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Tailstock chuck holder

I don't believe anyone advocates using the thing for a chuck while driving with, say, the spur center. If you static mount your chuck on it and the piece on the chuck while the faceplate is still mounted forward, it might mean less juggling when reversing the piece. Don't know. Don't own one.

If you have a 1" 8 spindle, which is a standard bolt, you can mount your chuck and work for carving and painting pretty conveniently in other locations, even the banjo. That's worth doing, but the standard thread for my 1 1/4 is 7, so it won't work without a machinist.
 
It is nice to be able to rotate the piece to look all around to insure the connection to the headstock is as desired.
 
I have one of these - albeit the cheaper version from Penn State, which works just fine - and it's invaluable for lining up pieces for reverse chucking.
 
The solid adapter is indeed handy for centering work (in the chuck) onto a doughnut chuck for reverse turning. Not sure what I would use a spinny adapter for.
 
Texian said:
The solid adapter is indeed handy for centering work (in the chuck) onto a doughnut chuck for reverse turning. Not sure what I would use a spinny adapter for.
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The benefit of the one that spins is once you have it reversed and the vacuum on, you can rotate it to see how well it really is centered. With the one that doesn't spin, you un-do the chuck and hope for the best and may have issues actually re-attaching and aligning the chuck.
 
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I have both the Bestwoodtools solid alignment jig and the Oneway screw on alignment jig. They both have benefits. As Steve said you can rotate the piece to see how it aligns but I've found that sometimes the rubber gasket on the vacuum chuck will throw it slightly out anyway.
The solid one is much faster to install and remove unless you leave the Oneway one installed on your live center. You also have to keep up with the pin wrench to install and remove the adaptor from the live center.
Most of the alignment problems I've had seem to occur when you turn the pump on and it seats the bowl even further into the rubber gasket. I get around this by cranking the tailstock forward while I turn the open the valve to supply the vacuum.
Sometimes it seems that no matter how careful I am it simply refused to align properly. I either live with and just sand down the slightly offcenter area to blend it in or I reduce the vacuum and bump it by hand to align to align it as accurately as needed.
 
Gynia said:
It is nice to be able to rotate the piece to look all around to insure the connection to the headstock is as desired.
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I have both styles, and I prefer the Oneway version for the same reason. I like to be able to check things out before removing the scroll chuck from the piece. I often use the live center as backup when using the vacuum chuck (until the final cuts on the bottom), so it's less hassle for me to remove the Oneway adaptor from the live center than it would be to remove the solid adaptor and replace it with a live center.
 
Vaughan I'm confused about your last statement. I simply leave the solid adaptor in the chuck, pull the whole thing out of the tailstock and put the live center back in. It's far faster than having to remove the screw adaptor from the Oneway live center and you don't have to find the little wire thingy to lock up the live center to unscrew the adaptor.
 
I use the Oneway adapter and if I want to lock it so that it does not rotate, I just use the little locking rod. I have used it a few times with my vacuum chuck, but the amount of "give" in the rubber seal plus slight distortion or warping in bowls sort of makes trying to do ultra precise alignment a bit pointless. Additionally, most woodturning lathes have a bit of angular misalignment between the headstock spindle and the tailstock socket centerline. Woodturners typically only check the radial misalignment since that is much easier to measure. However, points can be touching perfectly and still have considerable angular misalignment.
 
john lucas said:
Vaughan I'm confused about your last statement. I simply leave the solid adaptor in the chuck, pull the whole thing out of the tailstock and put the live center back in. It's far faster than having to remove the screw adaptor from the Oneway live center and you don't have to find the little wire thingy to lock up the live center to unscrew the adaptor.
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I always have the little wire thingy handy in a drawer right behind me at the lathe, so it seems easier for me to unscrew the chuck (with the adaptor still attached) from the live center than it is to crank the tailstock quill in to remove the solid adaptor, then crank it back out a couple inches with the live center inserted. I'm sure it's a six of one/half dozen of the other kind of thing time-wise for me.

I'll also echo Bill about the precision of lining things up. I very seldom get an exact match-up when I reverse a piece, regardless of the method. I did find, though, that the live center that came with my 3520B has a some perceptible slop in the bearings, so if I use that live center with a bowl and chuck hanging off it, I have to lift the bowl slightly to get it centered in the vacuum chuck. With my Oneway live center, I don't have the slop.
 
Vaughan It falls back to the old adage, ask 12 turners how to do something and you get 12 answers, all correct. 🙂
 
reverse chucking

Looked on penn states website today for a live center reverse chuck but they dont carry a 1 1x4" x 8. anyone have any recommendations as to where to purchase one without buying the oneway version and all that goes along with it.

crafts supplies only has a dead center version.
 
I like that one. I have not seen it before. You could use a knockout bar to just pop it out and then put a center point back in if you want.
 
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