I continued to press harder and harder, until a few seconds later, the screws holding the wood tore out, and the log came flying off the lathe. Reply Upvote. Interested in seeing how I made diy woodworking lathe time vacuum chucking system for this lathe? Welding, Machining, etc. Oathe, once I hit solid wood, it took much, much, much, longer than Diy woodworking lathe time had anticipated. Another sneak peek at a feature I'm really excited. Onto making the tailstock!

Back to the lathe and TADA — more shavings. Again, I had mastered the art of woodturning. There was nothing left to learn! However, a few seconds later, the same thing. Smoke and dust. For the next 14 minutes, I tried repositioning the tool in all different directions. No luck. With no confidence, I sharpened the tool again and returned. TADA — shavings. After numerous times sharpening, I eventually finished my first bowl as shown below. I would eventually learn two important lessons.

First, even tools that come with a beautiful cover can be dull. Secondly, turning tools can become dull very quickly. I should mention, that I would later realize that the tools that came with the lathe, were made from carbon steel.

These tools can become dull in as short as seconds. With this amount of cutting, carbon steel will not stay sharp for any length of time. I created a blank like my first bowl and mounted it on the lathe. Roughing out this piece seemed to go much faster than my first bowl.

When finished, I brought the bowl in the house to sit proudly next to my first masterpiece. Shortly after bringing the bowl in the house, I noticed a few small hairline cracks.

With every passing hour, the cracks kept getting bigger and bigger. As the cracks were getting bigger, I was getting less and less interested in woodturning. Finally, about a week later, I took my masterpiece shown below outside and buried it behind our woodpile.

Again, I thought about cleaning up my lathe and listing it for sale. Most of my initial learning about woodturning was — through trial and error. Looking back, I believe it was these challenges that kept me interested in woodturning. After all, how much fun is there in doing something that always turns out perfect? Another aspect of woodturning that has kept me interested over the years is free wood.

Living in a rural community with access to a free green waste dump, means plenty of free wood. Before getting into woodturning, I spent a lot of time working with metal. Fabricating everything from indoor and outdoor furniture, metal fences, smokers, etc. However, with metal, I was starting to realize I could typically buy the final product for less than I was spending on just the materials.

With woodturning, this was not the case. Almost all the pieces I have turned over the years started as free wood. With free wood, I could financially come out ahead. I have also come to enjoy the transformation and creativeness involved in converting a free log into a beautiful piece. Many of the pieces I have created over the years have found their way into the hands of family members and friends as Christmas presents, wedding presents, baby showers, etc.

After creating my first bowl, I never would have thought there was so much to learn. After all, I already knew everything there was to know about woodturning! I would later read that mastery typically requires three to ten years 10, hours or more of practice and reflection on performance.

Even now, after turning wood for over 10 years, I still do not call myself a master turner. With regards to mastery, I would also add that reading and talking to other experts in an area can speed up the process. For example, I recently was talking to a local wood carver who has been carving wood for about 5 years.

He has won numerous awards and contests for his work. When I met him once in his shop, I asked if I could look at the tools that he used to create his intricate carvings. I was amazed. The only tools he had were from a local lumber store. His tools consisted of carpet cutters, utility knives, and pocketknives. I then asked him if he ever attended any workshops on carving, subscribed to any wood carving magazines, etc. His answer was no. Hence, I gave him some of my catalogs on woodturning that also contained carving tools.

The next time I visited his shop, sure enough he had a piece set of palm handled carving tools. Instead of using carpet cutters, he was now using carving tools with various sweeps and profiles. By the way, I did eventually sell my first lathe. However, it was not out of frustration with turning, but because I wanted a bigger lathe with variable speed. This website started out as a collection of notes and pictures.

Over the years, it keeps growing as I discover, read, watch, and learn about different ideas and techniques for woodworking and woodturning. Because of my initial unfriendly experiences with wood orientation, creating clean cuts, wood cracking, and dull tools, I have written articles on each of these topics.

I will be uploading these articles in the upcoming weeks. In particular, one article focuses on wood orientation. More specifically, how you mount wood on the lathe. Is the grain running parallel to the lathe i.

This article also covers the advantages and disadvantages of both methods of wood orientation. Another article focuses on tool orientation, methods of cutting, and creating clean cuts. Still another article provides an overview of wood, moisture, and cracking. This article also includes numerous methods to reduce or eliminate cracking. Other articles focus on sharpening tools.

More specifically, methods to determine the sharpness of a tool , features of a good sharpening system , and how to sharpen various tools. Another article focuses on general woodturning ideas, tips, and trade secrets. It covers such areas as spalted wood, turning bigger and smaller pieces, adequate lighting, shop layout , signing your work, and other general woodturning tips.

I will also be including step-by-step instructions for creating some interesting and fun woodturning projects. When woodturning, safety is important step. For this reason, you will find safety mentioned in numerous articles on this website. The banjo slides along the bed of the lathe and supports the toolrest. It allows you to adjust the toolrest and place in various locations, making it possible to hold the turning tool in the most convenient location for removing wood.

