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Turning small thingies

John Torchick

John Torchick

Joined
Jan 24, 2010
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Small Thingies

Hi John, I would mount a piece of wood in my chuck, grain parallel to the bed, and turn it to the finished size, leaving enough extra material to part it off. If you want a hole through the center drill it with a drill bit of the proper size while it is still mounted on the lathe, by using a jacobs chuck mounted it the tail stock. I hope this helps. Jim
 
John,

that piece is hollow. Actually it is just tiny napkin ring.

first drill a hole in the work piece the diameter of the rod butt.
then turn a pin or dowel on a wood held in a chuck, a faceplate or a wooden Morse taper( if you plan to do more than 3 this is the way to go)
you cam glue a dowel into your wood block too.
turn a slight taper on the pin keep test fitting.
With the taper the end of dowel will just fit in easily you want the work piece held tightly.

this needs to be a tight fit ( a turn of masking tape over the pin can fix it if you take off too much.
the turn the outside profile.

the wooden pin lets you Turn both ends of the piece as well as the sides.


happy turning
al
 
Drilling the center hole

Hi John:

When using a Jacobs chuck, holding a drill bit and mounted into the quill of your tail stock, you need to make sure the drill bit lines up with the center of your spindle. Place a center point drill bit into your Jacobs chuck, then insert your drive center into the spindle. Move the tail stock forward until the drill bit is about 1/2" from the drive center. Lock the tail stock into place and advance the drill bit toward the drive center so you can observe the alignment. You may will find they do not, especially on lesser expensive lathes. You may need to use some shim stock to get them into alignment.

If they aren't aligned, you will end up drill a larger diameter hole that you planned.

Also, realize that placing shim stock only under the front or back end of the tail stock or head stock (whichever is necessary) will not do the job. the shimstock needs to be placed under the entire surface. Otherwise, the points may appear to be equal to each other, but they may not be aligned which means they are at an angle to each other.

Good luck with your project.

Don Geiger
PS: How's the Ballistol working for you?
 
could drill hole off the lathe

For a small item like this.

I would drill the hole off the lathe.

If you have a drill press, I'd recommend drilling with that then mount on a pin to turn.

a hand drill should be okay too.

Drilling on the lathe can be accurate if the center line up like DON said.
It just takes a lot of setup to make a hole.

-Al
 
Small thingies

Many thanks for the replies. I have a small 2 inch chuck and some brad point drill bits. I'll play around with alignment, etc. to see which one works best.
 
The 4th picture in my link above illustrates drilling with a small hand-held bit, using the tool rest for alignment and resistance. I haven't tried it with a larger bit, but I will as soon as I re-mount a current work in progress. Note that I pre-form a starting divot. Pictures to follow, if successful (or not).
 
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