Faceplate - homemade or buy one?

[mbeach]

how hard is it to make a faceplate? or should i just buy one.

The lathe I am getting does not have the faceplate with it, so I would like to either make one or buy one...

Any advice?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Gotcha6]

Unless it's an off brand, the faceplate should be a standard thread common to the industry for that particular size of lathe. Typical are 3/4 - 16tpi, 1-10tpi, 1-8tpi, etc. What brand lathe is it?

 

[mbeach]

I forgot to mention that... It is a Jet 1014 that has 1"-8TPI

Unless it's an off brand, the faceplate should be a standard thread common to the industry for that particular size of lathe. Typical are 3/4 - 16tpi, 1-10tpi, 1-8tpi, etc. What brand lathe is it?

 

[Gotcha6]

That shouldn't be a problem. Most woodworker's supply stores would have a faceplate or anything else for that lathe. You could also surf Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon.com for one. Jet specs are also common with a lot of Chinese knockoffs like Central Machinery, etc. so you might even find one @ HF.
Good luck.
Making one is very difficult in that the faceplate needs to be flat AND perpendicular to the axis of rotation - not to mention balanced.

 

[Woodman2k]

Mike,
There are 1" by 8 faceplates all over ebay.Buy the first one for the heavy stuff and then buy a Beall wood tap for 1" by8 and make additional faceplates of different sizes out of hardwood and use them as sacrificial glue up faceplates.
Greg

 

[bob vaughan]

Making one is very difficult in that the faceplate needs to be flat AND perpendicular to the axis of rotation - not to mention balanced.

Its actually worse. A regular 1-8 nut is too short so one will have to seek out 1-8 allthread couplings and those are pricey. Once the nut is welded on the disk, they have to be trued up. This means getting a metal lathe cutting tool into the hard weld area and that means the interrupted cut will chip carbide cutting edges or dull HSS/cobalt tooling.

I've made a few faceplates in the past when I wanted a beefier small faceplate than the aluminum ones, but it was a lot of trouble.

Get a good, stout faceplate. Some of the imports are so flimsy that they cause the work to chatter and rumble when turning. I've been bit by my own tendency to find the cheapest thing possible in faceplates.

 

[Mike Davis]

Best faceplate I ever had was one my brother-in-law made for me. It was stainless steel 5/8 thick and 8 inch diameter. The threads were machined directly into the disc then mounted on a metal lathe where it was trued and balanced. He then drilled holes at regular intervals in three concentric rings.

It was a lovely thing and I hate myself for letting it go.

 

[timf67]

Packard woodworks is closing out their Delta parts inventory. They have a 3" faceplate with 1-8 threads for $19.95:

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Mer...ore_Code=packard&Category_Code=00-aspec-delta

 

[mbeach]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was thinking about going and getting a 1x8tpi nut and then attaching that to a piece of MDF... has anyone ever done something like this? If I can do this, i could make many faceplates for VERY cheap and have a variety of sizes.

Mike

 

[rbdoby]

I know some of the turners here use these. Haven't bought one yet but it looks interesting for small projects.

http://www.bealltool.com/products/turning/spindletap.php

Rick Doby

 

[MrAudio815]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was thinking about going and getting a 1x8tpi nut and then attaching that to a piece of MDF... has anyone ever done something like this? If I can do this, i could make many faceplates for VERY cheap and have a variety of sizes.

Mike

This is an easy project


This topic seems to keep coming up. I have made a few with the 1x8 nut from tractor supply with a 1" washer welded in two spots and sandwhich inbetween two pieces of hardwood then glued and screwed to MDF. You can then true it all up with your lathe tools cause its wood and MDF. Get a board about 4" to 6" and attach some 80 grit or so sandpaper to one side and 120 to the other. Put the board on the rails and push the board against the faceplate (MDF) to get it really flat.

Earl has made 10+ of these and we have all seen his work. These are easy and work great. Once the MDF get used up get another piece and glue it on. Nothing to it guys.

I need to take some pictures and show everyone.


Good luck and save some money. Plus it will be custom to whatever you are making. I have been reading a jewlery woodturing book and the guy in the book says home made face plates and chucks usually work best. The comercial one are limited and if you get to close to the metal, woo you just damaged your tool and maybe your chuck.

Bye bye for now,

 

[mbeach]

Matthew,

Thanks for your input. I would love to see some pics and hear more about how you did it. Thanks!

Mike

 

[CarvedTones]

I have made some in the past using the off shelf nuts at Lowes that Bob said are too short. I would not discount what he said, though they did work okay for me. I traced the outline of the nut in the middle of a circular piece of 1/2" scrap, and then cut the hole for it with a scroll saw. I glued a second 1/2" scrap circle to it and put some thickened epoxy (slurry about the thickness that looks like it belongs in a kleennex) on the outside faces of the nut before I slid it in the hole. Let it cure completely. Put it on and turned it true. The circles weren't perfect circles and the nut wasn't perfectly centered, but that is okay because the lathe is the perfect tool to fix that. The face wasn't [STRIKE]flat[/STRIKE] (EDIT) perpendicular either, but again the lathe is the perfect tool to fix that. Those cost me under $2 each to make.

 

[mbeach]

That is what I was thinking about doing... to solve the problem about the nut being to short... could you not liquid weld 2 nuts together, as long as you are careful about making the threads line up?

Mike

 

[CarvedTones]

I am guessing that Bob is either doing heavier work, found shorter nuts or is just a lot more careful than me. The nuts I found at Lowes were pretty good sized. What did happen with mine is that because the threads on the nuts did not reach the end of the threaded portion of the headstock spindle, the tension that held it was the spindle against the second layer of wood. Sometimes it would break that tension when you powered off and start unscrewing the faceplate. that gets exciting if you don't slow down the blank...

 

[erasmussen]

This shows them being made

Here is a couple in use

This is being held by one

 

[CarvedTones]

The ones I used were the same size as what Earl shows, but I did not have the washer.

I forgot to answer your earlier question about gluing your two nuts together; it's as bad an idea as that sounds without the context, IMO...

 

[mbeach]

Earl,

Very nice. It looks like it holds some large pieces. Did you use a normal nut or did you find some that are longer? Is there anything that i need to know before I make some?

 

[erasmussen]

Its just a normal nut, you would need a longer one if you were to weld a steel plate on it to allow it to bottom out.
you bore a hole in both pieces of wood that allows the nut to bottom out on the sholder of the shaft.

 

[CarvedTones]

you bore a hole in both pieces of wood that allows the nut to bottom out on the sholder of the shaft.

OK, I am an idiot. That is a better idea than tightening against the second piece, because the spot might become burnished and the faceplate might come off and roll around the shop otherwise (DAMHIKT) unless you slow it down when powering off.