Most modern lathes allow you to tighten and release the banjo quickly with a locking handle. The bed is the horizontal part of the lathe that joins the headstock and tailstock.

On many lathes, you can position the headstock, tailstock, and banjo at any point on the bed. The steel mesh guard provides protection from flying chunks of wood and debris. You should always use the guard in operations that allow its use. You should wear a facemask when turning without a guard installed. The headstock holds the material that you will turn. It transfers power from the motor drive mechanism to the workpiece. Typically, the motor is below or to the side of the headstock and powers the spindle with a belt.

The spindle is the shaft in the headstock. This shaft is supported on both ends by thrust bearings that allow the spindle to rotate, yet prevents the shaft from moving in and out. The spindle typically has threads on the end which allow various attachments e.

On the inside of the spindle, there is typically a Morse taper. This Morse taper can securely hold various attachments such as a drive center or a pen mandrel. The tailstock slides along the bed in alignment with the headstock.

You can use the tailstock to help support the workpiece. This is especially helpful when the workpiece is either long or slender. You can also use the tailstock to hold drilling and boring tools for machining a hole. The tool rest supports the turning tool as an operator cuts into the wood.

You can adjust the tool rest for height and angle to the work. Most modern lathes allow you to tighten or release the toolrest quickly with a locking handle. There are many different sizes and shapes of toolrest available. For example, some toolrests are straight, some toolrests have a curve to assist with turning the interior of a bowl, and other toolrests have a curve to assist with turning the exterior of a bowl. Funny article…. I bought a large Jet lathe last year. I had quite a catch….

Your article hit home, for sure. Glad I came across your article. My first lathe is being delivered in three days. Beam still on the mill I drilled and tapped for the locating pin and bolt holes that would marry the bed and Mr. Now that the machining was finished, I took Mr. Beam outside to weld some steel plates on the two open sides, effectively turning it into an enclosed pillar.

At this point, I fabricated a leg for the unsupported end of the bed. By welding two pieces of C channel together along with a mounting plate, I had the makings of a leg.

I then added some off cuts to form mounting points for rubber feet machine levers. The last thing was to fill up the foot with sand and then weld a plate onto the bottom so that the bed and leg can be bolted together. I successfully made a lb leg! I assembled the three pieces and stood it up next to the milling machine. It was an interesting process to say the least and quite time consuming to position the mill head in just the right place before each hole was drilled and tapped.

The good news is that once the entire lathe was assembled, everything lined up dead true! That thing is beefy and it works great! Now it was time to get started on the power plant for this machine.

I bought a motor mount plate instead of fabricating one and attached it at the bottom of Mr. Beam on the back side of the lathe. This construction, while not very pretty, did allow for quick fabrication and the ability to easily tension the belt that connects the countershaft and headstock pulleys. Onto making the tailstock! I milled mounting holes for the cam lock and fabricated the necessary pieces to lock the tailstock in place along the bed. With this done, it was time to drill a locating hole in the tailstock with the headstock off the lathe.

But first, I had to get the motor running…. For this operation which I actually have a picture of , I lightly clamped the tailstock in place on the lathe and rigged up some jack screws to steadily advance the tailstock towards the headstock. This effectively drilled a hole that was dead center with the headstock.

After this, I turned the quill sleeve and milled the necessary features that would attach the sleeve to the tailstock. The quill on my lathe is advanced via a rack and pinion. At this time, I also milled out the necessary material to allow for the gear to mesh with the rack on the quill and also drilled for a quill lock.

With the quill sleeve finished, I put the tailstock on the mill and indicated on the dowel pin that was pressed into the tailstock. I opened up this hole to accept the quill sleeve with the snuggest of slip fits and drilled and tapped corresponding bolt holes to firmly attach the quill sleeve to the tailstock.

After a few minutes of assembly, the tailstock is finished! This shot was taken before the tailstock was completed. It was no small victory seeing the centers line up! It was a late night at the shop doing some last minute things before I could bring the lathe home.

The most fun was loading and unloading this thing from my truck without any help, but I got it in and out without incident which is great! I thought of metallic grey, orange, yellow, bright green, but ultimately settled on blue.

A sneak peak inside the enclosure showing how I laid out the components. Read more on the Computer Case Hack to see all the details on this mini project. After some debate, I decided to stick with a 2hp motor that was a slower speed. The original motor was a 2hp rpm.

The new one is rpm, which means lots more torque. Also, since this lathe is set up for BIG stuff, the need to turn pens or small stuff at rpm is kinda nonexistent. Just to play it safe, I started out with a small dish made of Hickory.

I figured at this point, it was time to go for broke and throw the biggest heaviest piece I had on the lathe. This is the perfect height for hollow turning.

I can stand comfortably at the end of the lathe and have good control without bending over all afternoon.

Interested in seeing how I made a vacuum chucking system for this lathe? Check out the articles below! I hope you enjoyed the post and thanks for reading. Your email address will not be published.

Putting the squeeze on these gorgeous Ambrosia Map All I can say is thank goodness for having an outf Before going to town with the Restorer and adding This stain color is on point!

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