New Bell Shaped Vacuum Chuck

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
OK, I'm doing a couple of Hollow Forms, and I needed a "Bell" shaped vacuum chuck, so I made this up tonight.

I cut 3 thick pieces of MDF, glued them together with thick CA glue, then cut them roundish on the Phoenix. I them mounted them on one of the square blocks I made with the Beall threading tool thing.

I put it on the lathe, made DARN sure the cyclone extractor was RIGHT NEXT to the work and trued it up, and hollowed it out..........

new_vacuum_chuck_sanded.JPG

I sanded it down nice and smooth to #240 and then applied a LOT of sanding sealer, maybe 3 coats. I then sanded that down to #320 and applied another 3 coats of Melamine Lacquer, until the surface was smooth, should hold enough air. I then cut a piece of inner tube I got from somewhere in a rough circle and used contact cement to glue it in place, and pounded it on with a rubber mallet. Once it was secure, I trimmed the inner tube (now gasket) up nice and neat with my skew........

new_vacuum_chuck_finished.JPG

How about that for 30 minutes work, and WAY cheaper than the Oneway units :D

next I mounted up the hollow form I'm working on.........

new_vacuum_chuck_in_use1.JPG
There the smallish hollow form is mounted up ready to get it's bottom spanked! :eek:

(look here for the finished piece)

new_vacuum_chuck_bottom_done.JPG

here is the bottom of the hollow form all nice and smooth, well spanked I'd say! :thumb:

I'll make these up smaller and larger whenever I need them, the don't take long to do and I'm sure they will come in handy all the time.

Sure is nice turning the bottom off with that vacuum rig.........gloat gloat :rofl: :rofl:

Cheers!
 
Stu, you must be close to running out of room with all your "homemade" things. :p How well did your skew cut the rubber? Once again your design looks flawless.:thumb:
 
Homemade stuff might use up space, but it leaves me with money in my wallet........ well SOME money :D

As the rubber was well glued onto the chuck the long tip of the skew, a small, thin skew, cut the rubber very well.

Cheers!
 
Hi Ben.

Not very loud at all, the pump is quiet, I can listen to the radio over the sound of the pump and the DVR running, when sanding, it is all moot, as I turn on the cyclone :eek:

Just find a way to get one Ben, you WILL NOT regret it :D :wave:
 
Looks really good Stu! Starting to think that a vac system just might make sense. Beginning to do some checking into vacuum systems - like what's required as far as pump, tubing, gauges, etc. I have no idea how to hook things up, etc. Haven't seen a system in person yet - so have to grab what info there is when I come across it.

As I am fairly new here - did you post anything on your vac system? Curious as I did a search and either I haven't entered the info correctly or no one's shown their system yet.

Thanks

Steve
 
OK, I admit it, I'm dumb as a post, but I have to ask:

Where does the vacuum come from? Some kind of pump, I'm sure, but is there a flexible hose inserted through the headstock? That stays there while it's spinning? I'm not very bright today, I just don't get it... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bill

Vacuum is provided by a pump. Hose/pipe from pump is attached to lathe at headstock using any number of different adapters that attach to the outboard side of spindle. Still getting info myself - hope that helps.

Steve
 
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Looks very handy, Stu, :thumb:

Steve and Bill...www.joewoodworker.com has a lot of info on vacuum systems, including how to build your own. This is the pump a lot of folks go with. Various companies (including Oneway) make the part that attaches to the spindle on the outboard side of the headstock. (The part that allows you to hook up a vacuum line through the spindle and still spin the spindle without twisting the line into a knot.)

I plan to have a vacuum chuck setup shortly after I get a lathe that can take one, so I've read up on it a bit. ;) I already know I need to run two 220v lines to the lathe...one for the lathe and one for the vacuum pump. All in good time. :)
 
Basically you have a bearing that the outside of it revolves with the lathe (usually in the hand wheel) and the inner part of the bearing stays put with some kind of pipe or nipple attached to it, for the vacuum hose. LOTS of ways to skin that cat. :D

Steve, I have this thread about my vacuum rig.

If you cannot find what you need at Joe Woodworker, then please ask away, and I'll take some pics and do my best to answer your questions.

Cheers!
 
Steve,

Stu has given you a lot of good info here. I tried to find a better picture of my setup, but I will post what I have.
 

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