Stuck Faceplate

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oldtoolsniper

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Good ... now order some of these and you'll be all set! :)

No-Lock Lathe Spindle Washers | Wood Turning Lathe Accessories



Or cut one from a milk jug, yogurt lid, coffee can lid, milk jug, cottage cheese container, bleach bottle, detergent bottle, shampoo bottle, oil bottle, of any other plastic jug you may have around the house.

They don't even have to be perfect to work, they only need to separate metal to metal contact.


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aggie182

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Dec 29, 2016
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Missouri City, TX
What finally worked to get it off.
Make sure you cut a plastic washer to put behind it, the washer won't prevent it from sticking 100% but it seems to help.

Now you have to get brave enough to put it back on there when you need to use it again.


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Pipewrench secured by my better half on the hand wheel itself. I was too chicken to put it on the shaft that runs through the wheels the belt go on. I used a regular wrench on the flats on the faceplate and it broke free. I boogered up the hand wheel a bit but it should be fine. I'll probably sand the little sharp parts on the hand wheel down and be good to go. I did some drilling last night and it seemed like everything was spinning fine. I cut a plastic washer and put it on. Hope it helps! The blank chuck came off just fine.
 

jttheclockman

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NJ, USA.
Good ... now order some of these and you'll be all set! :)

No-Lock Lathe Spindle Washers | Wood Turning Lathe Accessories



Or cut one from a milk jug, yogurt lid, coffee can lid, milk jug, cottage cheese container, bleach bottle, detergent bottle, shampoo bottle, oil bottle, of any other plastic jug you may have around the house.

They don't even have to be perfect to work, they only need to separate metal to metal contact.


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app


The main factor when cutting your own plastic washer is that they are truely equally flat. Any deviation or hump will add vibration or out of roundness to the chuck no matter how small.
 

monophoto

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Saratoga Springs, NY
The main factor when cutting your own plastic washer is that they are truely equally flat. Any deviation or hump will add vibration or out of roundness to the chuck no matter how small.

Very true.

The other point here is to not spin the faceplate/chuck/whatever on so hard that it jams.

Some of the YouTube guys can be seen to use 'snap of the wrist' to force threaded fixings onto the spindle. That that does is increase the difficulty of eventually getting the fixing off the spindle. Instead, just gently thread the fixing onto the spindle leaving it 'finger tight'.
 

oldtoolsniper

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Iowa.
Good ... now order some of these and you'll be all set! :)



No-Lock Lathe Spindle Washers | Wood Turning Lathe Accessories







Or cut one from a milk jug, yogurt lid, coffee can lid, milk jug, cottage cheese container, bleach bottle, detergent bottle, shampoo bottle, oil bottle, of any other plastic jug you may have around the house.



They don't even have to be perfect to work, they only need to separate metal to metal contact.





Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app





The main factor when cutting your own plastic washer is that they are truely equally flat. Any deviation or hump will add vibration or out of roundness to the chuck no matter how small.



I guess I never considered that since I routinely make my own faceplates out of wood with simple lathe tools. Sometimes they are not laser perfect but they seem to work.

I use the 1x8 nylon lock nuts after I remove the nylon part. Learned it from some lady who wrote a few books on turning wood. I bet all those $1.00 nuts aren't machined to the enth degree ether.

I bet some of that wood used by more than one woodturner as faceplates may even be lopsided weight wise. I mean one side could be more dense than the other.

I find it hard to believe a little tiny piece of plastic that weighs next to zero will be causing much for vibration in this case.



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JimB

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West Henrietta, NY, USA.
Good ... now order some of these and you'll be all set! :)



No-Lock Lathe Spindle Washers | Wood Turning Lathe Accessories







Or cut one from a milk jug, yogurt lid, coffee can lid, milk jug, cottage cheese container, bleach bottle, detergent bottle, shampoo bottle, oil bottle, of any other plastic jug you may have around the house.



They don't even have to be perfect to work, they only need to separate metal to metal contact.





Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app





The main factor when cutting your own plastic washer is that they are truely equally flat. Any deviation or hump will add vibration or out of roundness to the chuck no matter how small.



