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Big lathe question(s)

B

Bill Gilbert

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Jan 21, 2016
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Walla Walla, WA
I am planning on building a lathe for big bowls (36"). Will a regular chuck work, or do they make bigger wood chucks? Any advice on big turnings is welcome!
 
For something that big I'd say face plate. If you're locked into a chuck for some reason then Vicmarc has a big VM150 and huge jaws to go with it.
 
i do not do much big stuff, but if you build a lathe, a chuck is fine if you have a tailstock,, if no tailstock then definitely use a face plate for big stuff
 
Ditto the faceplate. I've turned 19" bowls with the VM100 chuck. I'm sure the 150 would do larger work but if it ever did come out you would really be in trouble. If your building a bowl lathe and don't have a tailstock then a faceplate would definitely be safer.
 
Ditto on the faceplate.

Work up to the larger pieces. Do 3-4'14" bowls , 3-4'18" bowls3-4 24" bowls, 3-4 30" bowls Then go for the 36" bowls.

Bigger pieces - slower speeds

Everything is exaggerated in larger pieces
Flats in the curves. Undulations in the surface all stand out more in a large piece where they are easily overlooked or harder to see in a small piece.

Big pieces are hard to do poorly and doubly hard to do well. takes a lot of practice.

Lots of folks want to turn big pieces and everyone should do something big once or twice.... Markets for large pieces are limited.
You can't give them away because most people don't want to dedicate half a room to to showcasing them.

Be safe! Have fun
 
Last edited:
Zach LaPerriere said:
Bill,

Did you see the 39" lathe for sale posted recently on the forum?

http://www.aawforum.org/vbforum/showthread.php?11872-Selling-my-huge-Nichols-lathe

A 39" bowl? Maybe there's a market for high-end baby baths!
Click to expand...

I haven't done 39", but have done 28+"
http://www.olafvogel.com/large-platters.html

At that size, things get "interesting"....
Especially if anything is off balance which is extremely likely.

I use a 16" faceplate for starting off. To mount that, I use a plywood template that's screwed onto the blank, a few washers to get it flat. Then run a router in the template. That gives me a flat, round surface to screw the faceplate to.

Pieces that large need a hoist to get onto the lathe. An overhead beam trolly works well.

Starting one of those is a humbling experience. An electric chainsaw is great for hacking off pieces to get "sort of" round. An air chisel helps too.

Once its balanced, I use 4" jaws on a Oneway Stronghold. I've looked at their larger jaws, but they lack the serrations which gives them great bite. No issues so far. Just really crank it down hard.
I would consider a tailstock essential for most of the turning, until you get the weight far down and its balanced.

Moultroupe is one to look at. I think all his turning are faceplate, no tailstock.
He doesn't disclose much info.

If you build your own lathe, there would be quite a few challenges to overcome.
Gearing, torque, speed control, strength, WEIGHT (lots of concrete IMO)

I've thought about it, accumulated most of the mechanical parts, but not (yet) actually built one.
Maybe this year....
 
Wow, Olaf, that's cool! Definitely unique. Thanks for sharing.

16" feels pretty big to me, so I can only imagine 28". Reminds me of boats. I have a 36' sailboat. My folks had a 45' sailboat—same designer, same builder, built at the same time. Their boat, at 9' longer and 2' wider weighs twice as much and probably costs well over twice new.

It's inspiring to me that turners continue to challenge themselves. And what a tribute to great wood.
 
olaf Vogel said:
Once its balanced, I use 4" jaws on a Oneway Stronghold. I've looked at their larger jaws, but they lack the serrations which gives them great bite. No issues so far. Just really crank it down hard.
Click to expand...

The number 5 aluminum jaws I use have serrations. Pretty sure the #6 aluminum jaws are also serrated now.
 
Been reading this thread with much interest. A 39 inch bowl would be great for an ice cream snack while watching the ballgame. :o
 
faceplates

Google lyle jamieson. He routinely turns very large items and never uses a chuck. Has some good info on how to turn without chucks
Good luck:rolleyes:
 
Bill Gilbert said:
I am planning on building a lathe for big bowls (36"). Will a regular chuck work, or do they make bigger wood chucks? Any advice on big turnings is welcome!
Click to expand...

If you do decide to go with a chuck I would use a Vicmark VM150 with the 9 inch Mega Dovetail Jaw Set.

James
 
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