Spindle work, looong tool rest length?

[Larry Copas]

I'm about to fabricate a long tool rest for spindle work. The tool rest will be supported by two banjos, one at each end. At times I will be using a Oneway spindle steady. I just fabricated a bed extension so total turning length can be up to 45". My thought process is telling me if I make the tool rest too long it will interfere with the tail stock on shorter turnings around 30" in length. I'm thinking 24" would be a good length. Thoughts?

 

[hockenbery]

What do you plan to turn and what will be the length of the turned area?

Many Table legs will have an unturned square section at the top
Most balustrades will have square sections at the top and bottom.

You can always pull the banjo out to clear the tailstock.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

This is 1 of 4 long tool rests I made for turning short balusters: I made it with 1 post for simplicity, but if making a longer one and you think you need two banjos/posts then the rest bar should be bolted onto the two posts at 1/4 length, then 1/2 length, & 1/4 length, which provides good support and keeps the banjos out of the way of the headstock/tailstock. The wide heavy bar will not flex, can be left in place for multiple balusters ( the job shown was for about 80 balusters) and provides a place to mount a dimensioned contour drawing. The square shown is used to mark the linear detail points and the numbers are the diameters at those points. Note: The first step is to round out the turned area to a constant diameter that will be also the diameter of many of the details. Once you get going you should be able to get the turning time down to an average 15 minutes each.
The PM90 shown has a fabricated bed extension for up to 105" between centers.

 

[Adrian Wilson]

These are mine, made from 2 x 2 angle iron. Chairmaker's tool rests. I have one that runs almost the full length of the bed; might cut that one down a couple of inches so I can get it closer to the tailstock. That one was made with bolts, and I tapped holes in the tool posts. I like it so much, I made some more. I have one at 25" for table legs (standard 29: legs with a square block at the top), one at 19", and one at 7" because I had a chunk left over, and it falls in between my factory 4" and 12" rests. For those I bought Rikon posts with a threaded stud built in. I have two banjos. I don't have a ton of hours on them yet, and may tweak them, but I really like them. If I find the steel too soft, I can add drill rod, but so far I don't see any need to. The steel seems plenty hard. I may rip the maple pieces narrower,still getting used to them.

 

[Larry Copas]

I turn lots of stool legs from 16" to 26". Also chair legs that go to 38" on the back legs for ladder back chairs. Than the wall art which is small diameter spindles in the range of 34-38" which I call African tribal sticks. Than the odd request to turn a replacement for a broken spindle. So I'm all over the map on what I turn.

Adrian, looks like you have a General which is what I'm running. I'll probably end up with several lengths, think I will start off with 24".

 

[Richard Coers]

Why not continue your previous post? https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/need-38-long-tool-rest.21871/#post-230650

 

[Roger Wiegand]

I guess it depends on how much of your time is spent turning long spindles and how concerned you are about production efficiency. For the dozen times a year I'm turning something longer than my 12" rest it's not worth adding yet another tool to the mess around my lathe. I'm not a production turner, so having to take the time to move the rest a couple times isn't a big deal. I move it dozens of times while turning a bowl, so it doesn't feel like a big deal to move it a few times for a spindle. I can certainly see the advantage for production turning where every added movement and second counts.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

delta 24 inch tool rests are frequently for sale on line

 

[john lucas]

When I needed a long tool rest I built a second one banjo and then built the 50" tool rest. While I was at it I made 3 more. Just used the 36" for some baseball bats I needed to turn.

 

[Adrian Wilson]

I guess it depends on how much of your time is spent turning long spindles and how concerned you are about production efficiency. For the dozen times a year I'm turning something longer than my 12" rest it's not worth adding yet another tool to the mess around my lathe. I'm not a production turner, so having to take the time to move the rest a couple times isn't a big deal. I move it dozens of times while turning a bowl, so it doesn't feel like a big deal to move it a few times for a spindle. I can certainly see the advantage for production turning where every added movement and second counts.

When I made mine, time wasn't really a factor at all. I don't make a living from this. I just really REALLY dislike moving toolrests when I am working on spindles, and when reading about chairmaker's toolrests, I came across several opinions that moving the toolrest to multiple positions introduces inconsistencies to concentricity that jibed with my experience. I don't seem to be able to find that at the moment, but it was a factor for me. I liked my very long rest so much, making the others to lengths that would be useful to me was an easy jump. Total investment was two lengths of angle iron, and the post material.

 

[Larry Copas]

Here is what I made up. It's just a 3/8" X 2" piece of flat bar stock welded to some 1" diameter cold rolled. It is 24" long. When I make short stool legs I turn them with a straight taper. The new tool rest allows me to set the taper from head stock to tail stock than I can match the taper on the wood to the tool rest. I usually make 3 or 4 stools at a time so I can make my 9 to 16 legs without ever touching the banjo to readjust. As mentioned by Adrian this improves consistency. I'll make a longer one for my taller stool legs.

The tool rest did not work well when I tried using it to straddle my Oneway spindle steady so that idea is out.

While fabricating the tool rest I also made a bed extension which added 12" of length to my General. Made it from scrap I had laying around. Works great.

 

[Adrian Wilson]

Here is what I made up. It's just a 3/8" X 2" piece of flat bar stock welded to some 1" diameter cold rolled. It is 24" long. When I make short stool legs I turn them with a straight taper. The new tool rest allows me to set the taper from head stock to tail stock than I can match the taper on the wood to the tool rest. I usually make 3 or 4 stools at a time so I can make my 9 to 16 legs without ever touching the banjo to readjust. As mentioned by Adrian this improves consistency. I'll make a longer one for my taller stool legs.

The tool rest did not work well when I tried using it to straddle my Oneway spindle steady so that idea is out.

While fabricating the tool rest I also made a bed extension which added 12" of length to my General. Made it from scrap I had laying around. Works great.

View attachment 58743View attachment 58744

Nice. I would like to make an extension; on my list.

For a steady, you could use this type, not the standard ring: it is open on the front.



I got it from Ernie Conover's book on turning for furniture, but it is an old idea. I like it and it is my regular steady.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

Here is what I made up. It's just a 3/8" X 2" piece of flat bar stock welded to some 1" diameter cold rolled. It is 24" long. When I make short stool legs I turn them with a straight taper. The new tool rest allows me to set the taper from head stock to tail stock than I can match the taper on the wood to the tool rest. I usually make 3 or 4 stools at a time so I can make my 9 to 16 legs without ever touching the banjo to readjust. As mentioned by Adrian this improves consistency. I'll make a longer one for my taller stool legs.

The tool rest did not work well when I tried using it to straddle my Oneway spindle steady so that idea is out.

While fabricating the tool rest I also made a bed extension which added 12" of length to my General. Made it from scrap I had laying around. Works great.

View attachment 58743View attachment 58744

Nice fab job on everything. I use my Oneway bowl steady for spindles and it works. It wouldn't interfere with your tool rest because it's behind the spindle. It's the same principal as Adrian posted above.

 

[Mike Brazeau]

We had a cane for veterans project at our guild and I made long tool rest from some maple. About 30” I think. When I gave away the old Delta Homecraft lathe I was robbing the banjo from, I made a banjo. For occasional use works fine. I use mostly SRG so no problems digging into the tool rest.