I guess I never considered that since I routinely make my own faceplates out of wood with simple lathe tools. Sometimes they are not laser perfect but they seem to work.

I use the 1x8 nylon lock nuts after I remove the nylon part. Learned it from some lady who wrote a few books on turning wood. I bet all those $1.00 nuts aren't machined to the enth degree ether.

I bet some of that wood used by more than one woodturner as faceplates may even be lopsided weight wise. I mean one side could be more dense than the other.

I find it hard to believe a little tiny piece of plastic that weighs next to zero will be causing much for vibration in this case.



Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app

I don't think John is talking about the weight of the washer. I believe he is referring to the fact that if the washer isn't flat and even thickness then the faceplate will not sit flat against the washer but will rather make contact only at the point of the 'hump' and can cause vibration. The problem will be more evident the heavier the piece of wood is that you have mounted.
 

oldtoolsniper

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Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
236
Location
Iowa.
Good ... now order some of these and you'll be all set! :)







No-Lock Lathe Spindle Washers | Wood Turning Lathe Accessories















Or cut one from a milk jug, yogurt lid, coffee can lid, milk jug, cottage cheese container, bleach bottle, detergent bottle, shampoo bottle, oil bottle, of any other plastic jug you may have around the house.







They don't even have to be perfect to work, they only need to separate metal to metal contact.











Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app











The main factor when cutting your own plastic washer is that they are truely equally flat. Any deviation or hump will add vibration or out of roundness to the chuck no matter how small.







I guess I never considered that since I routinely make my own faceplates out of wood with simple lathe tools. Sometimes they are not laser perfect but they seem to work.



I use the 1x8 nylon lock nuts after I remove the nylon part. Learned it from some lady who wrote a few books on turning wood. I bet all those $1.00 nuts aren't machined to the enth degree ether.



I bet some of that wood used by more than one woodturner as faceplates may even be lopsided weight wise. I mean one side could be more dense than the other.



I find it hard to believe a little tiny piece of plastic that weighs next to zero will be causing much for vibration in this case.







Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app



I don't think John is talking about the weight of the washer. I believe he is referring to the fact that if the washer isn't flat and even thickness then the faceplate will not sit flat against the washer but will rather make contact only at the point of the 'hump' and can cause vibration. The problem will be more evident the heavier the piece of wood is that you have mounted.



Still I find it hard to believe that every chuck, commercial faceplate, beall collet or whatever you screw onto that $350-$600 lathe is lapped to precision to fit dead flat each time you screw it on. I could understand that if the lathe were made for perhaps brain surgery. I'm going to bet there is some variation and the level of precision you speak of does not exist on a Turncrafter lathe.


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MrPukaShell

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Simi Valley, CA, USA.
Get a "Spanner Wrench" to hold the spindle using that little hole next to the headstock. Get or find the wrench that fits the faceplate. Make sure the faceplate or check is seated prior to turning the lathe on so it does not lock on by the lathe spinning. Hope this helps along with the plastic washer
 

monophoto

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Saratoga Springs, NY
I don't think John is talking about the weight of the washer. I believe he is referring to the fact that if the washer isn't flat and even thickness then the faceplate will not sit flat against the washer but will rather make contact only at the point of the 'hump' and can cause vibration. The problem will be more evident the heavier the piece of wood is that you have mounted.

Exactly!

Let's put some numbers on this. Faceplates are generally used for face-grain turning. So the concern is that if the faceplate is not absolutely perpendicular to the axis of rotation, there will be some 'runout' (aka 'wobble') at the perimeter of the turning. A faceplate is machined such that the faces are exactly parallel. That is, if the faceplate is screwed onto the spindle such that the back face snugs up against the face of the spindle, the face where the wood attaches to the faceplate will be exactly perpendicular to the spindle axis. But suppose that there is a washer between the back of the faceplate and the face of the spindle, and that washer is very slightly not flat. For the sake of discussion, assume that one side is 0.1mm thicker than the other side. Now, when the faceplate is snugged up against the face of the spindle, the out-of-flat washer therefore causes it to be cocked as a very slight angle to the axis of rotation. OP started this conversation with a question about a Turncrafter Commander lathe - which has a 1" spindle diameter. That means that the faceplate will be 0.1mm away from the face of the spindle at one point, and touching the face of the spindle at a point 180 degrees away. Then, if you are turning a piece with a 5" radius, that 0.1mm error will therefore be amplified by a factor of 10 - to product a side-to-side wobble at the perimeter of the piece of 1mm. And if you then machine that edge to be flat using a tool anchored on the tool rest, the result will be a 1mm error in the thickness of the finished turning.

