How To Hold Stock for Turning Chess Pieces?

[Anonymous]

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...

 

[Anonymous]

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.

 

[Anonymous]

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

 

[RATWOOD]

hi Afterglow
the book you want is adventures in woodturning by David Springett
go to the Library and see if thay have a copy

http://www.davidspringett.fws1.com/

 

[Anonymous]

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

 

[Anonymous]

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

 

[Anonymous]

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