• Congratulations to Phil Hamel winner of the April 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Paul Hedman and Donna Banfield for "Fire and Ice" being selected as Turning of the Week for 5 May, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Large faceplates

K

Kevin Jenness

Joined
Nov 15, 2020
Messages
761
Likes
613
Location
Huntington, VT
When I mentioned needing faceplates with a 33mm thread my friend and mentor Tom Dunne offered me several and asked me if I could get two others tuned up in return. I received a 4" Oneway, a welded 6" and this massive 10" faceplate with adjustable counterweights and a 33mm spindle boss for chuck mounting. I will add screw holes around the circumference to make it more versatile. Is this design familiar to anyone? Tom does not recall where he got it.DSC_1356.JPGDSC_1355.JPG

I took away two Oneway faceplates that needed attention. The first, a 6", showed .038" runout measured at the rim face. I couldn't reach the machinist I wanted to look at it and decided to true it up by hand, which turned out to be quite tedious but doable with patience and a hss scraper. The other, at 10", is cracked next to the tapered insert screws and is also showing .040" runout. My general feeling is that it should be scrapped, but perhaps it can be welded or brazed and flattened. I am afraid repairing it may be less than 100% reliable, which is not what is wanted when you need a 10" faceplate. I do know several skilled metal fabricators. What say you all?DSC_1357.JPGDSC_1359.JPG
 
Me, with those cracks, based on my experience with other mechanical rotational devices (non-lathe) I'd toss them on the scrap pile without thinking twice about it. Even with an expert machinist to repair them, I wouldn't trust anything that has had cracks in it like that unless it was enclosed in a guard capable of withstanding the shrapnel if it came apart. Cracks have a way of spreading at a microscopic level - Perhaps if your machine shop knew how to repair cracked diesel cylinder heads with high degree of reliability (I forget the terminology, been away from it too long, but ... Magnaflux? or something like that they would use to check and verify where any cracking runs... ) and even then, you'd be trusting your health and safety to their reliability at repairing the item - and I suspect the repair bill would exceed just getting a new one.
 
I suspect the insert (probably not a Oneway insert) of causing that crack, a fitting ring around the hub could make it safe, however why not get the faceplate with the 33mm thread in it, Oneway does make these.
The other one looks like a balanced flywheel, something as used on a treadmill maybe.
 
Leo Van Der Loo said:
I suspect the insert (probably not a Oneway insert) of causing that crack, a fitting ring around the hub could make it safe, however why not get the faceplate with the 33mm thread in it, Oneway does make these.
The other one looks like a balanced flywheel, something as used on a treadmill maybe.
Click to expand...
It's very unlikely that the insert is anything but a Oneway, Tom got the faceplate directly from them and the insert looks just like other Oneway inserts including the spindle shoulder locking screws. I suspect that the cracks are caused by a combination of wedging by the insert and turning forces concentrated on weak points in the casting around the tapped holes. Oneway does offer 10" faceplates, but like this one they require a tapered insert. I think Brian is correct that a new one ($180) is safer and likely no more expensive than a repair (if even possible).

The other is definitely designed for mounting unbalanced work on the lathe. The movable weights are similar to those on Vicmarc's #3 eccentric chuck. The spindle boss and lack of screw holes definitely puts it in a category of its own.
 
Last edited:
Tim Hunter said:
I like the adjustable counter weight plate adapter. How are the weights retained?

Tim
Click to expand...
The central hub, bolted to the 10" plate, has a recess at the bottom forming a circular rabbet. The weights are L-shaped in section and the foot of the L is trapped by the hub recess. Grub screws bearing on the hub force the weights against the inner rim of the plate.
 
The second picture is the back of a Kelton chuck . The front side of mine is adjustable to offset the piece. You can also get a replicator to use a chuck. You can also get another piece that will tilt to do eccentric turning .
 
Bob Brown said:
The second picture is the back of a Kelton chuck . The front side of mine is adjustable to offset the piece. You can also get a replicator to use a chuck. You can also get another piece that will tilt to do eccentric turning .
Click to expand...
Bob, that is just what I am interested in. Do you know where I could get those parts? Kelton's website seems to be non-functional.
 
What you have is the balancer. Possibly the face plate was drilled out and new adapter put in so it can be used for offset. See graeme priddle photo. You might contact Priddle and Alby Hall who did a lot of work with Kelton. They both are great artists.
 

Attachments

  • 20230808_053358.jpg
    20230808_053358.jpg
    471.1 KB · Views: 33
  • 20230808_053410.jpg
    20230808_053410.jpg
    628.2 KB · Views: 34
  • 20230808_053422.jpg
    20230808_053422.jpg
    751.4 KB · Views: 34
  • 20230808_053443.jpg
    20230808_053443.jpg
    643 KB · Views: 33
Thanks , Bob. The Vicmarc eccentric chuck is visible in the background of your first set of photos- if I could get the sliding and tilting parts this would be a far more massive device for the purpose. As is I can see possibilities for multi-axis and off-axis work using faceplates and chucks with this balancer. I have seen several descriptions of balancing eccentric work using weights screwed to a ply panel on a faceplate but this seems so much more solid and safer.

I am trying to reach the artists you mentioned. If you have direct contact info for Alby Hall would you please dm me? If anyone else has info on current Kelton activity please chime in.
 
Last edited:
Kevin Jenness said:
Thanks , Bob. The Vicmarc eccentric chuck is visible in the background of your first set of photos- if I could get the sliding and tilting parts this would be a far more massive device for the purpose. As is I can see possibilities for multi-axis and off-axis work using faceplates and chucks with this balancer. I have seen several descriptions of balancing eccentric work using weights screwed to a ply panel on a faceplate but this seems so much more solid and safer.

I am trying to reach the artists you mentioned. If you have direct contact info for Alby Hall would you please dm me? If anyone else has info on current Kelton activity please chime in.
Click to expand...
Just use your search engine. I don't know how experienced you are but you can get yourself in trouble using techniques above your skill level without mentoring etc.
Also I suggest that you look back at some of the woodturners from the 80s of 90s. Look at people like Todd Hoyer, a lot of the French, German And British. JMO.
 
No worries. I still can count to ten manually after 40 years in the trades, but the caution is welcome. I intend to work up gradually, but having this heavy device should make working with even small unbalanced pieces safer than otherwise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top