The same thing is true when using a chuck, but in addition to causing wobble at the perimeter of the piece, there is also wobble along the length of the spindle that is also related to the deviation in flatness in the washer by that same ratio - spindle that is 5" long will experience 1mm of runout at the end.

So the point here is that if you want the turning to be accurate, the fixing (faceplate or chuck) must be exactly perpendicular to the axis of rotation, and anything that acts like a shim between the back of the fixing and the face of the lathe spindle will result in runout that will be amplified as the diameter or length of the turning increases.

And obviously, there will also be vibration that will increase as the blank becomes heavier.
 
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oldtoolsniper

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Iowa.
I don't think John is talking about the weight of the washer. I believe he is referring to the fact that if the washer isn't flat and even thickness then the faceplate will not sit flat against the washer but will rather make contact only at the point of the 'hump' and can cause vibration. The problem will be more evident the heavier the piece of wood is that you have mounted.

Exactly!

Let's put some numbers on this. Faceplates are generally used for face-grain turning. So the concern is that if the faceplate is not absolutely perpendicular to the axis of rotation, there will be some 'runout' (aka 'wobble') at the perimeter of the turning. A faceplate is machined such that the faces are exactly parallel. That is, if the faceplate is screwed onto the spindle such that the back face snugs up against the face of the spindle, the face where the wood attaches to the faceplate will be exactly perpendicular to the spindle axis. But suppose that there is a washer between the back of the faceplate and the face of the spindle, and that washer is very slightly not flat. For the sake of discussion, assume that one side is 0.1mm thicker than the other side. Now, when the faceplate is snugged up against the face of the spindle, the out-of-flat washer therefore causes it to be cocked as a very slight angle to the axis of rotation. OP started this conversation with a question about a Turncrafter Commander lathe - which has a 1" spindle diameter. That means that the faceplate will be 0.1mm away from the face of the spindle at one point, and touching the face of the spindle at a point 180 degrees away. Then, if you are turning a piece with a 5" radius, that 0.1mm error will therefore be amplified by a factor of 10 - to product a side-to-side wobble at the perimeter of the piece of 1mm. And if you then machine that edge to be flat using a tool anchored on the tool rest, the result will be a 1mm error in the thickness of the finished turning.

The same thing is true when using a chuck, but in addition to causing wobble at the perimeter of the piece, there is also wobble along the length of the spindle that is also related to the deviation in flatness in the washer by that same ratio - spindle that is 5" long will experience 1mm of runout at the end.

So the point here is that if you want the turning to be accurate, the fixing (faceplate or chuck) must be exactly perpendicular to the axis of rotation, and anything that acts like a shim between the back of the fixing and the face of the lathe spindle will result in runout that will be amplified as the diameter or length of the turning increases.

And obviously, there will also be vibration that will increase as the blank becomes heavier.



And PSI gets all that precision in a faceplate they have manufactured in china, packaged, shipped to them in the USA and then sent out to the consumer for $17.95.

I think those plastic washers would need to go up in price if they are machining them to those tolerances.


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KenV

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Juneau, Alaska.
A touch of wax on the mating surfaces of the headstock and the chuck/faceplate makes a difference too. This does not cause wobble that increases runout and other challenges.

Do it the same time you wax the ways and it becomes a habit.
 

duncsuss

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Still I find it hard to believe that every chuck, commercial faceplate, beall collet or whatever you screw onto that $350-$600 lathe is lapped to precision to fit dead flat each time you screw it on. I could understand that if the lathe were made for perhaps brain surgery. I'm going to bet there is some variation and the level of precision you speak of does not exist on a Turncrafter lathe.

