Trying to get my lathe setup to do more

[lew]

 

[Gunny]

Interesting, may try just to have a cheaper alternative when turning odd stuff and see how it works out.

[MountainGaurdian]

Yeahh, that video is one of the ones showing the aforementioned mineral oil/bees wax and diatomaceous earth.  This one is simple enough and I have all of the materials in abundance. I was a bit concerned about the potential of this mixture interfering with spray on laquers/varnishes and sealers.  Hence my question as to whether anyone has had any "experience" with using the beeswax/mineral oil/diatomaceous earth in consort with different finishes.

Edited November 28, 2019 by MountainGaurdian

[Gunny]

21 minutes ago, MountainGaurdian said:

Hence my question as to whether anyone has had any "experience" with using the beeswax/mineral oil/diatomaceous earth in consort with different finishes.

I typically use a block of Carnauba wax to finish most turnings.  It won't care, as it gets hot it just blends right in.  Has held up much better than most other things I tried when I was into making pens a lot.  

[MountainGaurdian]

7 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

I typically use a block of Carnauba wax to finish most turnings.  It won't care, as it gets hot it just blends right in.  Has held up much better than most other things I tried when I was into making pens a lot.  

 

So you can spray finishes on after applications of wax into the wood surface?  That was my concern, with most things that I have dealt with outside of this arena you have to be sure and clean all waxes and oils etc from a material before most sealers and varnishes and the like will properly adhere to your material.

Edited November 28, 2019 by MountainGaurdian

[Gunny]

1 minute ago, MountainGaurdian said:

So you can spray finishes on after applications of wax into the wood surface?

If I know I am using polyurethane as my final finish, say for a lamp, I don't use anything other than sandpaper to 220 grit and call it a day.  1st coat raises the grain slightly, you sand lightly then apply next coat till you are happy with finish.  

 

 

 

[Gerald]

@MountainGaurdian To answer your finish question  no you cannot apply film finish over wax. There has been a discussion on the AAW Forum (by the way you do not have to be a member but it is one you have to be accepted for) on the sanding pastes . I have not seen conclusive evidence but there are several who do use film finish after use of Yorkshire Grit and Ack's sanding paste.

 

As to your hollowing you can easily make a hollowing to with your metal skills. You can use a rod and get 3/16 or 1/8 HSS bar. Drill the end of the bar for the bit and use CA to glue the bit in. Cut the bit to the length you want but usually 1 to 1.5 inch. To remove the bit just heat the rod and the glue will release. Oh I forgot you will want to make a handle for the rod.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Gerald

[MountainGaurdian]

I have seen a guy on youtube does "pohl barn" something or other and he uses the pastes and cremes and he seems has used some some sprays after having used the pastes and whatnot.  While I am new to turning, I have been actively woodworking for well over 40 years and I have always avoided wax on anything that I was going to coat with a finish, I can think of many a warning on a can to be sure to remove all wax residue before applying. 

 

Once something is finished then sure, you can wax the heck out of it but I was pretty certain that you cannot wax before if you want it to stick to your work properly.

[MountainGaurdian]

Haven't been able to do anything on the lathe the last few days, jaw is so swollen that the swelling has traveled into the cheek up into my ear, the back of my neck and up the back of my head...  Think I may have to go the friggin doctor for this again, I hope they listen better than they did the last time 4 years ago.  Being unable to sleep for the last couple days I have had the chance to watch a "lot" of videos... lol...

 

While the bowls and cups/vases and ornaments and all look cool and will be great practice for me to learn "how" use the lathe, my end interest/goal is more along the lines of this type of activity.  I am quite fascinated in ancient technology, you see skill and capabilities approaching that of what most modern folk can do literally thousands of years ago.  This has always quite impressed and fascinated me.

 

These are two videos showing pump hand drill "use" in one video and an ancient Greek reproduction in another revolving around the the technology that was around and being used in the time period that the Antikythera mechanism was built.  I was quite impressed with this mans skills and engineering savvy.  

 

This is a Japanese abacus maker, he has an entire series of videos showing his production methods, some of the most amazing videos I have ever seen.  He is still using a pump drill for much of his work just as was used literally several thousand years in the construction of these.  The craziest part to me is how effective, accurate and easy the tool is to use, they are actually quite comparable to modern electric drills.

