I am having no luck searching for any past posts about making your own tool rest for outboard turning.
Anyone have info on this?
Anyone have info on this?
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Tool Rest for Outboard Turning
- Thread starter Jim Grieco
- Start date
In my opinion lathes are built to take the stresses of turning inboard. Spindles and bearings, as well as the tool rest, are not strong enough to handle the larger turnings. As well as there is no tailstock. So, I never turn outboard. If you want to do bigger turning get a bigger, stronger, lathe.
There are three systems that I have seen for turning outboard. First you have the outboard stand. I bought one years ago. It had a cast iron 3 legged plate at the bottom, a 3 to 4" diameter pipe for a central shaft, and an offset arm that comes off the top. I tried to turn a 15" bowl outboard on my Powermatic 45 with it. Sort of worked, but was not as stable as I would like. I ended up removing the cast iron base and replacing it with a tire filled with concrete.
The next option would be the outboard bracket that Vicmarc makes.https://branchestobowls.com/product/outboard-turning-attachment-0
I have not used this, but I believe it is much better than the stand.
Finally what I think is the best option. Get a short bed extension, mount it on the outboard side of your lathe, you could have it the same height as your standard bed, or mount it lower to get more swing. If you decide to mount it lower, you will need an extension piece for your toolrest. I know a lot of Powermatic users use a similar setup. They slide the headstock all the way to the tailstock end of the lathe and use a bed extension mounted lower. I believe that Powermatic sells the tool rest extension with the small bed extension.
The next option would be the outboard bracket that Vicmarc makes.https://branchestobowls.com/product/outboard-turning-attachment-0
I have not used this, but I believe it is much better than the stand.
Finally what I think is the best option. Get a short bed extension, mount it on the outboard side of your lathe, you could have it the same height as your standard bed, or mount it lower to get more swing. If you decide to mount it lower, you will need an extension piece for your toolrest. I know a lot of Powermatic users use a similar setup. They slide the headstock all the way to the tailstock end of the lathe and use a bed extension mounted lower. I believe that Powermatic sells the tool rest extension with the small bed extension.
What are your plans for one, as in what are you looking to turn? I did get the system to go with my Vicmark 240 lathe with the pivoting headstock. I found it to be not practical at all for standard bowl turning. Mostly because of all the micro adjustments I do when turning bowls. A tripod type base, and some way to fix it to the lathe so it doesn't tip over would be standard requirements for me. You could google the one for the Vicmark. I am sure there are others. If it is for more standard bowls, then what Wyatt suggested, get a short bed extension and mount your banjo on it.
robo hippy
robo hippy
Here ya go.....
@Kevin Jenness asked me in a PM about building a tool rest for a General 260-20. Just as easy to answer right here.
A couple of years I got the itch to turn some bigger wall art. That meant an outboard tool rest. I sketched several ideas and ended up more or less cloning the Robust American Beauty outboard stand.
The swing is 28" to were I bolted the frame to the lathe headstock. To clear that part of the assembly I machined a spindle adapter to convert my outboard spindle from 1-1/8-8 left hand to 1-1/4"-8 right hand. It extended the spindle...
A couple of years I got the itch to turn some bigger wall art. That meant an outboard tool rest. I sketched several ideas and ended up more or less cloning the Robust American Beauty outboard stand.
The swing is 28" to were I bolted the frame to the lathe headstock. To clear that part of the assembly I machined a spindle adapter to convert my outboard spindle from 1-1/8-8 left hand to 1-1/4"-8 right hand. It extended the spindle...
If you only searched the aaw that’s why you didnt find anything. Search the whole web, use diy “outboard” or “outrigger”. I found several. Here is one. I have an oem outrigger mounted to my Nova Galaxi - a real benefit of this bolt on type is it moves with the lathe bed if there is any vibration. I tried a stand alone rest as another turner’s shop, did not like that the tool rest was out of synch with the movement of the work. Once balanced enough to stop the vibration it was ok, but took much longer to balance things out vs my current set up.
View: https://youtu.be/ShQsQTbwXZI?si=CjOVLeFt97uAvUTA
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Here's one.
I had a Robust outboard setup on my Oneway very similar in design to this one and the Vicmarc. It would allow for large diameter work but I found it was not nearly as solid and chatter-free as the inboard rest, plus no tailstock. I suspect that is true of most outboard tool supports other than the Oneway, on which a tailstock can be mounted. I currently have a short outboard extension which works great for hollowing "normal" size bowls.
Older Delta lathes had the outboard end of their headstock spindles with left hand threads. Delta face plates could be purchased cross threaded with both right and left hand threads so they could be used inboard and outboard. Our high school woodshop lathes all had the outboard tool rest stands.