You might be right, you might be surprised.

We had a demonstration by Stuart Batty last November. He was turning a cherry bowl, about 8" diameter, on a Powermatic lathe. At one point he stopped and said, "There's some vibration, let's find out why and fix it."

The chuck was fine. The tenon in the chuck was fine. The headstock was clamped down tight.

He loosened the headstock and slid it along the ways, and found a little saw dust had been trapped between the headstock and the lathe bed. Cleaned that out, clamped everything down, and he was off to the races.

It really does not take much to induce vibration.
 

jttheclockman

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Yes to all counts. I am talking about the face of the washer. The question is why add any home made vibration if you can avoid it. That is my point. Now if your chuck is not top quality it is something else. But yes it is a wood lathe and we do not deal with the tolerances that a metal lathe does. But you want to avoid the dreaded frozen chuck to the lathe and this method has been proven many times over to be a good way to avoid that part. Now note those washers do need to be changed time and again.

When you screw any chuck on the spindle you will notice those threads are nowhere near tight tolerances. There is a lot of slop in them. What stops the vibration is the butting of the chuck to the head stock and that is where that washer is. After that good luck.
 

Skie_M

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John's exactly right ... the spindle shoulder IS machined to tight tolerances because it has to be perfectly parallel to the spindle rotation.

You want your washer to be perfectly flat ... milk jugs and those other plastics MIGHT do the trick, if they are flat enough, but they were made for holding food, and holding an exterior shape only. If you find plastic that's thin enough and flat all the way around, then use it!

As for a faceplate being out of true .... yes, it'll wobble a bit, but as long as you aren't vibrating the heck out of your lathe and your workstation, you can still turn a piece of wood true, as it'll have it's own center of rotation. Once you have the tenon turned, take the faceplate off and use your chuck to turn .... and get a new faceplate or make your own!

Making faceplates is easy. Just need a nut that fits your lathe spindle. Use epoxy over CA for this, as it'll need to absorb quite a bit of shock and vibration during turning, but you'll drill a hole in a birch ply board or a piece of MDF (or other decently strong flat stock, hardwood works too) roughly the size of the nut exterior ... using a chisel to chip out the 6 corners. You want the nut to seat at least halfway into the board. Epoxy it in place, using a vice or clamps to try to keep it seated level.

It doesn't have to be perfect! Once you get the nut glued in and it's had time to fully cure (wait 24 hours), knock the corners off or rough out the general size you want your faceplate to be, and mount it on the lathe. Now you round the exterior to your liking, true up the BACK to reduce wobble and vibration, and true up the FRONT where you'll be attaching your work pieces. Once it's completely rounded and trued front and back, there's no wobble and there should be no out of balance issues as long as the material you choose is of uniform density. There's no need to finish one of these, unless you just like the nicer appearance or want some extra durability against water or other types of damage over time.
 

oldtoolsniper

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Still I find it hard to believe that every chuck, commercial faceplate, beall collet or whatever you screw onto that $350-$600 lathe is lapped to precision to fit dead flat each time you screw it on. I could understand that if the lathe were made for perhaps brain surgery. I'm going to bet there is some variation and the level of precision you speak of does not exist on a Turncrafter lathe.

You might be right, you might be surprised.

We had a demonstration by Stuart Batty last November. He was turning a cherry bowl, about 8" diameter, on a Powermatic lathe. At one point he stopped and said, "There's some vibration, let's find out why and fix it."

The chuck was fine. The tenon in the chuck was fine. The headstock was clamped down tight.

He loosened the headstock and slid it along the ways, and found a little saw dust had been trapped between the headstock and the lathe bed. Cleaned that out, clamped everything down, and he was off to the races.

It really does not take much to induce vibration.



I've learned a lot. I'll have to take my headstock off and get the sawdust out from under it.

A $18 Chinese faceplate is machined to absolute tolerances.

