Got new lathe for Christmas

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paulbt1975

paulbt1975

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Joined
Jul 6, 2023
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Location
Winthrop Harbor, Il
I received a new lathe last Christmas. Central machinery wood lathe from HF. So I am excited to get into turning more items. However I feel I don't know a whole lot about lathes in general. I bought a Drill Chuck and a pen blank drilling Chuck. I am wondering if you guys have any ideas of something fairly easy for me to make to get use to the new lathe. I have the spur center and the live center which came with the lathe. I see different lathe chucks which can get very expensive. I hope this doesn't sound stupid. I know there are no stupid questions. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on other projects I may enjoy making. Looking at different kits (pizza cutters) you should use a 60 degree live center. I do apologize I feel like I am rambling. Basically do you recommend me buying a lathe chuck? And what do you feel would be the best one to start other projects. Thank you for any suggestions or ideas.
 
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A dead center is generally a solid piece of material that has no moving parts as opposed to a live center that has bearings and moving parts. For turning small cylindrical items such as pen blanks all you need is the dead center that fits the headstock and a live center that fits the tail stock. The spur drive is useful for driving larger blanks with the head stock and live center in the tail stock.
To get started with pen turning I would suggest buying some of the single blank varieties such as the Sierra or Vertex.
I would recommend you get a caliper I (digital version if your not familiar with them). Purchase some Micro Mesh either pad version of paper stock (I use the pad versions). You will need some epoxy to glue tubes into blanks as well as drill bits of the recommended sizes for the tubes being used in the kits. you will make your life very happy is you purchase something to block one end of the tube to keep epoxy from getting into the tube while inserting it in the drilled blank.
I would also suggest buying the recommended bushings for the pen kit(s) you will be making until you get used to measuring with the calipers.
Also you should get a mask as some of the woods can be allergenic. A respirator would be really good but an N95 filter mask will work.
Patience and persistence.
Watch a few YT vids also.
Good luck and have fun
 
If you have a woodturning club anywhere near you, I would recommend checking them out. You can learn alot from them. When I got my lathe, I knew nothing about using one. I didn't have a club nearby so I watched hours and hours of videos on lathe safety, turning tools, turning different things like pens, bowls, etc..... before I ever attempted to turn anything. First thing I turned was a honey dipper. It gave me some experience with turning between centers and the use of a few turning tools. A lot of people use carbide tools now, including myself, which are a little easier to use in my opinion and you don't have to sharpen like regular tools. Just my 2 cents. Here's the first thing I ever turned. Good luck!
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Mortalis said:
A dead center is generally a solid piece of material that has no moving parts as opposed to a live center that has bearings and moving parts. For turning small cylindrical items such as pen blanks all you need is the dead center that fits the headstock and a live center that fits the tail stock. The spur drive is useful for driving larger blanks with the head stock and live center in the tail stock.
To get started with pen turning I would suggest buying some of the single blank varieties such as the Sierra or Vertex.
I would recommend you get a caliper I (digital version if your not familiar with them). Purchase some Micro Mesh either pad version of paper stock (I use the pad versions). You will need some epoxy to glue tubes into blanks as well as drill bits of the recommended sizes for the tubes being used in the kits. you will make your life very happy is you purchase something to block one end of the tube to keep epoxy from getting into the tube while inserting it in the drilled blank.
I would also suggest buying the recommended bushings for the pen kit(s) you will be making until you get used to measuring with the calipers.
Also you should get a mask as some of the woods can be allergenic. A respirator would be really good but an N95 filter mask will work.
Patience and persistence.
Watch a few YT vids also.
Good luck and have fun
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Thanks for the explanation, I know there are basics of turning pens on a mandrel I just know there's a lot of items I would like to learn to turn. But unsure on the best way to mount a piece of wood to turn different items, I have checked out many videos on You Tube. If you make a a handle for example, I assume you need jaws, or using or using a dead center and live center is sufficient?
 
