Hi Guys,
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great day and that all the teams we want to win do so.
I'm wondering if I can get some help with bottle stopper turning. I am new to a lathe, but have a good bit of woodworking and do-it-yourself experience (I've noticed that my Jet lathe does not care how much experience I have; It seems to have a mind of its own.) my experience with a lathe is minimal. I have turned one pen in the past. I attended a class at my local Woodcraft and had a great time, hence the interest in turning. I have watched a number of videos on turning a bottle stopper and I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the mechanics. I WAS WRONG.
Here are the problems I am encountering.
1) I turned one bottle stopper last week and I used the tailstock to hold it in place. I realized this was a mistake as soon as I did it. It leaves a noticeable dimple in the top of the stopper. The first several will obviously be failures or experiments. I also should mention that when I scribed my lines in the end to hold the blank in place, the lines were not corner to corner. I am using a Zero Zero Center Finder that I purchased at Woodcraft.
2) I tried turning one this morning and was unsuccessful. I chucked the blank in a bottle stopper chuck that I purchased from Penn State. It was part of a 10 pack kit. I drilled the hole and mounted the blank. I had my lathe set to a medium speed. As soon as I touched the roughing tool (my tools are all very sharp) to the blank it stopped rotating. The only way to keep it rotating is to use very light pressure, which barely takes any wood off the blank.
3) I increased my pressure and the blank is now wobbling on the chuck and the previously tight hole is so loose that I can slip the blank on and off with no resistance at all. I may be able to salvage this blank in the future, but I still need to know what I am doing wrong.
This is a long missive and I apologize for that. I hope that someone can answer me with some helpful tips. I have some added pressure in that my wife wants me to make bottle stoppers for Xmas gifts. HELP.
Thanks,
Lou
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great day and that all the teams we want to win do so.
I'm wondering if I can get some help with bottle stopper turning. I am new to a lathe, but have a good bit of woodworking and do-it-yourself experience (I've noticed that my Jet lathe does not care how much experience I have; It seems to have a mind of its own.) my experience with a lathe is minimal. I have turned one pen in the past. I attended a class at my local Woodcraft and had a great time, hence the interest in turning. I have watched a number of videos on turning a bottle stopper and I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the mechanics. I WAS WRONG.
Here are the problems I am encountering.
1) I turned one bottle stopper last week and I used the tailstock to hold it in place. I realized this was a mistake as soon as I did it. It leaves a noticeable dimple in the top of the stopper. The first several will obviously be failures or experiments. I also should mention that when I scribed my lines in the end to hold the blank in place, the lines were not corner to corner. I am using a Zero Zero Center Finder that I purchased at Woodcraft.
2) I tried turning one this morning and was unsuccessful. I chucked the blank in a bottle stopper chuck that I purchased from Penn State. It was part of a 10 pack kit. I drilled the hole and mounted the blank. I had my lathe set to a medium speed. As soon as I touched the roughing tool (my tools are all very sharp) to the blank it stopped rotating. The only way to keep it rotating is to use very light pressure, which barely takes any wood off the blank.
3) I increased my pressure and the blank is now wobbling on the chuck and the previously tight hole is so loose that I can slip the blank on and off with no resistance at all. I may be able to salvage this blank in the future, but I still need to know what I am doing wrong.
This is a long missive and I apologize for that. I hope that someone can answer me with some helpful tips. I have some added pressure in that my wife wants me to make bottle stoppers for Xmas gifts. HELP.
Thanks,
Lou