A couple thousands off on one side the thickness of a plastic washer can throw my lathe out of balance.

I ponder this and wonder how it is that I turn wood that is out of round to round without some insane vibrations.

I wonder to when I turn a blank that is part Alumilite and part wood why that does not reek havoc on my lathe as well. It would seem to me that there would be an out of balance issue there as well. Either the wood or the alumilite is going to weigh more than the other.

If you drop a round section of dowel into water the same side floats to the top every time. I was taught to make fishing lures using this method, mark the dowel topside and add the hooks to the side that is the bottom. Why fight the balance of the wood.

That indicates to me that the dowel is out of balance, when I turn it on the lathe will it not still be that way? Will the density somehow magically balance out because of my precision washer?

So if I understand all of this correctly a lathes threads are so sloppy, yet somehow so precision that a couple thousands of an inch in thickness on a plastic washer or some dust will throw the whole thing out of wack.

It's no wonder new lathe owners are discouraged.

Plastic washers.

I don't even know what skie is talking about.











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aggie182

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I cut my plastic washer out of the plastic box my mandrel came in. It will hopefully work for now. It's kind of ugly. Next time I'm near woodcraft, I may stop in an spend the $2, or whatever, on a state of the art, perfectly round and beautiful plastic washer.
 
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I have one of the nylon washers on my lathes now, but for several years, I used a piece of thick leather that I had laying about, cut it roughly round and used a 1" pipe as a punch and punched a hole to fit over the spindle threads... worked fine until I finally let loose of the $2 or so for the nylon washers.
 

jttheclockman

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Still I find it hard to believe that every chuck, commercial faceplate, beall collet or whatever you screw onto that $350-$600 lathe is lapped to precision to fit dead flat each time you screw it on. I could understand that if the lathe were made for perhaps brain surgery. I'm going to bet there is some variation and the level of precision you speak of does not exist on a Turncrafter lathe.

You might be right, you might be surprised.

We had a demonstration by Stuart Batty last November. He was turning a cherry bowl, about 8" diameter, on a Powermatic lathe. At one point he stopped and said, "There's some vibration, let's find out why and fix it."

The chuck was fine. The tenon in the chuck was fine. The headstock was clamped down tight.

He loosened the headstock and slid it along the ways, and found a little saw dust had been trapped between the headstock and the lathe bed. Cleaned that out, clamped everything down, and he was off to the races.

It really does not take much to induce vibration.



I've learned a lot. I'll have to take my headstock off and get the sawdust out from under it.

A $18 Chinese faceplate is machined to absolute tolerances.

A couple thousands off on one side the thickness of a plastic washer can throw my lathe out of balance.

I ponder this and wonder how it is that I turn wood that is out of round to round without some insane vibrations.

I wonder to when I turn a blank that is part Alumilite and part wood why that does not reek havoc on my lathe as well. It would seem to me that there would be an out of balance issue there as well. Either the wood or the alumilite is going to weigh more than the other.

If you drop a round section of dowel into water the same side floats to the top every time. I was taught to make fishing lures using this method, mark the dowel topside and add the hooks to the side that is the bottom. Why fight the balance of the wood.

That indicates to me that the dowel is out of balance, when I turn it on the lathe will it not still be that way? Will the density somehow magically balance out because of my precision washer?

So if I understand all of this correctly a lathes threads are so sloppy, yet somehow so precision that a couple thousands of an inch in thickness on a plastic washer or some dust will throw the whole thing out of wack.

It's no wonder new lathe owners are discouraged.

Plastic washers.

I don't even know what skie is talking about.