paulbt1975 said:
Thanks for the explanation, I know there are basics of turning pens on a mandrel I just know there's a lot of items I would like to learn to turn. But unsure on the best way to mount a piece of wood to turn different items, I have checked out many videos on You Tube. If you make a a handle for example, I assume you need jaws, or using or using a dead center and live center is sufficient?
Click to expand...
You can use a spur drive along with a live center to turn a spindle (Tool handle, Baseball bat, fence spindle). Personally I use a chuck and jaws for turning bowls or very long spindles that I need the through hole for. Of course, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket then by all means purchase a four jaw scroll chuck. Buying chucks is like buying into a tool battery brand. Buy into a system that will support your needs with interchangeable jaws.
Also, you need to determine the turning tools that you want to use. Carbide tooling is good for spindle work but not so much for cross grain turning (bowls and such). Also, carbide tooling is easier due to not needing to learn how to sharpen the tool but the carbide replacements can get spendy. Purists will say to learn with HSS tooling whereas, some will say to just go with carbide. It's really up to you. I have both and each has it's place in my turning arsenal. I started with HSS tooling and then tried carbide. My go to for wood turning is HSS and my go to for acrylics and antler is round carbide.
 
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If you are looking to buy a quality chuck, head to a local Rockler - they are closing out all Nova products and offering steep discounts on any Nova product, including their chucks and jaw sets. The close out will save you a ton of money on a high quality chuck if that is the way you are heading. Store by me has them discounted almost 50% from normal price.

As for workholding, a chuck is nice, but in most instances, you have options as stated already. If you are turning a handle, then a spur drive and live center work perfectly - just remember the trick to add an inch or so to the length of your raw wood which will be the handle to allow you to finish it nicely and then cut off the little extra where the spur drive tore up the wood. You can either part the small section off or use a pull saw to cut it off and then sand it clean.

Many pen makers don't own a three or 4 jaw chuck as they either work with mandrels that have a morse taper to attach to the headstock, use a dead center and turn between centers, or a preference for advanced turners is to use collet chucks, as they are very secure and stay perfectly centered. A collet chuck is basically a big hunk of metal with a locking top that houses different size collets to hold the work, unlike a jawed chuck which has gear driven arms that secure the work.

However, if you plan to turn a bowl, the chances increase dramatically that you will need a chuck, as bowl turning can use a tenon or mortise connection to attach the stock to the lathe, and it is done the most safely with a chuck or a faceplate attached with a chuck.

Be sure to find an AAW turning chapter near you - the AAW website has a club finder - most of the will offer you an amazing amount of assistance in learning the ropes, and help guide you with tool selection. Good luck!!

Kevin
 
Welcome to the world of woodturning! Browse through the library here. Also there are a number of good videos on YouTube that deal with pen turning and woodturning. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
 
I'm also in the Chicago Metro. I'm also fortunate that the guys who showed me how to make pens live somewhat nearby so i can hit them up for questions.

All the above said... IAP has a local chapter in Chicago, Windy City Woodturners and AAW are all clubs in the metro. Fox Valley Woodworkers meets in Batavia but that's a haul for you. One of the turning clubs meets once a month (if I remember correctly) by O'Hare someplace, pretty sure that's AAW.

I'm in a similar spot to you in that I've got a strong desire to learn a lot of things that aren't pens and how do you separate what's one person's technique vs the proper general approach. One thing I will say is that using your live and dead center will allow you to make spindles and other turnings. I've done some decorative trees and other things that way. Another thing I've really enjoyed doing is bottle stoppers. You can turn them with your jacobs (drill) chuck holding a mandrel and live center but it's not ideal. You'll want something to anchor the jacobs chuck into the headstock so it can't fly out of the lathe. Yes, it's exciting and no I don't recommend it. I have been using a Niles bottle stopper mandrel and it has made a tremendous difference. I'm pretty sure Exotic Blanks has a couple of similar mandrels too. To be 100% honest, I also use Niles steel inserts and will say using them or some form of steel insert also helps make a tremendous difference in how well things work on the lathe.

If you search Dick Sing on youtube you can find the videos he made on the woodworking show he appeared on too. He shows some really neat techniques.
 
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