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Deep Hollowing Rig For A VB36

Paul M. Kaplowitz

Paul M. Kaplowitz

Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
402
Likes
270
Location
North Charleston, SC
I am looking for someway to adapt a deep hollowing rig to my VB36 bowl lathe. I have contacted Kobra, Monster,Jamieson, and Hegner - the manufacturer and noone has come up with any suggestions. The problem is that the VB36 bowl lathe does not have a bed and all the systems I've seen mount on the bed. I know we have some engineering wizes out there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
There isn't any reason you can't build a free standing secondary tool rest for a system like Lyle Jameison's. I did that for several years with my mini lathe and used the same wooden free standing rest for my big lathe before I finally modified it to fit on the bed of the Powermatic.
To do the size work you could handle on the VB I'd make it beefier. In fact if you are near middle Tennessee I'll let you have a homemade free standing metal rest made from a truck rim. It would be very easy to add a captured secondary rest to it.
The free standing rest has the advantage of being moveable if the boring bar hits the end of the rest while trying to hollow unusual shapes. I often have to stop the lathe and readjust the tool rest mounted to the bed and sometimes it won't go quite far enough to give me the movement I need. With the free standing rest you just stop the lathe and move the rest wherever you need.
 
I'd build my own out of plywood. essentially, you need a big stable box behind you to keep the tool level. Bolt it to the VB. It's not going anywhere.

Keep your cutters small and the forces aren't all that bad. You get into trouble trying to cut too much wood, too far over the tool rest, too fast...
 
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