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Not sure but I am detecting some sort of disbelief. But what I think it comes down to is you are not understanding the performance of a wood lathe. You can get vibration from so many things on a wood lathe. lathe Out of square or not lying flat, belt, bearings, wood itself out of round (this is the object here to make it round) chucks or other means of holding said wood, dust in the ways, dust behind the chuck, unflat washers. The list will go on. But all chucks rely on one thing and that is mating up against the flat of the head stock. From there a piece of wood is spun on that particular chucks center. So if the chuck has flaws in the jaws or you mounted the wood wrong it will initially show up but eventually will be spun to center. Now depending how well you tailstock and headstock line up will help determine weather that center line stays centered. Yes your better chucks will perform better no matter where they are made. Just because you use a true flat washer will not take out imbalance or vibration if it is coming from the many other sources. I just mentioned a flat washer because that is one less thing you need to worry about. The little things like that and cleaning are easy things. Use a washer or not it is your lathe.
 

robutacion

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Well, read the whole thread and initially, the OP had many suggestions to resolve his problem, some of which I experience myself.

The removing of a stuck face place or even a regular chuck, can be a nightmare to resolve, some consideration to the late/spindle system of the machine with the problem, will require slight different approaches, mostly to protect/prevent the locking mechanism system and other things but, and as I said, a number of options have been presented and they all have they own merits...!

As for the plastic washes, I went that route after I got my chuck stuck, I started by making my own of materials suggested here but, I didn't like them and searched for the proper made spindle washes, bought a dozen and half still new, this was 8 or 9 years ago.

Now, before the chuck (Nova G3) got stuck, I was having problems with a wobble that would change behaviour often, depend upon what I had turned before such as a big piece or a small piece.

The wobble was traced to the thread tolerances between the lathe (Nova 1624-44) and chuck tightness, mounted manually (hand tight) the wobble was more significant but because I didn't want to use force to tighten the chuck and make it stuck and have to go through the dramas I heard others going through, I keep losing the chuck and inserting it by hand before every new job.

Particularly with turning bowl, a "catch" is not unusual nor are the big nasty catches that scare the bajivas out of you however, I had very different/opposite results every time a bad catch would happen, sometimes the spindle/chuck would stop wobbling and run smooth and other times the very opposite would happen making me stop the lathe and inspect.

So, what was happening...? because of the thread tolerances as mentioned above, when the chuck was hand tight, the tolerances were more constant due to slight movement of the chuck slightly moving position on the spindle thread however, when a bad catch would happen, the chuck would jam tight and depending on where the "flat" faces of the steel would touch each other, the position of the chuck would either lock on one side of the thread clearance and therefore, creation the out of balance motion of the chuck. A few time that a bad catch has neutralise the wobble was when the chuck would jam on the flat metal surfaces where the thread tolerance would be equal all around making it to run smooth.

When I started using the proper plastic washers and hand tight the chuck, I could see that the wobble would almost disappear but, as soon as I had a considerable catch, the wobble would increase but it never got stuck in the spindle as before, most times, just by losing the chuck and hand tight it again would solve the problem however, I had a few times where turning the washer around would be a better solution until the washer got too squashed and needed replacement.

With all this said, there was one issue that I had since the beginning when I got the chuck and the insert for it that I never resolved and that shouldn't have happened in the first place and that was the chuck wobble.

At the time, there were various suggestions I was given (other forum) on how to alter the chuck insert to reduce/fix the wobble. It was evident that the insert that came with the G3 chuck was not made right and the threads had too much tolerances causing the problem.

Now, believe it or not, I have used this lathe all these years, dealing with the chuck wobble the ways I explained however, a large percentage of my turnings started without the chuck but rarely I could finish the piece without its use but by then, most of the important work was done.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I received a "Sherwood" catalogue (one of the main wood-working tool names in Australia, and the one I acquired most of my machinery) and in it, they had a promotion for all spindle lathe accessories, from chucks, plates, etc, etc., so I saw the G3 chuck inserts listed and they were made by "Teknatool" which make s most of Nova accessories while my original insert was not made by this people.

So, I got the new insert and after cleaning the spindle thread, I installed it and noticed a gap between the back of the insert and the lathe spindle thread stop so, it would not go any further back a distance that I didn't measure but it looked the same as the proper plastics bushes sold to put in there and I thought a little odd.

