How To Hold Stock for Turning Chess Pieces?

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Hi folks,

My birthday treat in March was a dinky little Perform benchtop lathe, which I've finally started to play with in the past two weeks. I'm toying with making a box for the competition, but I fear that may be somewhat beyond me just for now :lol:

The pressing reason for getting the lathe was to make a chess set. I've currently only got the 4-prong drive centre and a 3" or 4" face plate to work with, and haven't a clue how I can hold wood to make chess pieces, as they don't appear to be a between-centres project. I have made a decent pawn out of Yew now, but the point at which it was parted off is horrible and so I want to move away from between-centres for this project if that's possible and wise.

All ideas welcome...

Cheers,

AG

P.S. I'm happy to invest in a combi-chuck if that's the way to go. The SuperNova has a certain appeal to me...
 
Which lathe?
The Axminster Pen Lathe?
OR the Perform copy of the M600?

The little one will NOT accomodate a scroll chuck.
The big one will.

If you own the little lathe, then you could try
spigot mounting or glue chucking.
 
Hi Namrenut,

I've been trying to reply to your email all afternoon, but my ISP's not letting me send mail - which happens quite a lot at weekends.

I've got the Perform benchtop model that's very similar to the M300.

Is a chuck the best answer for the job? Or would a screw chuck be better? I'm happy to spend and get the most versatile solution for the long run, but don't want to spend more if it's a bad compromise!

Cheers,

AG
 
Afterglow,

I have the larger perform lathe and a supernova chuck. In regards to the chuck, i can't praise it enough and IMHO it's well worth the money. There is an adapter nut (thingie) to allow the fitment to differing TPI headstocks, so hopefully theres one for yours. I got mine with 2 sets of jaws which makes it more useable straight away.

If i can give you any further help.......


Aidan
 
Thanks for the tips folks. I emailed David Springett via his web page to find out if I could buy a copy of his book, "Adventures in Woodturning" and discovered it's out of print. However, he suggested I contact Good Timber and lo and behold they've got 3 copies left (after the one that's now on its way to me!). If anybody's interested, I'd hurry up and place your order :wink:

I'm going to hold off on buying a chuck until I've got the book and can consider his advice. From the tips I've received here and offline from you, I shall be looking further at the Oneway Talon, the Peter Childs Masterchuck and the SuperNova.

I've had a good look on rec.crafts.woodturning and both the Talon and SuperNova get great reviews. The SuperNova appears to offer fantastic value for money at £125 including some accessory jaws too, so it's leading the pack at present.

Thanks again,

Lee
 
Well the book's arrived, but I suspect the method for making the knight is just a few light-years away from my current capabilities on the lathe. However, it's a bloomin' clever approach - I'm thoroughly impressed with David Springetts work and can recommend the book as a real eye-opener into what's possible on a lathe.

Cheers,

Lee
 
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