So lately I've been dealing with wobbly pieces.  Even after they are rounded they still seem to wobble.  Does anybody have any ideas on how to correct this.  I've never had too much of an issue with it before until the last couple of days.  I can't even explain it.  Note I did hold the chisel one handed how ever I barely touching it up on the piece so it wouldn't catch onto the wood and cause injury, but I placed it just enough to show the horrible wobble not sure how to correct this issue.  Video should give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with.

 

Couple of things come to mind-

I’d go back and check to be sure the drive/live centers are aligned. 

If you’re using the chuck make sure the piece is seated squared and securely. 

I’ve had green wood warp after rounding if it has set for a while by the time I got back to it 

I'll have to double check that thanks.  I'm not sure exactly what's going on with it but its been drivin me nuts LOL.

Also, if the tool isn’t held firmly when starting an out of round piece, it will tend to “follow” the out of round shape. This can be reduced by starting the tool at the “flat” side of the piece and move the tool parallel with the lathe bed as you round. 

I normally tend to do that how ever holding it lightly on the piece the way I was was to show the wobble effect on the tool.  I double checked that the tail stock was aligned with the head stock I even took the face plate off set the bowl on a live center still wobbled put it back on the face plate got the same thing.  I wasn't even intending to cut with that tool either guess its that sharp LOL.

 

Edited July 31, 20205 yr by AndrewB

I guess the surface where the faceplate is mounted is flat and smooth. 

The only other thing I could suggest is to make another pass. Maybe remove another 1/8” of material starting at where the tenon will be and work around part the way up the side seeing if the wobble disappears 

eeesh well that is gonna have to wait I have to order more blanks LOL.  I dont want that one to go to waste either I really like that shape too.

Blank does not have to be perfect round before mounting in chuck. When you hit a problem blank just get all the flat places off and then put in chuck to finish a good round turn. More work , yes but sometimes that is what you have to do.

 

I think all this is the wood because with a faceplate there would be no movement.

@Gerald I haven't seen the faceplate move at all.  This usually becomes a problem when I start to hollow out the bowl, before I tried my best at putting the chisel close enough up to show the wobble LOL while holding the phone to record at the same time was a bit tricky.  But before I did that I was actually trying to cut the tenon for the piece to sit in the chuck.  The wobble just annoys the living daylights out of me.

Once the surface for the tenon is flattened with blank on face plate and tailstock pulled up there should be no wobble. What about the spindle in headstock? Try to measure runout there with no load on it.

it was wobbling even with the tail stock up against the blank.

Welp I'm scrapping the maple its going in the yardwaste bin.  It was even worse mounted on the chuck.  Annoyances.

12 hours ago, AndrewB said:

I'm scrapping the maple its going in the yardwaste bin. 

...I guess that's one solution to the problem.

In the short term of things I think I've found a solution to this problem...  I completely forgot that I had a wood worm screw.  Needless to say I think I may be the simplest solution to this.  I completely forgot I had it.  If I drill out a hole straight enough with the drill press would it be wise to just use the wood worm to start off with rather than the face plate???  I never thought of that until I was just out in the shed looking around at things seeing what I could do to try and fix the wobble.  I forgot the Nova chuck came with a wood worm sheesh.  Why DID I NOT THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE NOW??????

23 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

Why DID I NOT THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE NOW??????

Not this particular problem,...

but you wouldn't believe how many times I've asked myself that same question.  

Probably will work. Couldn't hurt to give it a try if you can save that piece of maple.

unfortunately I couldn't save the maple, I think I found the other major part of the problem as well, when I had ordered the piece the mill didn't cut it perfectly square sadly.  I've been finding it easier and get considerably less wobble with square blanks then ones that are lopsided.  I've got another order coming in tuesday as well so I'll give it a go with a fresh and hopefully square blank and see if that does the trick.

Still unsure of this glued up a test piece PURPOSLY off centered it the piece is completely un even.  Over the weekend I'm planning on trying to round this thing out and hoping that it actually works the wobble out.  If it doesn't then I'm thinking something possibly wrong with the lathe maybe.  I'm hoping not.

 

Sorry but I don’t see any wobble. I do see a piece that’s not completely round. 

The lathe sounds like it’s running smoothly and no unusual noises. 

If you have a dial indicator you could check if there’s any runout on the headstock. 

then it just must be my vision goin nuts LOL I didn't get much sleep last night.  So its gotta be something with the way I'm turning these and using the tools so I gotta correct somethin LOL.