With the lathe on, the spindle runs true as it should so, I decided to remove the spindle and insert a new plastic bush and see it would run loose or not. Well, tightening the spindle by hand, I could feel a softer contact when tightening it with the same hand torque as before, putting the fingers on the plastic washer, it was tight and wouldn't move so, trying the turn the lathe on again, I saw no difference than without the bush and that was good enough for me,

I wonder, if the new inserts are made to accommodate these plastic bushes, and if so, why they don't sell the inserts with some of these plastic bushes?

Have you had a similar experience...?

Cheers
George
 

oldtoolsniper

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Mar 19, 2007
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236
Location
Iowa.
Well, read the whole thread and initially, the OP had many suggestions to resolve his problem, some of which I experience myself.



The removing of a stuck face place or even a regular chuck, can be a nightmare to resolve, some consideration to the late/spindle system of the machine with the problem, will require slight different approaches, mostly to protect/prevent the locking mechanism system and other things but, and as I said, a number of options have been presented and they all have they own merits...!



As for the plastic washes, I went that route after I got my chuck stuck, I started by making my own of materials suggested here but, I didn't like them and searched for the proper made spindle washes, bought a dozen and half still new, this was 8 or 9 years ago.



Now, before the chuck (Nova G3) got stuck, I was having problems with a wobble that would change behaviour often, depend upon what I had turned before such as a big piece or a small piece.



The wobble was traced to the thread tolerances between the lathe (Nova 1624-44) and chuck tightness, mounted manually (hand tight) the wobble was more significant but because I didn't want to use force to tighten the chuck and make it stuck and have to go through the dramas I heard others going through, I keep losing the chuck and inserting it by hand before every new job.



Particularly with turning bowl, a "catch" is not unusual nor are the big nasty catches that scare the bajivas out of you however, I had very different/opposite results every time a bad catch would happen, sometimes the spindle/chuck would stop wobbling and run smooth and other times the very opposite would happen making me stop the lathe and inspect.



So, what was happening...? because of the thread tolerances as mentioned above, when the chuck was hand tight, the tolerances were more constant due to slight movement of the chuck slightly moving position on the spindle thread however, when a bad catch would happen, the chuck would jam tight and depending on where the "flat" faces of the steel would touch each other, the position of the chuck would either lock on one side of the thread clearance and therefore, creation the out of balance motion of the chuck. A few time that a bad catch has neutralise the wobble was when the chuck would jam on the flat metal surfaces where the thread tolerance would be equal all around making it to run smooth.



When I started using the proper plastic washers and hand tight the chuck, I could see that the wobble would almost disappear but, as soon as I had a considerable catch, the wobble would increase but it never got stuck in the spindle as before, most times, just by losing the chuck and hand tight it again would solve the problem however, I had a few times where turning the washer around would be a better solution until the washer got too squashed and needed replacement.



With all this said, there was one issue that I had since the beginning when I got the chuck and the insert for it that I never resolved and that shouldn't have happened in the first place and that was the chuck wobble.



At the time, there were various suggestions I was given (other forum) on how to alter the chuck insert to reduce/fix the wobble. It was evident that the insert that came with the G3 chuck was not made right and the threads had too much tolerances causing the problem.



Now, believe it or not, I have used this lathe all these years, dealing with the chuck wobble the ways I explained however, a large percentage of my turnings started without the chuck but rarely I could finish the piece without its use but by then, most of the important work was done.



Anyway, a few weeks ago, I received a "Sherwood" catalogue (one of the main wood-working tool names in Australia, and the one I acquired most of my machinery) and in it, they had a promotion for all spindle lathe accessories, from chucks, plates, etc, etc., so I saw the G3 chuck inserts listed and they were made by "Teknatool" which make s most of Nova accessories while my original insert was not made by this people.



So, I got the new insert and after cleaning the spindle thread, I installed it and noticed a gap between the back of the insert and the lathe spindle thread stop so, it would not go any further back a distance that I didn't measure but it looked the same as the proper plastics bushes sold to put in there and I thought a little odd.



With the lathe on, the spindle runs true as it should so, I decided to remove the spindle and insert a new plastic bush and see it would run loose or not. Well, tightening the spindle by hand, I could feel a softer contact when tightening it with the same hand torque as before, putting the fingers on the plastic washer, it was tight and wouldn't move so, trying the turn the lathe on again, I saw no difference than without the bush and that was good enough for me,



I wonder, if the new inserts are made to accommodate these plastic bushes, and if so, why they don't sell the inserts with some of these plastic bushes?



