Desperatly Need Your Help

[rodtod11]

Guys, Today after destroying the 5th blank in a row, I was ready to throw the lathe onto the concrete to see how many pieces it would break into. One I cut too deep in the middle. another had the wood crack, another had chips on the end of the barrel where it would meet the cap, the hole doesnt go straight through the blank on my drill press. I go to trim the ends and a huge chip breaks off exposing the brass barrel. And many more issues.
I bought a used Grizzly MT 1 lathe, a new mt 1 mandrel, now bent, and I use a hand drill with a barrel trimmer to trim up the ends before placing them on the lathe. I have the carbide tipped tools, one round and one square. I use a used craftsman drill press I got at a garage sale.
Thing is I really want to get good at this. I attached a picture of one pen I did to show that I can do it. I have made about 15 succesfully and those my wife uses at work have had people ask her if they sell them in the store she works in. But, for some reason a simple letter opener is about to make me give it up. My wife thinks its just the equipment I am using, I am just frustrated that for two weeks I have produced nothing but saw dust. Any body have any advice???

 

[ashaw]

It takes time and practice. Yes better equipment may help, but your best help is to keep practicing. If you are bending the mandrel either you are push to hard into the blank or the tail stock is to tight. I can tell you I have been doing this for 12 years now and through out a lot of blanks at first. Also check you gluing. I stopped using CA and switch over to epoxy. Right now speed is not your friend. That will come over time.

 

[Tim'sTurnings]

I have read about a lot of new people that are having the same problems as you. I personally think it might be because of the carbide tools/scrapers. They can be very aggressive and can cause all of the problems you stated. In my opinion it would be better to start with a gouge and a skew rather than the carbide tools. I have only used a carbide tool a couple of times and it grabbed and created many problems. I don't use carbide anymore, too easy to ruin a blank from the tool.
Tim.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

What kind of wood are you turning? How old is your barrel trimmer? Sometimes carbide tools can be too aggressive and tear up blanks.

 

[commercialbuilder]

If you have not already done so I would suggest tuning up the lath and drill press to make sure they are working properly. You can Google tuning up a lathe and get some good articles on how to make sure everything is aligned. The drill press is harder to do anything with, it just doesn't have adjustments that can be made as far as I can tell. You can make the table on the drill press adjustable so it can be square to the drill bits to help with drilling the hole straight thru the blank. You can also sand the ends square to the tube if you have a sander that will allow you to use a jig to hold the tube thru the blank square with the sander. I had some similar issues when I started turning and most were caused by inferior equipment and my limited knowledge at the time. I have since got a better lathe and now do my drilling on it also. It has made a big difference in the finished product and cut down on the problems I was having. The only other comment I have is your squaring cutter may not be very sharp, you can sharpen them by filing the flat part of the cutter not the bevel and go real slow with the drill speed when you first start using the cutter.
I hope this makes sense and helps
Mike

 

[rodtod11]

Thanks guys! I was turning a variety of wood types. Blanks I got on ebay. Black Walnut, Alder, Ash, etc. Thing is the carbide tipped tools were great on the acrylics. I go to the wood and no luck at all. I did a lot with my other tools. A set of steel tools I got with the lathe. I think I will pick up the sander and go back to the other tools for wood. The epoxy idea is interesting. What type of epoxy do you use?

 

[Edgar]

I haven't had any problems with carbide tipped tools on wood blanks and I prefer them to gouges. All the guys at my local Woodcraft store use them and showed me how to properly use them. They definitely take a different technique than gouges.

 

[Leatherman1998]

It might be the carbide in the way that it is to aggressive. I have 5-7 carbide tools of all sizes and one thing that might help is to take the round cutter tool bar over to the sander and soften the bottom edges. When using the tool angle the cutter at a 45° and pull it toward you from the center then switch sides and work the other half. If you take the edges down to about an 8th over the bushings then work the center usually it won't blow out.

Sent from my Rooted Galaxy Player.

