Turning on a Shopsmith is not problem.  Can it be done in one afternoon?  Of course.  I have not turned any bowls except for the one that blew apart and shrapnel shot about 12 feet from it one day.  It was solid cherry, and of course, I put the chisel in wrong which caused the accident.  Spindles can be done quickly and easily.  Try this.

 

 

Ok I give but a little unconventional with a plane .  Tube lathes tho are not considered as stable as flatbed. Our Club has a Sorby tube lathe, Yes Sorby did make a lathe. It turns well but the swing is small and it is more difficult to make adjustments. Just my take on the tube lathe. Thanks for the video , best I could se he was making a post.

Just funning with you, Gerald.  Yep, that's not something that I will ever try to turn a 350 pound log to make a stantion.  If the tool rest would have gone higher, I prefer to use the skew chisel.  And, you are right that the tube bed is not nearly as stable as a regular lathe.  One thing I really am not comfortable with is that the older machines with the adjusting belts and sheaves starts at the lowest speed of 750 rpms.  To get chunks round, I would prefer to start about 300 or so.  I have had limbs a little out of round starting off at the bottom speed will cause too much vibration, but once you get it rounded, it is no problem.  Sorry, Gerald.  Just had to dig at you some.  

Hey @Artie, what's the minimum speed on your MK VII?  

I wonder if judicious use of sand bags on the tubes would dampen the vibration? 

 

3 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Hey @Artie, what's the minimum speed on your MK VII?  

I wonder if judicious use of sand bags on the tubes would dampen the vibration? 

 

It’s slowest RPM is 250, even with my unlimited ignorance of turning, I think that is slow enough. Now vibration I know nuttin about so far.

250 is slow enough if you have a stable balanced blank. If not balanced sometimes even slower is better. Oh by the way 750 is too high for everything but spindles and well balanced bowl blanks.

 

As to sandbags BTDT, they will help but putting them on the legs iss a better option and on the tubes will get very old fast.

Edited June 23, 20197 yr by Gerald

5 minutes ago, Gerald said:

250 is slow enough if you have a stable balanced blank. If not balanced sometimes even slower is better. Oh by the way 750 is too high for everything but spindles and well balanced bowl blanks.

 

As to sandbags BTDT, they will help but putting them on the legs iss a better option and on the tubes will get very old fast.

Yep, any thing to hold it down, but like Gerald said, I wouldn't do it near the middle of the tubes, but out on the ends near the legs.  The man who was turning the log/tree had it weighted, braced and all sorts of stuff.  

 

With a Shopsmith reducer, you can get the start up speed down to 100 rpm.  Then you would have to disconnect it, remove it, put the faceplate or chuck back on the headstock.  That may take all of a minute, but it would be a bit frustrating if you are in a hurry.  

23 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

That may take all of a minute, but it would be a bit frustrating if you are in a hurry.  

Not me, when it comes to the lathe and several others tools in a hurry is never a option.

I gotta save up for the turning tools, before I worry about slower than 250 RPM LOL.

Artie, your Shopsmith should have come with a set of chisels, a tail stock, with a Morse taper #2 center, a drive spur for the headstock and a tool rest.  You should be able to start with spindles right now.  As you advance, you'll want a Nova G3 chuck for a starter chuck.  You will need to get the one made especially for the Shopsmith.  And, you can get various drive spurs and chisels.  I clean the top of my tool rest with a file after each turning.  It is soft metal and I suspect it is aluminum.  Any deviation from the intended flat line on top of the tool rest will transfer to the item you are turning.  Watch some Paul Sellers and Eddie Castelin.  They have the flat bed lathes, but you can do most of anything that they do.  And, since you start at 250, you can trim most everything to round or almost round on the bandsaw, then mount to a faceplate (a stock item that came with your Shopsmith) or use a drive spur.  Be sure you get the live center on the tailstock to start your project.  It is called turning between centers.  Looking forward to your progress when you have time.  

12 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

Artie, your Shopsmith should have come with a set of chisels, a tail stock, with a Morse taper #2 center, a drive spur for the headstock and a tool rest.  You should be able to start with spindles right now.  As you advance, you'll want a Nova G3 chuck for a starter chuck.  You will need to get the one made especially for the Shopsmith.  And, you can get various drive spurs and chisels.  I clean the top of my tool rest with a file after each turning.  It is soft metal and I suspect it is aluminum.  Any deviation from the intended flat line on top of the tool rest will transfer to the item you are turning.  Watch some Paul Sellers and Eddie Castelin.  They have the flat bed lathes, but you can do most of anything that they do.  And, since you start at 250, you can trim most everything to round or almost round on the bandsaw, then mount to a faceplate (a stock item that came with your Shopsmith) or use a drive spur.  Be sure you get the live center on the tailstock to start your project.  It is called turning between centers.  Looking forward to your progress when you have time.  

Got the tailstock, live center, tool rest (?), definitely did not get the chisels. Went to the Shopsmith page and looked, it does not appear that now-a-days the chisels come with the unit. 

3 hours ago, Artie said:

Got the tailstock, live center, tool rest (?), definitely did not get the chisels. Went to the Shopsmith page and looked, it does not appear that now-a-days the chisels come with the unit. 

Artie that may be better, Now you can purchase better gouges and only purchase what you need. 

     1/2 or 3/8 inch bowl gouge

     3/8 spindle gouge

     Maybe a 3/4 skew but that could come later

    

Get started with these and you won't have all those got to have tools laying around. probably 98% of my turning is done with 3 or 4 tools.

9 hours ago, Artie said:

Got the tailstock, live center, tool rest (?), definitely did not get the chisels. Went to the Shopsmith page and looked, it does not appear that now-a-days the chisels come with the unit. 

Easy Woods has them, in stock.  They even deliver to your door.  As soon as I win the lottery or some wealthy relative dies I am all in...

What Gerald said plus a parting tool.  

On 6/19/2019 at 8:46 PM, Al B said:

HMmmmm ! Where's Steph ?

 

Exactly.  She hasn't been around for two weeks now.  Lots of good info for her too.

Gents, we just confirmed that this member is a spammer. Ron was keeping an eye on her for a little bit, and I followed up this morning, if you go to her Profile Page you'll see at her "My Woodworking Interests" tab, that she has copied a bio from Bill Pentz at "What got you interested in woodworking" and pasted it to her profile page.

 

I was reading through her profile page this morning and I was wondering, what a strange question to ask in a topic, with all that woodworking experience behind you.

Sorry for the delayed reaction here but we just weren't sure if she was a spammer or not.

What these folks are doing these days, are getting trickier, they will join our community, and not post any spam for awhile, months even, then they'll return and post links around the forum, such as a product in our Links Directory, or a link in a topic and so on.

 

But hey, some great information here for anyone else wanting to start out!

There goes my fun.  Insert eye roll here.

1 hour ago, Ron Dudelston said:

There goes my fun.  

Fixed it for you Ron. 

Thought it was odd she never responded to the posts. 

21 hours ago, John Morris said:

what a strange question to ask in a topic, with all that woodworking experience behind you.

That is exactly what I thought too.

Good on you for ferreting out these evil doers