 

 

This next video of the manufacture of an ancient style of pump drill as would have been around in ancient Greece 2,00 to 3,000 years ago.  As I said, this guy astounds me with his skill and ability, and his pump drill design is pretty friggin amazing.  I would love to try a similar design idea in wood as I become more skilled.

 

 

 

[Larry Buskirk]

My machines are old, but not that old! 

 

Have you tried using salt water to treat the jaw?

I've got an infected (abscessed) jaw myself, and the salt water helps to reduce the swelling.

[MountainGaurdian]

I rinse with salt water and baking soda every little bit.  I also use thin slices of ginger root on the gum as well, but this a pretty bad bone infection.  I have been dealing with it since I was about 6 or so from combination of previously broken jaw and having an extra 46 teeth in my jaw.  After 44 years of dealing with the infection it is pretty much constantly there at all times and then if get sick or don't get enough rest it flares up and runs into my neck and up into my ear and down the right side of my throat to my chest.  As for the two abcesses I have coming out of the gum I just use a needle and pop them every couple days when they fill up with puss.

 

Eventually I am going to have to have them go in and do a debridement surgery on my jaw, but the VA is a bit of a pain in the butt on such things so I have been avoiding it.  My wife is paraplegic and had her right leg amputated 4 years ago and has been on bed rest since.  I just don't really have the time to be down myself or I can't care for her, but it is getting to the point that I may have to get the jaw worked on before it gets too much worse.

Edited December 1, 2019 by MountainGaurdian

[Larry Buskirk]

Boy do your symptoms sound familiar. Do you get the high pitched squeal when it gets into your ear?

 

I don't have the extra 46 teeth, but have a double lower jawbone that drives dentists nuts when they take x-rays. All of my lower molars that have been removed required the teeth to be quartered to be removed. The inner roots are buried between the double jawbones. Most dentists won't touch them for fear of breaking my jaw, or breaking the tooth off. They refer me to an oral surgeon, which of course means having to first see a dentist to get the referral.

[MountainGaurdian]

I always have a high pitch in my ears, but it gets far worse when the infection gets up in there.  Last time it got bad it burst my eardrum, that was not a pleasant experience...   As for the extra 46 teeth I no longer have them, they were slowly pulled from about age 6 to age 13 then I had braces for 7 years to move the remaining set to where they should go.

 

The only molars I have had pulled were my four wisdom teeth, they had to pull them before allowing me out in the fleet.  Like yours mine had to cut into four pieces and removed.  Even then it was tough as I have roots that curl in towards each other.  The Navy dentist was yelling and throwing crap around the room he was so frustrated trying to get those teeth out.  He asked me several times...  "are you part black or something"?...   As it turns out....  my great grandmother is of north African descent so apparently I am...  

 

I am little fearful of a dentist getting in there and potentially breaking my jaw again, it is already in bad shape as it is, if they get in there jerking around like that Naval dentist they could potentially break it again, as it is I am missing two chunks of jawbone that I know of that were eaten away by infection and that was 30 years ago.  I hate to imagine what all could be eaten away at this point.

[Larry Buskirk]

They had to remove the molars in front of the wisdom teeth to get at them. They were impacted under the teeth in front of them. The Oral Surgeon asked if I just wanted him to do two at a time. I replied "Better do them all, if this is going to feel anything like I'm imagining you won't get me to come back" So I had eight teeth removed in that one setting.

 

To top that off my future at the time MIL made a T-bone steak for me.

The future wife at the time saw the look on my face, and knew I wasn't about to let her get that laugh on me.

I pulled the gauze pads out, and went at it chewing with only my front teeth. It took me about an hour but I finished it! 

 

They have a term for the double lower jawbone, that sounds like describing something from the pre-historic era.

 

One younger dentist took five sets of x-rays, and kept telling me not to move. I told him I hadn't moved, and he said I must have. He then consulted the older head dentist that when he looked at the x-rays asked if I was part Native American. I replied "Yes why? He then informed the younger dentist what he was seeing, and that he had only seen it three times in over thirty five years of practice. That's when they sent me to an Oral Surgeon.

My adult teeth roots are like yours, in that they too curl towards one another hugging the jawbones.

