How does the lathe work?

[wallygoots]

I've never owned or used a lathe before. Now I have a Shopsmith 510 that I have restored and I'd quite like to try the lathe. Shopsmith lathe chisels are on the way.

My questions is, on the headstock end, the lath attachment turns with the headstock. The tail piece doesn't seem to turn and I expected that it would. (The black pin that I assume pierces the far end of the work piece that is). I would have assumed that the tail end would have bearings or something so that it turns with the wood. Is it usual for the tail piece not to turn? Doesn't the wood burn as the tail piece doesn't turn?

What am I missing here?

Best,
Seth

[a1gutterman]

I've never owned or used a lathe before. Now I have a Shopsmith 510 that I have restored and I'd quite like to try the lathe. Shopsmith lathe chisels are on the way.

My questions is, on the headstock end, the lath attachment turns with the headstock. The tail piece doesn't seem to turn and I expected that it would. (The black pin that I assume pierces the far end of the work piece that is). I would have assumed that the tail end would have bearings or something so that it turns with the wood. Is it usual for the tail piece not to turn? Doesn't the wood burn as the tail piece doesn't turn?

What am I missing here?

Best,
Seth

Hi seth,

You are talking about the difference between a dead centerand a live center. Both are "usual".

[judaspre1982]

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[charlese]

I've never owned or used a lathe before. Now I have a Shopsmith 510 that I have restored and I'd quite like to try the lathe. Shopsmith lathe chisels are on the way.

My questions is, on the headstock end, the lath attachment turns with the headstock. The tail piece doesn't seem to turn and I expected that it would. (The black pin that I assume pierces the far end of the work piece that is). I would have assumed that the tail end would have bearings or something so that it turns with the wood. Is it usual for the tail piece not to turn? Doesn't the wood burn as the tail piece doesn't turn?

What am I missing here?

Best,
Seth

I used my lathe for all of my turnings for about 10 years. (I was given a live center last Christmas. To tell the truth I find no difference, except the live center is wider and therefore limits turning smaller diameter ends.

The trick is to follow directions in the operations manual and drill a 1/8" hole in the ail end of the stock as well as the power end. Put some beeswax on both the tail center and the wood. Keeping to recommended speeds, you'll never need a live center.

You could also use candle wax.

[iclark]

Seth,

I'm fairly new to turning myself. there are a couple of things that caught me by surprise:

1) steel wood turning chisels are sold DULL. not just dull, but not even ground to the angles that the manufacturer recommends.
(Note: I was also surprised to learn that hand planes are sold with the blades not only dull but also in need of flattening. yeah - I was naive.)

2) it is remarkably easy to catch an edge and have things want to fly around the shop.

3) turning makes a LOT of sawdust - not just shavings.

4) it is even more fun than it looks:D

before you try turning on the SS, you want to watch the sawdust sessions on sharpening. I took a couple of courses at the local Woodcraft. the "Sharpening Woodturning Tools" was a great complement to the sawdust sessions. they used the Wolverine sharpening system, but they also covered the different turning chisels and the sharpening philosophy differences between cutters and scrapers. the "Turning 101" class did a basic spindle turning and we made a cherry-handled scraper/skew while trying out assorted chisels.

I expect to take a couple of bowl turning classes (basic and fingernail gouge) before I get a chance to try it at home.

Ivan

[rkh2]

Ivan

I couldn't agree with you more. I took my first wood turning classes at Woodcraft as well. Even after both spindle and bowl turning it took awhile to remember to "ride the bevel" to keep from getting catches. I have turned now for about 3 years or so and feel much more comfortable than when I first learned. The real challenge I had was doing captive rings and tearing a few up before I got that down. I learned that on my own so probably it would have been less problematic had I been taught by someone who had done that. I also use the wolverine sharpening setup and occasionally the SS sharpening jig to get the angles the way I want them. Anyways, now it is a good form of relaxing as well as making cool projects.

[robinson46176]

I'm giving you this advice as someone that has spent a lifetime trying new things... DO NOT attempt to do any turning until you have learned "A LOT" more about it than you now know. A good place to start would be to do some simple Google searching on "wood turning". Be sure to study some on wood turning safety. It would be really great if you could have a friend with at least a little turning experience start you off. Regardless, once you know enough more about it to start safely I suspect that you will enjoy it greatly. I'm not saying that you have to reach expert level out of books first or spend months studying first, just become familiar with functions first. Bleeding on tools is a serious no-no.
Good luck and remember to have fun.

[wallygoots]

I forgot to subscribe to this thread and have been so busy that I plum forgot to check in recently--and here you have given some really good info that I was missing. Thanks.

It sounds like either live or dead will work with a little wax as suggested, and I am the type that reads and studies before trying something. I build guitars from scratch from books and the MIMF.com, and now with the internet demos help with learning new stuff like turning.

I'll take a look at safety, thanks for the reminder. Also, I'll look at the sharpening stuff. I'm familiar with sharpening, but usually flat blades. I use water stones with my chisels and plane blades.

I even have a friend who is learning lathe too. I'd love to take a class with him though I don't have a woodcraft around. I'll look for other options.

Thanks again. This has helped.

Cheers,
Seth

[beeg]

I even have a friend who is learning lathe too. I'd love to take a class with him though I don't have a woodcraft around. I'll look for other options.

Thanks again. This has helped.

Cheers,
Seth

Look for a local wood turning group to help ya out.

[iclark]

Look for a local wood turning group to help ya out.

this is a great suggestion. you might try looking for a local club on the American Association of Woodturners site:
http://www.woodturner.org/community/cha ... apters.asp

I've only made to 2 meetings of the local chapter so far, but it was well worth the traffic nightmare to get there. one meeting had the guest turner making square and bark-on bowls and the other had a last minute fill-in (the club pres) demoing a homemade turning scraper using a SiC cutter from a spiral planer as the replaceable cutting edge.

Ivan