I finally got around to trying the lathe I bought at an auction a few months ago. Its kinda fun, but very messy. I tried putting a DC pickup in back, but it did little as all the chips went forward. I tried putting it in front, but it was in the way. I put to the side and it got all the fine stuff, but little of the coarse stuff; which I guess is better than the other way around.
How does one use a DC with a lathe?
Position a floor sweep nearby. Tom
You are saying it just can't be done; right?
I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it's hard to do effectively. Maybe some "clean room" technology, with gridded floors, like working over a huge downdraft table? Sweeping is good. Have you done a google search over at rec.crafts.woodturning? Tom
I don't care if you get the Lewinsky model, you can overload it quickly with a lathe. The stuff will spill out all over ... well, anyway, you can collect dust, but not shavings.
If you peel rather than poke, 90% of the shavings will drop by gravity and can be collected easily in a container.
Swap your scraper for a gouge or chisel. Shavings just fall in a neat pile on the floor.
Sanding makes dust, but only a tiny amount. If you're doing a lot of it, attach a vacuum cleaner nozzle to a magnetic stand and clamp it to th ebed,
I am a complete beginner at this; I was just trying it out. I got chips with my gouge; not dust, but large chips. They are like what comes out of a table saw rather than what comes out of a router; but not at all like what comes out of a sander. Was my technique bad (well that's a stupid question, of course it was; but it that the principle reason) or was my gouge dull? Or both?
If you're a complete beginner, then there's no bad technique, there's only inexperience. But you'll get better more quickly if you put the scraper down and learn how to use a sharp gouge or chisel to _cut_ the wood, instead of scraping it. It's a slightly harder technique to learn, but the results are worth it - particularly the surface produced directly from the tool on a grotty turning timber like oak.
One way to immediately appreciate the difference is to do some turning on a pole lathe (foot powered). Those big electric motors can hide all sorts of dodgy technique, if you don't have to power it yourself! Treadle lathe bodgers knew all about sharp tools and paring, because it was their legwork that was paying for it if they went at it in the "modern" style of bulletproof steels and throwing horsepower at it.
I know almost nothing about turning, so don't listen to me. But I think Tage Frid had a big emphasis on this use of tools for paring, not scraping.
I have not seen elsewhere.
Regards, Roy
I use
It is not much use while turning. It is helpful when sanding especially if you can reverse the lathe. Dave
One word of caution - be very careful when using a skew chisel. Better still forget it completely until you become more used to the gouges.
-- Geoff Beale Extract digit to email
I am with Tom. I have seen some elaborate chutes and other collection schemes. A good Sized DC chute beneath the lathe will help you get most of it off of the floor quickly. I have also seen large, plywood collectors behind the lathe but they end up being large DC chutes in the end.
RonB
Or get a big pile of free green timber, in something that's easy to turn and just practice with the skew until you have the hang of it. You _will_ get catches. It _is_ still worth the effort to learn it.
An oval or rounded edge skew of about 1/2" width is a nice tool to learn on. Follow the advice about "rubbing the bevel" and then raising the handle to make it cut. Also keep the toolrest adjusted close up, as this improves the leverage to help you control it.
Ever tried sanding from the underside of the wood?
No need to reverse the lathe
Mon, Nov 14, 2005, 4:44pm (EST+5) snipped-for-privacy@Yahoo.com (Toller) wimpily says:: very messy.
Hell, that's why a wood lathe is so much fun. Nothing like standing up to your knees in wood chips. If it wasn't messy it'd be work.
JOAT If it ain't broke, don't lend it.
- Red Green
DC and lathe while turning is a bad combo.. shavings clog the hoses and it's faster and easier to sweep up the big stuff... I have a large plastic box on the shelf under the ways and a lot falls in there..
For sanding, I use a table saw port on the end of a 4" hose, sitting on or under the ways, depending on the size of the stuff being sanded... What seems to work best for me is to have the DC port below the work and try to do as much sanding as possible on the top of the work, slightly toward me, so that the dust is mostly thrown downward toward the port.. It takes some experimenting and trail & error... works best with power sanding, in my experience..
IMHO, you'll never get the kind of dust collection on a lathe that you would with a router or saw, but it does help keep most of the stuff out of the air..
mac
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