|
Wood Preparation and Putting it on the Lathe |
||
 First
we will mount a waste block on the screw chuck. You could also use a
small face plate, but I find this less time consuming, and this Glaser
screw chuck works real well.(Since this was written, I have actually gone back to small face plates, like those that Best Wood Tools sells. The screw chuck would sometimes strip out and make it difficult to reposition the work) |
 We
need to make sure that the turning block is as square as we can. To do
this, you could just mark it out with a square and sand, band saw or use
a jointer to "parallelize" the block. I have made a jig to do
it on the table saw. First cut a reference edge, then start with that
edge and measure and cut as you go with all four sides being the same
length and square to each other. |
|
 Now
that our block is nice and truly square, use our handy homemade gizmo
to find the center. I use this method because it will find the center in
relation to the sides, versus drawing lines from corner to corner. This
finds the "true" center. You want to get the lines about
1/16" from each other |
If your block is square, this is reflected in the box between the pencil
lines. There should be a "square square" in the center. Use a
punch and put an indention in the center of the square. We will use that
fro a registration mark with the live center in the tailstock later. |
|
 Use
an old rag to cover the ways of the lathe bed because we don't want to
get glue on it. If you have a variable speed lathe, put it as low as you
can, and still have it spin and make a spiral of thick CA glue. If you
don't have a variable speed lathe. Keep it off and put a good thin layer
of CA glue on it (thick gap filling type)
Liberally spray the wood block with CA accelerator, make sure you have good ventilation and don't whiff it, otherwise you won't be coherent for the next step. |
The
tail stock needs to be positioned and locked What you want to do here is to use the small indention you put in there as an alignment mark, positioning it into the point of the live center. Then advance the live center until it makes contact with the glue and waste block. Once it makes good solid contact, spray accelerator over the joint where they come together. Let it sit for a good few minutes and you catch a breath of fresh air. |
|