Have you had a similar experience...?



Cheers

George



I'm not familiar with the chuck set up you have.
I have a Jet VS 1014 or something like that.
I own two oneway talon chucks and a PSI six jaw chuck. All three of these seat all the way onto my headstock without anything added. I have never used anything but my hands to put a chuck onto my lathe. Many times after a catch when turning small logs, branches, bowls or whatever the chuck is on a little tighter than hand tight, I'll call it catch tight. Removing a catch tight chuck has not always been fun as has been noted in this thread.

In my opinion the insert should butt up tight to the headstock. Even the $99 PSI chuck accomplishes this on my little Jet lathe.

There are differences in the "fit and finish" between a oneway chuck and a PSI chuck but the price point is different as well. I'm using those as my example because I own and use them. Even with the quality difference all three of them butt tight to the headstock without the dreaded wobble inducing plastic washers.

I use the nylon locking nuts 1x8 when I make things to screw onto the headstock of my lathe. I cut the nylon part out of the nut. The reason I do this is because those nuts are tall enough to bottom out against the headstock spindle. Standard 1x8 nuts are not tall enough for this.

47e47ba5a4940efc9f455d53fba9ab58.jpg


Standard 1x8 nut clearly showing threads not covered.

fdf80f3e7eac5fae3f1fa619cab388a1.jpg


4d73e3d4586767cce876b0af7c42b3a9.jpg


Nylon locknut with nylon removed butts against the spindle face on the headstock. I use them for this reason. After you pry out that nylon locking insert they seat fully on my jet lathe. No welding washers or anything else required to get those nuts to seat. I learned it from a Bonnie Kline turning demonstration.

My apologies for the plastic washer it was once a cottage cheese lid.









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Last edited:

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
I'm not familiar with the chuck set up you have.
I have a Jet VS 1014 or something like that.
I own two oneway talon chucks and a PSI six jaw chuck. All three of these seat all the way onto my headstock without anything added. I have never used anything but my hands to put a chuck onto my lathe. Many times after a catch when turning small logs, branches, bowls or whatever the chuck is on a little tighter than hand tight, I'll call it catch tight. Removing a catch tight chuck has not always been fun as has been noted in this thread.

In my opinion the insert should butt up tight to the headstock. Even the $99 PSI chuck accomplishes this on my little Jet lathe.

There are differences in the "fit and finish" between a oneway chuck and a PSI chuck but the price point is different as well. I'm using those as my example because I own and use them. Even with the quality difference all three of them butt tight to the headstock without the dreaded wobble inducing plastic washers.

I use the nylon locking nuts 1x8 when I make things to screw onto the headstock of my lathe. I cut the nylon part out of the nut. The reason I do this is because those nuts are tall enough to bottom out against the headstock spindle. Standard 1x8 nuts are not tall enough for this.

Standard 1x8 nut clearly showing threads not covered.

Nylon locknut with nylon removed butts against the spindle face on the headstock. I use them for this reason. After you pry out that nylon locking insert they seat fully on my jet lathe. No welding washers or anything else required to get those nuts to seat. I learned it from a Bonnie Kline turning demonstration.

My apologies for the plastic washer it was once a cottage cheese lid.

Well, I understand what you are saying and it may be that I still haven't the right insert however, I was on the phone with the shop guy that is suppose to be the thecn. guy in the shop for these type issues and I was very clear of the type of lathe and chuck I had, which he was very familiar with so, I won't be surprised if the correct insert should butt flat on the spindle, it would make a lot more sense so, I may need to expand this issue a little more.

I will take some pics of my set-up/spindle/insert/chuck tomorrow and I will post here...!

Cheers
George
 

Rounder

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
753
Location
Marlin, TX
So to me, the most important and yet unasked question is this: Since you got the faceplate off, DO YOU STILL GET THE NEW LATHE???
 
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