monophoto
Member
The safest way to mount a piece for turning is between centers. There are many other approaches to mounting that are commonly used, but that expose the turner to increased risk if the mounting fails to hold the workpiece securely.
One category of methods involves fixtures that attach to the lathe headstock using a morse taper. The most common is the Jacobs chuck, but there are other examples that turners occasionally use. When a morse taper fixture is used without support from the tailstock, a drawbar is strongly recommended.
A drawbar is nothing more than a threaded rod that passes through the headstock spindle and screws into the end of the morse taper. You can probably buy drawbars, but this is an accessory that is far easier to simply make.
Two things are required to make a drawbar. The first is a length of all-thread rod (from the hardware or big box store) that matches the thread in the morse taper fixture. Common threads are 1/4x20 and 3/6x16. Allthread routinely comes in three-foot lengths, but large stores often sell one foot sections (but I like to have spare allthread around the shop - it's useful for many things).
The second thing is a threaded handle that screws over the end of the drawbar and locks it against the handwheel. My approach is to embed a 'T-nut' that matches the drawbar threading into a block of wood that I then turn to make a handle that fits over the end of the drawbar and is large enough to serve as a convenient way of tightening the handle against the hand-wheel on the lathe. You can also epoxy an ordinary machine nut into an appropriate recess in the wood.
Two suggestions for improving drawbars:
1. The threaded rod can abrade the inside of the headstock bore. I don't know if this could lead to problems, but a way to minimize abrasion is to slip a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the drawbar, leaving only about an inch of thread exposed at the end that screws into the Jacobs chuck or other fixture. Heating the tubing with a heat gun or torch (a hairdryer won't get hot enough) causes it to shrink down to leave the threads covered in soft plastic that won't scratch the sides of the bore.
2. The end of the drawbar protruding past the handle can be dangerous (DAMHIKT). A simple solution is to drill and tap a small scrap of wood to thread onto the drawbar, and then turn it to make a smooth knob to cover the exposed raw end of the metal rod.
One category of methods involves fixtures that attach to the lathe headstock using a morse taper. The most common is the Jacobs chuck, but there are other examples that turners occasionally use. When a morse taper fixture is used without support from the tailstock, a drawbar is strongly recommended.
A drawbar is nothing more than a threaded rod that passes through the headstock spindle and screws into the end of the morse taper. You can probably buy drawbars, but this is an accessory that is far easier to simply make.
Two things are required to make a drawbar. The first is a length of all-thread rod (from the hardware or big box store) that matches the thread in the morse taper fixture. Common threads are 1/4x20 and 3/6x16. Allthread routinely comes in three-foot lengths, but large stores often sell one foot sections (but I like to have spare allthread around the shop - it's useful for many things).
The second thing is a threaded handle that screws over the end of the drawbar and locks it against the handwheel. My approach is to embed a 'T-nut' that matches the drawbar threading into a block of wood that I then turn to make a handle that fits over the end of the drawbar and is large enough to serve as a convenient way of tightening the handle against the hand-wheel on the lathe. You can also epoxy an ordinary machine nut into an appropriate recess in the wood.
Two suggestions for improving drawbars:
1. The threaded rod can abrade the inside of the headstock bore. I don't know if this could lead to problems, but a way to minimize abrasion is to slip a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the drawbar, leaving only about an inch of thread exposed at the end that screws into the Jacobs chuck or other fixture. Heating the tubing with a heat gun or torch (a hairdryer won't get hot enough) causes it to shrink down to leave the threads covered in soft plastic that won't scratch the sides of the bore.
2. The end of the drawbar protruding past the handle can be dangerous (DAMHIKT). A simple solution is to drill and tap a small scrap of wood to thread onto the drawbar, and then turn it to make a smooth knob to cover the exposed raw end of the metal rod.