 

[randyrls]

Thanks guys! I was turning a variety of wood types. Blanks I got on ebay. Black Walnut, Alder, Ash, etc. Thing is the carbide tipped tools were great on the acrylics. I go to the wood and no luck at all. I did a lot with my other tools. A set of steel tools I got with the lathe. I think I will pick up the sander and go back to the other tools for wood. The epoxy idea is interesting. What type of epoxy do you use?

Rod; Carbide tools are great on acrylics, but too aggressive for wood with a rough surface finish. The carbide tends to rip out the fibers creating an uneven surface. A sharpened skew used in a shearing cut will produce a smooth surface and you can start sanding at 320, or 400 grit, sometimes even 600 grit.

Look in a woodcraft catalog. Under the wood descriptions it will tell how suitable the particular wood is for turning.

As others have said, practice is the best (and maybe) only way to improve.

 

[keithbyrd]

I generally use a carbide tool on just about all my pens. It can be aggressive but I take light cuts(using the corners) until I get it round and sense how stable/strong the wood is - black palm is the only one that gives me any trouble with carbide tools. I change my tips fairly quickly to ensure I have a sharp edge.

 

[Dale Lynch]

Carbide tools work wonders on wood as long as you present them to the blank properly.They have to make contact on center.If you make contact under center it will try and rip the wood off the tube.The softer the wood the more accurate it needs to be.

 

[SerenityWoodWorks]

First off...Forget all the advice on the Carbide vs traditional tools...ask 100 different turners and and get 105 different answers...Find what YOUR comfortable with. Some guys will be the greatest turners with a skew and then you hand them a Carbide and they can only make sawdust and hand a Carbide guy the skew and well lets just say I hope their insurance is up to date. Also I see that you don't list what part of the great big world your from..List that and there just might be someone near you that can help you or a club not far away. I concur on the tuning your tools post, alot of people buy tools brand new and never tune then, they don't like the way they work so in the garage sale they go and they then go and buy a "better" tool from a woodworking store that has been tuned up prior to sale and they then blame the tool. Something that I would highly recommend is, speed the lathe up and slow your hands down no matter what tool you use, small cuts are your friend, you can always take more wood off, the putting more wood back gets tricky. If you happen to be in the Carolinas area, drop me a note.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Sounds like you have different probs may be different causes / solutions.


You cut the middle too thin on one. That's just technique. Turn the ends closer then take the middle down to where you want it.

The ends may be a barrel trimmer issue. I use a disk sander instead of a barrel trimmer and have been very pleased with it. You might consider that or sharpening your trimmer. Or the drill could be coming in too aggressively.

I MUCH prefer to drill on the lathe, but that requires owning a scroll chuck and a Jacobs chuck. All well worth the investment if you are going to continue on with turning.

These and so many other issues can be in play.

Is there another member close to you? Nothing beats one on one 'coaching'

 

[snyiper]

I doubt it is the tools but like said before it may be the way they are set up. I have a 1942 atlas wood lathe and it does fine provided I do my part. now have I chunked any? Oh lord yes had my share of blow outs as well. Take the time to tune your gear to the best of its and your ability that will help. Get a digital micrometer if you dont own one it is invaluable. I use carbide as well as HSS tools but I use my skew as a scraper it is a bit different compared to using it to make shearing cuts (which I am learning). I also do not use any type of crazy glue to glue blanks I like epoxy's as well, I use what ED sells over at Exotics. and most of all use sharp tools I have never been real good at sharpening so I use a mouse pad and sand paper to sharpen my skew. I darken the edge with sharpie then grind to the correct angle....scary sharp.

 

[stonepecker]

At Times, it just pays to walk away and take a break. Give it a rest and come back with a fresh mind and a rested body.
Somedays you are the windshield.......other days, you are the bug.

 

[nativewooder]

You need the help of a bunch of people. Preferably members of a woodturning club. You definitely won't learn anything buying the "latest, greatest" tool line to be marketed to anybody with a $. It's difficult to become a pen turner if you are not a woodturner. It's somewhat like becoming a brain surgeon but not being an M. D.:wink: