buffing set up

Over at WTA they had a artical about building a 3 wheel buffing station from scratch. Well i got all the stuff to build it, even picked up enother drill chuck to put in my old lathe yesterday.This will be semi perment and not taken off the old lathe much. now for the ?. How far apart do you set your wheels? 4", 6" more, less?:huh::dunno: Thanks
Steve
 
Steve,
I have mine set up to fit on the 1014... I think the all thread rod is about 12 inches long... mine fits in my little PSI CMG3 chuck and in a live center... I use the live center a lot, so can't leave mine on the lathe all the time.... but my wheels are about evenly spaced the length of the all thread... I use about 1 inch at the chuck with a stop nut there and the first wheel right up against the stop nut, second wheel about mid way and the third at the end almost up against the live center... in the end, suppose you should space them for your own comfort.
 
Buffing

Steve,

I just bought that system the other day from Woodcraft. I will go and measure it for you. I will post the measurements shortly, Joe
 
Buffing

Steve,

Mine has 3 buffing wheels, the shaft is 16" in length and between the wheels is a gap of 4" the balance of the shaft is on each end of the buffing system. Hope this helps you, if I can do anything else for you please let me know, Thanks Joe
 
Chuck thanks. this will be going on my old go462, so will have lots of room to do what i want, but thought there might be a standard.:huh: What i get for thinking.:rofl:
Joseph thanks also. Just got a new woodcraft catalog in the mail today.:)There saying 18", but it sounds like it don't matter a lot. I guess i'll just make it what ever i think looks right for me.
 
In general, I'd suggest spacing the wheels far enough apart that you can buff your largest pieces on any wheel without hitting the other wheels. The only problem with that is if you make the shaft too long, it'll flex and whip, which would not be good. You might consider making three shorter shafts instead of one long one, then mounting each wheel/shaft combo one at a time as you go through the buffing stages. It'd only take a few second to swap out each wheel/shaft as you go. If you have a single wheel on a 16" shaft, then you should be able to handle about anything your lathe can turn. To get the same clearance on a single 3-wheel shaft you'd need one about 48" long.
 
In general, I'd suggest spacing the wheels far enough apart that you can buff your largest pieces on any wheel without hitting the other wheels. The only problem with that is if you make the shaft too long, it'll flex and whip, which would not be good. You might consider making three shorter shafts instead of one long one, then mounting each wheel/shaft combo one at a time as you go through the buffing stages. It'd only take a few second to swap out each wheel/shaft as you go. If you have a single wheel on a 16" shaft, then you should be able to handle about anything your lathe can turn. To get the same clearance on a single 3-wheel shaft you'd need one about 48" long.
Vaughn that's some really good points.:thumb: As i have a 48" 5/8 all thread. i'll have to cut it any way so why not cut it twice. what i thought of doing was grinding the threads off one end,to fit in a drill chuck that i picked up yesterday. the other end will have a hole drilled in the center like a mandel that my live center will slip into.So doing it this way i can just unchuck it and put the next one right in. I like it!Thanks again.:wave::D
 
Steve, I'm not sure you'd even need to grind the threads off the all thread before putting it in the drill chuck. The chuck might mess up the threads a bit, but it shouldn't affect how it runs.
 
In general, I'd suggest spacing the wheels far enough apart that you can buff your largest pieces on any wheel without hitting the other wheels. The only problem with that is if you make the shaft too long, it'll flex and whip, which would not be good. You might consider making three shorter shafts instead of one long one, then mounting each wheel/shaft combo one at a time as you go through the buffing stages. It'd only take a few second to swap out each wheel/shaft as you go. If you have a single wheel on a 16" shaft, then you should be able to handle about anything your lathe can turn. To get the same clearance on a single 3-wheel shaft you'd need one about 48" long.

Steve, I'm not sure you'd even need to grind the threads off the all thread before putting it in the drill chuck. The chuck might mess up the threads a bit, but it shouldn't affect how it runs.

I thought of that two, but as it's 5/8 allthread and only a 1/2" chuck, not sure it wil fit. Will check befor i do grind though.
 
Buffing

Hi Steve,
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I checked my invoice and you are right, I bought the buffing wheels from different vendor. Sorry about my mistake, you will love your new buffing system, Joe
 
Hi Steve,
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I checked my invoice and you are right, I bought the buffing wheels from different vendor. Sorry about my mistake, you will love your new buffing system, Joe

Joe no biggie. As i do turn large and small stuff i think Vaughns idea is the best for me at the moment. No need for sorrys as we all do the same thing every now and again.:D:(
Steve
 
I personally don't like a Buffing shaft with more than one wheel on it because of the access problems it causes.

The system I came up with uses a single solid mandrel and separate wheels/mops.

This allows much greater access to forms and bowl inners.

The small mandrel is for use iin a hand drill off the lathe if required.

The system is becoming quite popular here in the Uk.
 

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I have a system like Chas, only mine was bought from Beall. I really like it. Chas you are far too organized. I like your storage set up. I do keep my wheels in zip-lock bags, figures it would help keep the dust out of them.
 
These are marketed by Chestnut Products over here Paul, the Beall system was the only 'kit' system until Chestnut came up with these which are made in UK, just awaiting the addition of a greater selection of mop sizes and forms to get into the ditributors.

The mop storage is right by my lathe headstock to speed up use and has a dust door latched over it when not in use.
 
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Cool system, Chas. Especially like the close-up of the arbor.

After my visit to Indy, I can now mill that myself on my metal mill.

Now to find the time.

Another winter project.
 
I have a system like Chas, only mine was bought from Beall. I really like it. Chas you are far too organized. I like your storage set up. I do keep my wheels in zip-lock bags, figures it would help keep the dust out of them.

Steve,
You might also look at Don Pencil's buffing system... it's similar to Chas's... mine has a shaft that screws onto the headstock... the shaft is about 8 or 9 inches long and has a threaded end that will take the various buffing wheels and balls that came with my system.... I don't know how the prices with the Beall system compares, mine was a freebie when my my order and another one got crossed in shipping... I got the buffer instead of the hollowing system I had ordered... when I contacted Don, he said to just keep the buffer and reshipped my hollowing tool....
 
Secret wife $$ is the best!! LOML will be making bead stuff and I'll pop up with "Hey...where'd ya get that?" "Oh...I dunno...found it in my bead box somewhere" uh huh...great time to get wood stuff :D:D:rofl::rofl::rolleyes::rolleyes:;);):p:p
 
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