hardware from the elecrical utility workers, etc) and take a load when I get enough - they have you pile it on a scale and pay you the going rate for that day. My son has been crushing and saving aluminum cans for 25 years - it's about time to haul a truck load of those! (People selling copper wire or precious metals get their photos and IDs recorded, and don't get payment until the authorities give the OK!)
From aluminum, brass, and steel round bars I've machined lots of inserts for wooden handles for turning tools. (That's when I found out how difficult it was to machine work-hardened brass and how to anneal it!)
This was fun: Once I picked up some cast slugs I thought were brass but turned out to be bronze. That stuff is incredible to machine! A friend wanted to make a branding iron as a present for her dad with their sheep farm logo - he wanted put his brand on furniture he made. I turned and machined the bronze, tapped a hole for the shaft, then gave her a turning lesson and we made a wooden handle - it was a hit! This style doesn't have a heating element but the bronze stays hot a long time when heated with a propane torch. (We tested it on the end of the handle.) Some pictures below, if you are interested in that sort of thing! I'm not a machinist but I can usually make what I set out to. (I have a laser for alignment and a rotary table which helped with the angles.)
(Sorry, I'm a hopeless photo maniac)
The place is in Oak Ridge, TN, as I said, not far from our farm. Road trip - come visit and we'll go check it out! Maybe wait till it's warmer...
They have new stuff every day - my friend goes at least once a week. With low will power and finite storage space I make myself limit my visits!
JKJ
What is sometimes better than saving money is the inspiration! Often we’ll find something which will spur an idea. (I guess we don’t have enough to do…)
But even more valuable, is having a a variety of stock on hand so when the need or desire hits I don’t have to spend time/money hunting for the materials! I keep shelves full of various materials in my little machine shop for “just in case”.
It must be a disease I have. Years ago a friend from the church told me about his friend who owned a big machine shop and needed to clear out some space and sell excess mild steel stock. This was all new stock - square tubing, angle iron, plate, bars and rods, i-beams and more, all sizes, most in uncut 20’ lengths. Said he would sell me anything I wanted at scrap prices by weight! (His accountant was livid…)
I brought an 18’ trailer and put over 8000 lbs of steel in a shed. I can’t begin to describe how useful that’s been over the years around the farm! If I or a friend need to repair a trailer or something, we just carry the portaband out and cut what’s needed. A young friend in welding school came several times for practice, for example once with a problem with overhead stick welding Turns out her instructor had given her bad advice. (I was a welding inspector in the ‘70s so I had opinions) She’s now the top weldor with a huge industrial shop.
JKJ