[MountainGaurdian]

LOL...  When I was a kid and they xrayed my teeth the dentist would literally call every dentist for miles  around and they would all come over and look at my xrays.  Apparently that many teeth is rather uncommon especially the fact that mine were also fully formed teeth, I guess malformed teeth are more common, none of them had ever seen a person with a full extra set of teeth.  At school the kids called me "shark boy" as I had teeth everywhere in my mouth.

[MountainGaurdian]

Been working on setting up my old drill head on the end of my lathe and powering it so that I can use it for low speed lathing such as metal.  Trying to design it so that it will be plenty sturdy and solid enough yet easily removable has been a tad tricky but going pretty dang well overall.   

 

I have an old dryer motor that I had set up years ago on an old washing machine lid to run a meat grinder that I though I would use to power the drill head, after two hours of lightly sanding the case to see what the rpm range on the motor is it wasn't friggin marked on it... lol...   It looks like 1750 rpm from looking up the part number on the internet at 1/3 HP, so I am going to have to do some gear reduction even with the built gear reductions of the drill head.  If set to the smallest pulley selection on my drive pulley to the largest pulley on my idler pulley and then run the smallest from the idler to the largest on my drill shaft pulley I still can only get down to 153 rpm.  1750 rpm  on 1 inch pulley to 4 inch pulley...  1.75 inch out put pulley to 5 inch pulley....  Should be reductions of 4 to 1 and then 2.86 to 1.

 

If I could make an 8 inch diameter wooden pulley to set atop my idler pulley set I could drop the minimum rpm to 76-77 rpm which would do most any small metal lathing that I would need to do.

 

Anyone here ever made a v belt pulley out of wood before?  What considerations should one take into account on a wooden v belt pulley? 

[lew]

1 hour ago, MountainGaurdian said:

Anyone here ever made a v belt pulley out of wood before?

I made this for my drum sander-

 

Pretty straight forward. Just measured the belt dimensions and duplicated them on the end of an oak cylinder. 

[Larry Buskirk]

..Belts, and pulleys....pulleys, and belts.....

Igor we need another countershaft!!!

[MountainGaurdian]

I remembered I had some 3/4 inch uhmw plastic that I used many years ago to build my dad a fancy saddle horse that had adjustable wings made of the plastic sheets that he could screw and mount the saddle skirts and whatnot too as he built his saddles.  He gave it back to me a few years back as he is unable to work on saddles anymore along with about 50 saddles and a truck load of old horse tack and leather and whatnot. 

 

I am never going to use it for saddles so I repurposed the plastic to use for making my new pulleys.  I have almost finished the 8 inch v belt pulley, I need to kick it out an extra 3/4 inches from the original pulley set so I figured I would go ahead make that spacer a 6 inch pulley in case I may ever need a higher rpm range later on down the road.  

 

I remember Dave at Howell cnc always complaining about how tough it was machining that uhmw plastic for us when I worked for Golftek, I was a bit concerned about tough it might be to turn that.  It actually hasn't been that bad yet, it is definitely a bit grabby especially considering these were old machine bases originally that reclaimed and then I drilled and tapped more holes in them for the saddle unit.  When you cut into one of those screw holes it becomes a tad interesting......  I figured out if I use my cutter upside down I can cut without any concern for gouging, the same cannot be said for cutting with the tool right side up....  You also have to give the tool and the plastic a break pretty often to keep it from heating up too much.  Overall I am quite happy with how this is turning out, and I think this was a far better way to go than using wood for a pulley.  This stuff is great for drilling and tapping threads into it.

Edited December 6, 2019 by MountainGaurdian

[MountainGaurdian]

This is the first piece of three, I will make my six inch pulley and then the piece that will fit inside the top of my original v belt pulley assembly.  All of them with a snug 3/4 inch hole in the center that I can run a 3/4 inch hardwood dowel through to keep them true while drilling and tapping them for the screws to hold them together.  Then on to coming up with a way to attach my driver pulley set onto the dryer motor, those dang things always seem to have a weird shaft size on them. 

 

Once that is done it is but a short step to having metal/plastic lathing capabilities on one end of the lathe and wood lathing on the other end.  It took a bit to figure out a way to mount the drill head without it being complicated to setup and remove but I have it figured out now.  The only time I would need to remove it anyways is if I am doing full bed length work, for most things I can simply use the drill head as my live center.   Quite happy with how it is all going thus far.

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by MountainGaurdian