New Drive-Face Plate - New Toy update

Dan Mosley

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1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
See Pictures Below...........

Today I used the new toy I bought from a fellow turner up in Canada that has been a big help to me in understanding turning large forms. I got a couple other things for a large D-arm im building also but this is a really nice drive to have as I found out today.

I usually use a forstner bit and put a small hole in the center of whatever blank im going to turn and tap a 2-prong into the hole and put it on the lathe with the tail stock up against it and create a tenon and rough it out.

What is nice about this 3 prong drive i found out is i just put it into the head stock and put the wood up to it and center it - slide the tail stock up to it and when you secure the tail stock end the spur tips are driven into the wood and it holds it very secure. I turned my tenon as usual and reversed
I admit I was very skeptical about using this drive and even put the corragated guard down just in case. I turned a couple pc's of walnut using it and it never slipped,came off or any other problems with it. It is fast and easy to use and adjustable (which I did from one pc to the other). The wood was about 8 x 8 and wet - one was with somewhat of a natural edge but it would work very well for NE forms. The Pins are adjustable - it has a #2 MT taper.........
I would give this tool - 2 thumbs up............
 

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Dan, how much is he charging for those drives? Looks like a real handy thing to have around.

Don, I use two tricks to keep the 4-prong center from slipping. The main one is that I tap the center into the wood hard enough to mark the wood, then I use a 1" beater chisel to better define the "X" that the spur center makes. I do four whacks...two vertical (with the chisel bevel pointing left and right) and two horizontal (with the bevel pointing up and down). Once that's been done, I drive the spur into the deepened slots and mount it on the lathe. Ever since I started doing that, I've not had a problem with blanks slipping, on either green or dry wood.

The other trick I do is mostly as a safety thing, not a slipping thing, but on big or off-balance pieces, I'll drill a 1" diameter hole (the same size as my spur center) about 1/2" or so deep, then seat the spur center in the hole. (I still do the four whacks with the chisel to deepen the slots.) That makes it much less likely the piece will leave the lathe.
 
I will find out and let you know about the cost......Im going to talk to him again before the weekend and ill let you know......See how many are interested and ill see about any discounts........Ill post again in the next few days

Next day off im going to mount a very large blank 14" round and try using it to see if it will handle large blanks. I know it will easily handle the 8" stuff but I like the ease of use and hope it will handle large blanks.....if so it makes turning large stuff fast to mount.

What I currently do is what Vaughn stated but I use a 2 prong..... I have a 1" forestner bit and bore a hole into the blanks center - then with a hard resilient mallet (which will not hurt the taper etc....) I pound it into the hole so it is solidly secured in the hole......then put it into the spindle.......
Since doing it that way I have "never" had any slipping or problems - and the tail stock secured into it at the other end of course.......
Now, after today this has kind of got me changing my mind on how ill handle blanks in the future....................

I actually was talking with a friend tonight on how long it used to take me when I first started turning to mount a blank - make the tenon - and create a rough profile - then take it off - put my chuck on - reverse mount - reprofile - and finish turn a project using a gouge (which I still am not that good at but i keep at it), scrapper, parting tool, etc.............

Today I picked up a pc of walnut decided which would be the top and bottom, mounted the blank with the above in seconds (no markings, no measuring, just having fun-), created a tenon and rough profile in minutes using my Ci1 and dove tail tool......reversed into chuck - reprofiled with my
Ci1 and started hollowing quickly with my Monster rig............
Sooooooo whats the point ? Well, nice tools sure make things alot easier.............:D
 
Dan,
There was a video on Google about a guy who turns bowls in production... he uses a face plate similar to your... except where the center pin is, his had a straight pin about 1/2 inch diameter and about 1 to 2 inches long that fit into a hole drilled in the blank. His face plate had 4 pins around the outer edge.... he could slap a blank on his lathe, run up the tail stock and shape the outside of the bowl in about 3 minutes.... he also said he turned at 1800 rpms, but I'm not sure I would want to run a 10 or 12 inch bowl blank at that speed... he would then reverse and chuck in 4 jaw chuck, core out the bowl with a coring device, then finish the inside... I think he was doing a couple of bowls an hour at that rate..
I liked the concept of his face plate, just not sure I have the stones to turn at that speed. And I'm just not in that big of hurry with my turnings.
 
Chuck.............I agree, I would not do it either............some say higher speeds like that with sharp tools create such a clean cut you may not even need to sand......yadee yadee yahhhh.....

I watched a video awhile back on another website of someone using a tool they were trying to market with a carbide tip and during the demo he was showing you how you could turn at 350-500 with his tool and get a perfect cut.


I say "whatever".........I have a variable speed lathe Jet 1642-EVS and I could turn at that speed or higher but I don't........I have gotten comfortable enough to turn at what feels comfortable to me and actually I rarely look at the LED (speed indicator) anymore. I just set the speed I feel good with and start to turn....increase or decrease as I go along.......just having a good time
 
Very cool looking drive center. That's exactly what I need! Except I need it to thread on like a face plate. Speaking of which, I bet I could just tap a couple holes in a steel faceplate and thread in some bolts that have been ground to points. Thanks!
 
Hey Matt.............

Matt...............
I keep getting called into work and have not had a chance to test out this drive on anything larger than 8" diameter that I put up pictures of. However, for sure I have off the next 2 days and I will put it on a much larger log to test out my redesigned D-arm rig set up. I will post pictures of the D-arm that I fabricated later on when i get it fully assembled.

I started out purchasing some misc pc's of tooling from him for large hollowing and have everything stacked up waiting for me to have time off work to assemble everything. If you give me a day or so I can better tell you how it would work on much bigger pc's. So far all I can say is that it is fast and easy to use.............

I am curious why you want to have it thread on ? It seems to hold good and tight with the taper alone............
 
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