Blew up 3 blanks and learned something (I think).

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Martin G

Martin G

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Joined
Jul 19, 2011
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124
Location
Austin, Texas
The other night I had two failures. One blew up completely and the other I turned too thin because of a bad catch. Last night I had two blow up again. I was pretty frustrated. This morning I think I've figured it out. My shop is too COLD! The material must become brittle at the kind of temps I'm dealing with lately. The cold doesn't bother me so much but I guess I need to do something about it.

I'd guess it was somewhere in the mid 40's in the garage last night (30's outside).
 
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Second that

I too have battled with that. I also found that it is very difficult to lay CA with any consistency in a cold garage. For the last umpteen years I used a space heater. I finally installed a whole garage heater this year ($140 on Amazon). Best decision I've made in a long time.
 
Yes Martin, same here. I had one blow out yesterday. The Houston area has been very cold and my shop only has a space heater.
 
i had one last night, too. i was pretty mad, yet proud of myself for not over reacting at it. last time i had a blow out on a nice blank, i ended up embedding a 1/2 gouge in the drywall in the garage.
 
Nothing blowing up in my shop yet but thanks for the warning. Like you I am alright with the cold. Under Armor rocks. But I can see how the blanks would get cold and brittle.
 
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I'm having CA issues here even in the 50's and 60's we're feeling. Really ticking me off, as I was doing fine in 30's and 40's in Colorado. Grrr...
 
Hmm, I never even thought about the temp for blowing out blanks. It's about 25 in my shop right now and if I run the 100K propane heater for about 15 minutes it only brings it up to 45 and that dissipates quickly. Guess I"m going to have to break down and insulate.
 
I don't about this... You all think your blanks are blowing , because they r too cold?
I would accept that if it was under 0c, maybe. Otherwise, mhh...
 
I was thinking about this thread the other morning. It was before sun-up and I was preparing a special order pen for turning. It was probably in the 40s in the shop and the black walnut drilled fine. I glued in the tube and came back the next morning to turn it round. It turned quite well with no problems.

I wonder if the problems that some people are having in the cold has more to do with shivery fingers than cold wood.
 
sbell111 said:
I was thinking about this thread the other morning. It was before sun-up and I was preparing a special order pen for turning. It was probably in the 40s in the shop and the black walnut drilled fine. I glued in the tube and came back the next morning to turn it round. It turned quite well with no problems.

I wonder if the problems that some people are having in the cold has more to do with shivery fingers than cold wood.
Click to expand...

I think that may be opening up a chicken/egg debate. My shop gets pretty cold, too. I can still turn and do CA with no real problems. It helps that I work outdoors and I'm used to doing stuff in the cold, so that could help. You'd be surprised how much tactile response your fingers lose when it gets colder than you're used to, and the trying to finely regulate the pressure on your tools to stay in the sweet spot? COULD be part of it. I'm not an expert here, nor do I pretend to be. Just my 2 cents on it.
 
It is an interesting thread. I was looking to see what kind of material you were turning. Are you turning acrylics? Is it the acrylic that is blowing up?

I'm not certain there would be any cold related issues with CA, since it is highly recommended by the manufacturer that it be kept in a cold storage place like the refrigerator.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what others are experiencing.

Martin

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If the cold is really to blame for PR failure, then Pr in the Summer, Wood in the Winter. Besides that, everyone knows there is heat in wood.:eek::wink: Apply some accelerator to the CA and it will heat right up. Don't believe me? Just spill some on your hand then squirt some accelerator on it. DAMHIKT either!:redface:

Charles
 
I live in WA, north of Portland, OR on a mountain above the snow line. summer can hit 90+ last few days mid 20's. Even with small space heater, temp never got above 35-degrees. Wood, Burls, TruStone, Acrylics all turned for the last minute Christmas orders. Not a single blowout. Don't know what you guys are doing to experience so many.

For me it's 10-min epoxy (inside where it's warm). Sharp tools is a prerequisite irrespective of the temperature. Less than sharp tools will cause excess pressure while turning in effort to get material to cut cleanly. This pressure can cause mandrel deflection in addition to pressure on material leading to blowouts.

If your tools are sharp, and you are convinced the pressure being applied is not excessive, then guess you guys are just unlucky.
 
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