Many peppermill DVD's use a jam chuck to hold the base when shaping the mill. I'm wondering if holding the base using a chuck with pin jaws would be just as effective. What are the pros and cons?
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Peppermill Question
- Thread starter Dave Fritz
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If you use a chuck to hold the base then it is unlikely that the top end of the mill is going to line up perfectly with the tailstock live center.
I don't see why you couldn't. I do a few runs of pepper mills a year, After the innards are bored, I chuck up a piece of scrap and make it into a stepped jam chuck. I think for me, it's just moving that end of the mill further away from the chuck so I don't risk damaging a gouge or the chuck. Even tho most people wouldn't see chuck jaw bruising inside the base, I'm not sure I could let that go, so maybe thats another reason.
Bill, If you use the center point on the tail stock end to center the piece, then expand the jaws into the sides of the mill base wouldn't it line up? Clifton, the expansion would be in the area a mill mechanism goes I think so you wouldn't see it would you? BTW, thanks for the replies, I look forward to more.
Dave, I center it like you describe even with the jam chuck, instead of expanding I just push it on with the tailstock quill using the live center in the original live center dimple. If the pin jaws expand into the area the mill mechanism fits into as opposed to in the first step, I would think the end of the mill would be in contact with the base of the pin jaws which would make tooling and sanding that end of the mill a little more difficult. I think if I where to use pin jaws, I would do what you said above but pull the base away from the chuck about 1/4 inch and just be careful when tooling and sanding that end.
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It probably would, but personally I have some minor misgivings about a couple things:
- The top of the jaws won't all be making firm contact with the recess in the peppermill. That may not be very important if things are very close, but it leaves the possibility of some "wiggle" between the jaws and wood.
- I don't feel comfortable doing expansion chucking when there is so little supporting wood. We're probably talking about wall thickness on the order of ¼ inch. You don't get much tactile feedback when tightening a geared chuck so it's hard to gauge the difference between "just right" and "oops".
With a jam chuck you have the advantages of more working room around the base of the peppermill and being perfectly concentric with the spindle axis of rotation.
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Dave,
It will work most of the time.
The Chuck is slower if you are doing several and not quit as accurate.
The chuck will not be off enough for people to notice.
Like Bill said once in a while you will split a piece with the chuck.
It will work most of the time.
The Chuck is slower if you are doing several and not quit as accurate.
The chuck will not be off enough for people to notice.
Like Bill said once in a while you will split a piece with the chuck.