Help me with lathe

)DEMON( · Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:38 am

I need to make some sort of bracket or something to hold the pvc while I machine it or it will slant and I won't be able to make o ring grooves, I have only been using my lathe today and I have no idea on how to go about doing this.

spudshot · Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:52 am

you mean you cant hold it in the 3 jaw chuck? well, for one, you're probably taking too deep of a cut at a time, and if you need to hold something long use a center rest. you cant take a very deep cut at once you need to turn the handle slowly so the PVC doesnt move, i've been using hand power on my lathe and i've been able to do some fairly good o-ring grooves, but of course my left arm is noticably bigger than my right from spinning the flat belt by hand

)DEMON( · Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:11 pm

I don't have any new bits, just what came with it.Tomorrow I am going to shop around with the money I will get(birthday) and I will see what I can find.
I have a wood lathe, a good one, I think you said you had a metal lathe.

boilingleadbath · Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:37 pm

Oh, yes. You are the one trying to machine to tolerance on a wood lathe.
I see I can't discurrage you, so I'll just wish you good luck in that endevor... you do have a set of calipers, right?

I've been making a set of mandrels as I need them.
Great things. You should really look into making yourself a set, spudshot, because they must reduce the time it takes to chuck something acceptably well by a factor of 3, prevent the infamous triangle-pipe situation, and you can hold the pipe much more firmly.

They are really easy to make too. Just take a peice of any old roundstock, and machine it's diameter to within a couple thousandths of the nominal diameter of your PVC pipe. I recomend sanding them smooth and putting a tapped through-hole in them too, to make them easier to apply and remove.
(to remove, screw a bolt in a few turns, stick the bolt in a vice, and tug on the pipe)

)DEMON( · Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:43 pm

Thnaks, that answers alot of questions

um, no one on this topic pay any attension to my signature.

spudshot · Fri Jun 23, 2006 6:04 pm

boilingleadbath wrote:Oh, yes. You are the one trying to machine to tolerance on a wood lathe.
I see I can't discurrage you, so I'll just wish you good luck in that endevor... you do have a set of calipers, right?

I've been making a set of mandrels as I need them.
Great things. You should really look into making yourself a set, spudshot, because they must reduce the time it takes to chuck something acceptably well by a factor of 3, prevent the infamous triangle-pipe situation, and you can hold the pipe much more firmly.

They are really easy to make too. Just take a peice of any old roundstock, and machine it's diameter to within a couple thousandths of the nominal diameter of your PVC pipe. I recomend sanding them smooth and putting a tapped through-hole in them too, to make them easier to apply and remove.
(to remove, screw a bolt in a few turns, stick the bolt in a vice, and tug on the pipe)

my problem at the moment is that my chuck is very old and has gone out of exact alignment, its good enough for screwing around, but not for some more precise stuff i want to machine (insert for a flaregun to make a primer fired bb gun) so i need to get a chuck and a backing plate with 1-1/2"x12 TPI (which is nearly if not totally impossible to find) i dont know if you have any sources for lathe parts BLB, but if you do, could you give me some links to see if they have untapped backplates? if i cant find it soon i'm just gonna blow my cash on a bench lathe i can use in my cellar