Outboard turning is fine. A free-standing tool rest stand should only contact the floor in three points to maximize stability. I’ll have to take pictures of the one I built.
Tim
Tim
I think I read from someone in here that they fabricated then bolted a heavy outboard tool rest into their garage concrete.
Sounds like that would be a highly stable solution, but not a mobile one!
--Scott
Sounds like that would be a highly stable solution, but not a mobile one!
--Scott
I made my own with one of my first lathes. The one key aspect I soon discovered is the out board turning gear needs a support to the floor, otherwise you need a large heavy set up in order to have a solid toolrest.
They are not hard to build if you some knowledge and skill on the engineering side of things.
But in the end I just built a bowl lathe to solve the issue, less set up , less gear to store and look after , and now I found I rarely go that big anyway. This one will spin 28" with no dramas
Attachments
A friend has turned many large bowls outboard on a fairly small Delta lathe (with a reeves drive). He bought a commercial outboard stand/tool rest, very heavy (and heavy duty), has three legs. I forget the brand but I could call and ask. Maybe I could go to his place and get a photo.
When looking at it, I imagined making one. Some metal cutting tools and a good welder would do it, weld on a large nut for height adjustment. Construct something like a lathe banjo (or repurpose a banjo) to use a std tool rest. I'd use some thick wall rectangular and round steel tubing. (Prob 2x4" tubing with 1/4" or 3/8" wall thickness for the legs.) If not experienced at welding a local weld/fab shop might do it.
JKJ
When looking at it, I imagined making one. Some metal cutting tools and a good welder would do it, weld on a large nut for height adjustment. Construct something like a lathe banjo (or repurpose a banjo) to use a std tool rest. I'd use some thick wall rectangular and round steel tubing. (Prob 2x4" tubing with 1/4" or 3/8" wall thickness for the legs.) If not experienced at welding a local weld/fab shop might do it.
JKJ
Long ago my late father made an outboard tool rest stand for use with his little old Delta/Rockwell Homecraft lathe. It's just a bunch of angle-iron and pipe welded together. More recently he was using it as a stand to hold his tool rack next to his current lathe. I'll try to get some pictures later this week.
This does not solve the problem of the OP, but it sure makes my heart flutter whenever I get a reason to post it! A love that was never given a chance... sigh.
It did inspire me to at least draw up my own Frankenstein version about 25 years ago, sort of like what hughie showed above, but without a bed, rather similar to the Union Graduate in this photo. Just without all the sexy curves...
It did inspire me to at least draw up my own Frankenstein version about 25 years ago, sort of like what hughie showed above, but without a bed, rather similar to the Union Graduate in this photo. Just without all the sexy curves...
Thanks for the info!
I have a Laguna 2436. If you are unfamiliar with that model, the headstock slides down to where the tailstock is. I would either have to get their bed extension that swivels back or take the tailstock off.
I am not really interested in turning larger bowls than what I can now but would like to do some wall art pieces like shields.
That lathe does not have an outboard option for using the handwheel side of the spindle. The only option is the one you describe, sliding the HS down and either removing the TS, getting the Laguna TS swing away (which does not drop the TS down and away like some mfr's), or build a cart that you push up to the TS, slide the TS onto it, then move it out of the way. There are quite a few examples of a TS removal cart I've seen in this forum over the years.
If the wall art work you want to do is < 24" dia, you're ready. If you want to go larger you have 2 options - a diy outboard tool rest holder, or a Laguna bed extension that can be mounted on the TS end leg, giving 38" swing according to Laguna. The kit includes a tool rest post extension. IMO the extension would be best, as it bolts to the lathe and will move in unison with the lathe for out of balance pieces, which is superior to a separate ground supported rest, and uses the banjo, allowing for easy tool rest repositioning.
I'm not sure about the short bed extension piece sitting on top of the 20" bed extension. Appears it could pushed up to the end of the lathe bed, TS pushed onto it, moved to the end of the bed extension, then the TS pushed onto a cart. Not sure if the Laguna swing away would work with the short bed on top of the extension? Some things to research and work through.
One of the tool rest supports from Woodfast, Vicmarc, or Grizzly (their most expensive lathe has a similar design to these others) could likely be made to work, but I think the cost will me as much or more than the Laguna bed extension. It's doable, just some things and $'s to work through. If you don't have floor space for the added length of the extension, or you just want to try a diy rest support, making one like the video I posted is about as cheap as it gets. That type can work, but they are a pita to readjust the rest position. Most of the time the whole monstrosity needs to be moved a little or a lot. The bed extension with the banjo does away with positioning problems.