HF Lathe Problem.

HF Lathe Problem. · 09-16-2009, 07:49 PM

As I stated in another thread I've got a small problem

.Mounted up a nice piece of Mahogany wanted to make a chip&dip dish.After some turning and alot of tare out

.I got to looking to find the problem.Well what I found was when they welded the threaded insert in the face plate.They got it crooked

.Gess I gotta take the time to give them a call.

sasjzl · 09-16-2009, 09:44 PM

Hi Robert,

Having just bought a 34706 myself I am really curious about the symptoms you were seeing and what procedure you used to find out that the spindle was out of whack. You mentioned tear out. Was everything that you mounted bouncing around like my stuff where if you lay your tool on top of the piece it bounces up and down instead of staying still like it should? I have been blaming myself for not mounting correctly but now I am wondering. There is still a large chance that I am causing the problem as it usually turns up after I true up the piece creating the tenon and then mount it in the chuck. I would think that however it is measured it would come down to the spindle being absolutely, or at least really, really close, to parallel with the bed. I am thinking I could use two squares but I am real curious as to how you found your problem.

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee

Robert Arrowood · 09-16-2009, 10:29 PM

The problem with mine is in the face plate.Check and see if the shaft "NUT SIDE" is welded straight.It don't take much on the part too make it look like a mile on the piece.The tear out was more on the inside of the bowl.I took a pencil and laid it on the tool rest and moved in slowly until it would just touch.That give me the "high" side of the piece.Hope that help's.

jimwill48 · 09-16-2009, 10:34 PM

Tear Out is usually caused by a dull tool. I turn off center alot and that in it self has never resulted in tear out. I get it when the tool is dull and I take to heavy of cut.Even with a sharp tool you can still get tear out sometimes just due to the wood. To correct you can try shear cutting or scraping and taking lighter cuts...

steelwheel1999 · 09-17-2009, 12:42 AM

I have a spare if needed 1" 8tpi

sasjzl · 09-17-2009, 11:04 PM

Jim wrote:

"Even with a sharp tool you can still get tear out sometimes just due to the wood. To correct you can try shear cutting or scraping and taking lighter cuts..."

My turning experience is very short but I have never been able to get rid of tear out with a sharper tool. I saw a video of a very experienced turner who saw some tear out and proceeded to try to get rid of it by cutting more. It dawned on me that tear out could be caused by the differences in the density of wood. Like when you are swimming in a lake and you feel a cold, or warm, stream of water. I have done the sharpening and scraping and putting finish on to harden the grain and sanded it in reverse but have noticed that sometimes there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. Which makes me think that it is 'in' the wood as opposed to all the factors above that we can control to some degree. My question for the more experienced turner is if it is possible to get rid of really ugly tear out that is never going to get sanded out by just taking off more wood? I have had some pieces that had such bad tear out they were not worth finishing. This has happened on both white oak and maple.

Thanks,
Jim Lee

Robert Arrowood · 09-17-2009, 11:23 PM

Jim I haven't been turning that long myself.But what I have found"read" is that you can brake the fibers deep into the wood with a dull tool.If that happens some times you can't get it out.

jimwill48 · 09-18-2009, 10:05 AM

That's correct, if you still have enough material thickness you can try to cut/scrape/sand out the tear-out. Sometimes you can't and will just have to live with the tear-out or abandon the piece.

One thing you can do since tear-out usually happens in the end-grain section of the bowl you can treat that area with either CA or what I use is plain old yellow or white glue diluted about 50/50 with water to stiffen the fibers so they are less apt to be pulled out. Another thing you can do with lite tear-out is to go to the 60 or 80 grit gouge and power-sand.

Again I'll stress "sharp" tools, don't be afraid to sharpen often. But sometimes their is nothing you can do, it just is.

James

Originally Posted by Robert Arrowood

Jim I haven't been turning that long myself.But what I have found"read" is that you can brake the fibers deep into the wood with a dull tool.If that happens some times you can't get it out.