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Best Faceplates?

Alex Bradley

Alex Bradley

Joined
Oct 28, 2021
Messages
43
Likes
128
Location
Louisville, CO
I inherited a bunch of my Dad's faceplates but of course none fit my lathe. I need to get 1-1/4" - 8 TPI. I am currently turning smaller pieces but would like to tackle some of my Dad's blanks which are larger and heavy. Are they all the same? Anyone have recommendations on ones to buy or ones to stay away from?
 
How about using a thread adapter from the faceplates you have to your spindle thread size? I can’t tell from your message which is the 1-1/4” 8 tpi the faceplate or the spindle.

Or you can buy the correct tap and make all the wooden faceplates you need.
 
There seems to be plenty of aluminum faceplates being manufactured these days.....and, who could blame the manufacturers for making them out of aluminum? From the manufacturer's perspective, aluminum is easier on their tooling, so set-ups last longer.

For myself, I prefer steel or cast iron faceplates.....they are more resistant to abuse, and can influence a turning with a "flywheel effect" that can be a counter-measure against an out of balance condition of the wood attached to it.

-----odie-----
 
Most aluminum faceplates are good. I think that the best of the aluminum faceplates are the ones made by Easy Wood Tools. I agree with Odie about the mass of steel and cast iron faceplates offering the advantage of reducing vibration by swamping out the mass imbalance in the wood. There is a wide variation in the quality of cast iron faceplates. The ones that come with low-cost imported lathes are the bottom of the barrel because of poor casting quality, minimal machining, and lack of balancing. The cast iron faceplates made by Oneway Manufacturing are very high quality with excellent fit and finish, powder coating, and dynamically balanced.
 
Jim Reynolds said:
How about using a thread adapter from the faceplates you have to your spindle thread size? I can’t tell from your message which is the 1-1/4” 8 tpi the faceplate or the spindle.

Or you can buy the correct tap and make all the wooden faceplates you need.
Click to expand...
My Dad's thread size is smaller but I am not sure what size they actually are. His lathe was an old one that he had altered and I am not even sure what the brand was. He would unplug and turn the plug around to make it go in reverse.... Can you get adaptors that allow you to go to a larger size? I have an American Beauty (thanks to my dad's inheritance).....
 
They do make adapters that go from a larger threaded spindle thread to a smaller thread. Female x Male adapter.
This adds a couple of inches onto the end of spindle where you thread the face plate onto the adapter male spindle thread.
 
Mike Johnson said:
They do make adapters that go from a larger threaded spindle thread to a smaller thread. Female x Male adapter.
This adds a couple of inches onto the end of spindle where you thread the face plate onto the adapter male spindle thread.
Click to expand...
Do you think the extra distance be an issue to add vibration? His are heavy (not aluminum).....
 
Alex Bradley said:
Do you think the extra distance be an issue to add vibration? His are heavy (not aluminum).....
Click to expand...

I do..... The further away the turning is extended away from the bearings, the more an out of balance condition will effect the ability to get a clean tear-out free cut. The heavy faceplates will help (if they are in balance), but it's adding to a condition that isn't optimum from the gitgo.

It can work, and to help with the chances of a favorable outcome, then fine tuning the rpm for the least vibration is also something that can help.

-----odie-----
 
Alex Bradley said:
I inherited a bunch of my Dad's faceplates but of course none fit my lathe. I need to get 1-1/4" - 8 TPI. I am currently turning smaller pieces but would like to tackle some of my Dad's blanks which are larger and heavy. Are they all the same? Anyone have recommendations on ones to buy or ones to stay away from?
Click to expand...
I use faceplates for most of my hollow forms.
I use chucks (ONEWAY stronghold or Vic Marc) for almost all of my bowls.

I often use an adapter in demos with my vicmarc Chuck. Works great for 11” diameter bowls.
Always better to have the work closer to the headstock

You will get a lot more wobble from a poorly mounted faceplate than from a precision made adapter.

Mounting a faceplate is a skill I learned. This shows mounting on a HF but same for bowls

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o4l092k8qk
 
I do not recommend an adapter, the 4-3” long thingies, to mount anything but the smallest chucks or faceplates, for small turnings. Inserts , ie converting a smaller spindle to a larger spindle size, perfectly fine. Properly fitting inserts only add ~3/8”-1/2” extension. All my chucks are the insert type so they can be fitted to other sizes.

Over time I turned similar sized/wood hf’s using faceplates and chucks. I didnt observe any difference in the turning. Eng grain hf’s get a long tenon, 1” or so. When I started with hf’s I went down the faceplate path largley due to Lyle Jamieson’s advice (I have his hollowing rig). Faceplates dont fit the way I like to process my work all the way through, because I remount pieces to sand, finish and buff. That drove me to experiment with chucks. The only issue I had was some too short tenons that let go, and they might have been a bit small in OD as well. I typically will hollow in stages, bring the ID and OD down together, and cut the tenon down once near the bottom.

I have a couple of the EWT aluminum faceplates and they do work well.
 
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