Vacuum chuck on a Laguna 18/47

I own a Laguna 18/47 and a Jet Mini. There are not a lot of the 18/47's out there.

I recently went on a quest to add vacuum chucking to the Laguna. I was very fortunate to learn of two gentlemen Steve Schlumpf and Tom Steyer.

Steve supplied me with his excellent vacuum chuck tutorial. I adapted it to allow it to run my Jet Mini as well. Steve I owe you. Steve used a rotary adapter from Tom Steyer in his system. I contacted Tom and after a couple of conversations and few pictures sent to him I was the proud owner of a high quality rotary adapter for a Laguna 18/47. I am running the Jet off a Holdfast rotary adapter. But I am going to have Tom build me one for that as well, I had purchased the Holdfast before I knew of Tom's. As with Steve I owe Tom he made this a simple task.

I have added four pictures of the system and the adapter

Hey Earl, welcome to the clubhouse.

Thanks for the info on the adaptor for your Laguna. I think you may be the first person here with that lathe, but it'll be useful information for anyone else who gets one in the future.

Welcome to the family Earl!

Thanks for the kind greeting. I have been a lurker for sometime but I finally decided to wade in. So far the water is just fine. I will try to post some pictures of my work soon. No photo tent though :

Earl,

Welcome. I've got a Jet Mini also (12x20) and was wondering how you got it to work on that machine. Would you mind another picture from the attachment end and/or anything else you think might assist?

Regards,

Lee, I have sent you an Email with larger pictures and more information to help you. At this time I am using a adapter from Holdfast. It can be purchased from Packard or Craft Supply or I suspect many other sources.

Boy, I could use that vacuum rig... I have a Jet 1442 and just finished a bowl that's a bout 11" diameter... I still need to take the tenon off the bottom, but it's too big for any of my chucks... I'm going to have to make a donut chuck so I can finish this... a vacuum chuck would be ideal.

Chuck, I have done 11 inch bowls on a jam chuck but for me jam chucks were always an adventure and on occasion I did not arrive at the intended destination. I think the Donut chuck will get the job done for you.

I waited a long time to build my vacuum system and now I am not sure why. They are really simple things to build. There is cost involved but you can get it done cheaper than you imagine. Somewhere between 200$ and 250$ should do it dependent on what you use for a rotary adapter and a vacuum source.

Let us know how the bowl turns out. I will post some pictures of my work soon. It is something I need to get in the habit of doing. A lot of folks on here provide excellent advice I look forward to hearing from them