Lathe questions : I have googled and just need clarification

[Homerjh]

Righty, after much research i have found wood turning, and when seeing pens and suchlike (smaller projects) suddenly got some interesting ideas off the back of seeing photos/videos.

Now i have a small workspace (cellar in uk terrace) and i have no specialist woodworking tools apart from a couple of chisels and a table mounted router..

Looking into lathes and researching i have found to get a 'reasonable' kit would cost £400+ new, which is a bit too much really for what may turn out (no pun intended) to be a whim (who knows if i get along with it!).

I visited the local Axminister showroom and to be fair, they all looked decent equipment but the specs meant very little!

so, the questions are ;

1 - for small nik-nak items and pen turning, what RPM would generally be used, as the cheapest lather is 760rpm, which i recall is too fast for smaller object

2 - After buying a lathe how much would the 'extras' generally cost to turn wood, i would be looking at mid range price and buying essential first.

3 - For pen making there seems to be a lot of extra bits needed, is there anywhere that sells what would be needed in one package?

4 - some have a hollow tailstock, is this set or can you buy a different one in the future if needed?

5 - anyone selling a suitable one cheap around the north west (i have checked the ads and loads have been sold locally last month )

6 - is there any other brand that slips under radars that is usually reasonable quality but lesser cost? i am assuming Clarke is not counted here as they get slated elsewhere...

ta

 

[tekno.mage]

Regarding lathe speed it's normal to use the faster speeds (approx 2000rpm) for small items like pens and lightpulls. Slow speeds are normally used for large objects, bowls and for sanding.

After purchase of a lathe the cost of bits & pieces you need can be from approx £50 to many thousands!
For pen making the basic extras you'll need would probably be a small roughing gouge, a skew chisel, a parting tool, and a spindle gouge - new cost just under £100, second hand cost potentially much less. You will need a way of drilling your pen blanks so factor in about 30 quid for a suitable jacobs chuck to hold the drills in lathe if you don't already have a pillar drill. You'll also need a method of sharpening your tools - cheapest would be a bench grinder starting at around £35. If you want to turn other things than pens, then you may need a scroll chuck approx cost £100 and upwards.

Planet do a kit for penmakers which contains all the mandrels, bushes and other bits you need to get started.

You can buy all sorts of tailstock fittings for most lathes, both hollow and solid points, rings cups etc. The important thing is that both head and tailstock use a morse taper fitting (either MT1 or MT2 are common on small lathes).

I personally wouldn't recommend a Clarke lathe - you could take a look at the small Record Power DML305 or some of the Jet or Axminster equivalents or see if any came up second hand. Our woodturning club recently upgraded one of our lathes to variable speed and sold our original DML305 lathe in excellent condition fo £150.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Kym's advice is good but to it I'd add:

Pens should be turned at the highest speed possible - I can't think of any lathe that can exceed the theoretical ideal turning speed of a 9mm diameter pen.

For pen turning you can get away with just a small / medium roughing gouge and skew chisel

When you buy a lathe it should come with a face plate - you can fix an MDF disc to this and attach sanding discs to it, this can then be used to sharpen your tools and trim the pen blank ends before mounting

Both the Record DML / CL series and Axminster short bed lathes are suitable - I'd shy away from Clarke and similar 'clones', (note Axminster do a Clarke clone).

But before you spend any money I'd suggest going along to a local club to try turning first hand and chat to the members.

Regards Mick

 

[wizard]

buy something old that will last

 

[finneyb]

Merseyside Woodturners http://www.merseyturners.co.uk/index.htm
They meet last Tuesday of the month British Legion in Huyton.
And they have a workshop at Calderstones Park - you may find it useful to try woodturning before you part with money.

Brian

 

[woodfarmer]

To the op Homerj
regarding speeds. It is largely due to cutting speed so different diameters need different speeds. It might be easier to think of it this way. If you were taking a cut on a 13 inch (330 mm) bowl at 500 RPM you would be cutting at about 550 yards/500 metres a minute as each revolution would cut about a metre, or close enough to a mile every three minutes. If you were cutting a 1/2 inch /12mm diameter pen at 500 RPM that would be 1 1/2 inches per revolution or 750 inches/62 feet/21 yards a minute. to cut at the same speed as the bowl you would need to run the lathe at 23 times 500 RPM ie over 11,500 RPM. Turning a bowl at that speed could get exciting but if all held together the turning tool would probably get a little too warm to handle.

crosses fingers the adding up is correct

 

[RogerP]

buy something old that will last

... providing it hasn't been abused, is still in good working condition and doesn't need months of restoration work even after you've spent ages sourcing parts. Been there, done that - never again!