Hey Fred I LOVE IT !!!!!!! Absolutely love it. To often we default to the wallet as a substitute good old American ingenuity. Adapt, improvise and overcome

To put pin in my vac chuck setup, here's the finale:

I got my adapter from Robust and frankly it doesn't look all that impressive for $109. But it seems to work. The adapter just plugs into the through hole on the back of the head stock. I set mine up with a separate hose for the lathe, versus the vac bag. To do that I got a couple of 1/4" QD fittings (these are made for a pressure washer), so I can unplug the lathe and go back to the vac bag. In the pics below I show the large chuck I made holding a bowl, and it seems really secure, but I haven't tried to remove that tenon yet. One thing I noticed was that the pump can't seem to pull more than 15" Hg on the lathe, but it will pull 24" Hg hooked to the vac bags. So either the wood itself is leaking, or the set up has a leak (which at this point I can't find). I'll keep fussing with it but I need to do some other things today. Lastly, One way also makes an adapter, and they cost about as much as the Robust. But with the Oneway, you need to remove the handwheel. Sam Angelo used a piece of plastic hose that had a bearing which fastened inside the chuck, these are a lot less expensive, but the hose didn't rotate in the through hole...I feared it rubbing through. As for cost, I've got $227 in thie stuff I bought. But the adapter was about $110 of that, and the QD was another$40 or so. Take those out and it gets a lot less expensive. The seals I bought for the chucks from Rubberchucky were about $36, which might be another amount to save if you make your own out some kind of self adhesive foam or such.

Thanks @Fred W. Hargis Jr. That's quite a vacuum cart setup! Showing my ignorance here, but, what is the purpose of the extra cylinders?

Those are dictated by the plans i used to build the thing, and I hadn't really thought about their purpose. The plans came from the Veneer Supplies website (as did most of the parts and pump) and I just put it together as designed. They do seem to provide some reserve vacuum, though I'm not sure how that helps with anything.

As a PS to my post above, I found the source of my leak. It's those QD pressure washer fittings, they don't seem to hold a vacuum very well. I'll be removing/returning them and try to find a different way to switch the pump between my bags and the lathe.

17 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Those are dictated by the plans i used to build the thing, and I hadn't really thought about their purpose. The plans came from the Veneer Supplies website (as did most of the parts and pump) and I just put it together as designed. They do seem to provide some reserve vacuum, though I'm not sure how that helps with anything.

As a PS to my post above, I found the source of my leak. It's those QD pressure washer fittings, they don't seem to hold a vacuum very well. I'll be removing/returning them and try to find a different way to switch the pump between my bags and the lathe.

Thanks, Fred. I suspected that's what they were for but never worked much with larger vacuum system- only bell jars for casting systems.

I wonder if there might be some sort of shut off/switching valve used in the HVAC industry.

I’ll give you my experience from frugal Chuck the chuck has a bearing in the bottom and to that it’s attached to a lamp rod like you make lamps with with the threads all the way down I put a piece of garden hose on mine so it wouldn’t rub the inside, although he didn’t say to do that, but it works as the reserve tanks ideas the idea of being that if you lose vacuum that the reserve tanks will hold it long enough for you to catch the work piece before it falls off from my set up. It goes directly from the pump to the rod into the chuck. The bearing keeps that rod from rotating so it’s still all the time because it’s got a hose attached to it can’t rotate that way I avoid having the attachment in the back.

may have to take some pics.

Edited March 10Mar 10 by Gerald

I thought I'd circle back to the home made chuck setup now that i finished my bent laminations. I had mentioned earlier it seems I had a leak since I can't draw as much vacuum on the chuck as I do on my vac bags. I've done some more checking and I can't seem to solve the problem (yet). I though it was that QD I had, turns out that removing it had zero effect. That said, the chuck does have enough vacuum to hold my workpiece while i remove the tenon and sand the bowl bottom. I turned this bowl strictly for testing the vacuum chuck and in the pic you can see I was able to remove the tenon and sand it....I put some blonde shellac on it for a finish. So for now, the way I change the vac pump from bags to lathe is to unscrew the bag connector, and screw on the lathe adapter. Not perfect, but until I get more time to fool with it it works for now. I'll stick with the shop built chucks until I see how much use this gets, someday I might get a commercial one.

BTW, I have no idea what kind of wood this is, it was a piece from a trailer load I bought last year. But it was very hard and turned pretty nicely; at least for my unskilled approach.

46 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I've done some more checking and I can't seem to solve the problem (yet).

Fred,

I have no experience with vacuum setups, but could the leak be through the threads where the faceplate mounts to the headstock? Or through the Allen set screw?

That chuck of wood could be hard maple

A thought, connect your compressor up to the vacuum line into the lathe and use some soap to look for bubbles!

5 minutes ago, lew said:

Fred,

I have no experience with vacuum setups, but could the leak be through the threads where the faceplate mounts to the headstock? Or through the Allen set screw?

That chuck of wood could be hard maple

A thought, connect your compressor up to the vacuum line into the lathe and use some soap to look for bubbles!

It could be. Today I was wrapping some thick teflon tape (the thicker yellow stuff for gas connections)around the headstock threads and then screw the chuck on, it didn't seem to make a difference. But that fit isn't exactly NASA spec on those threads so that might well be where the leak is, I may not have put enough tape on it.

2 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

But that fit isn't exactly NASA spec on those threads so that might well be where the leak is, I may not have put enough tape on it.

When I bought my first lathe (Bridgewood) they gave me a chuck. Mystery maker and sloppy fit on the threads. I had to use thread tape to keep it in place. I certainly would not have held a vacuum🤣

While waiting for glue to dry on a flatwork project I'm doing I tinkered around with my chuck a little more to isolate the vacuum leak. To my surprise the Robust rotary valve did not leak at all...I guess a testimony to their products. Anyway, I then mopved on to the chuck and the thread issue Lew suggested above. I do believe that;s the source of the leak. The faceplates I ues have a sloppy fit on the spindle, and when I wrapped it with 3 wraps of gas line Teflon tape sealer I gained 5"of vacuum. That still isn't what as high as I get on my bags, but it's 1/2 of the leak. I'm thinking the commercial vac chucks have a better fir or some kind of seal that overcomes this. For now what I have works, and I'll see how much use it gets. If it's a lot I'll consider a commercial chuck. Until then I'll have to get another spool of gas line teflon tape.

This is a fwiw, what if you fabed a rubber washer to go between your chuck and spindle nose to help seal it

I have been turning the nicest spalted Big Leaf Maple Burl lately....Thank you A Cut Above Bowl Co......

11 minutes ago, teesquare said:

I have been turning the nicest spalted Big Leaf Maple Burl lately

Those are absolutely gorgeous Tim. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dave. The real work is threading the wood for the finial and the opening in the form.

Magnificent pieces!

10 hours ago, Rusty S said:

This is a fwiw, what if you fabed a rubber washer to go between your chuck and spindle nose to help seal it

I'm thinking I might be able to get an o-ring to test that hypothesis. If that works, I'll move to a washer.

10 hours ago, lew said:

Magnificent pieces!

Thanks Lew!

BEAUTIFUL....simply BEAUTIFUL !

29 minutes ago, calabrese55 said:

BEAUTIFUL....simply BEAUTIFUL !

Thank you!