Max plate size.....plse?

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Davidf

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Hi

What's the maximum plate size I should attempt with my Charnwood w811 lathe (I mean from the pov of safety) ?




TIA


David
 
Sorry for the (probably) silly questions but I think if I'm going to star turning bowls and stuff I need to mount the lathe on something (more) solid. At the momen its just free standing on work bench.

What do you guys do?


Cheers for any thoughts.
 
Hi again, just thinking aroiund this...

With the new wood chuck (great!!) I want to do more but am concerned at increasing weights and psosible instability..at least intitially before the work is properly balanced (as hinted above).

I was just having google to see how other people do this.

I 've just read this...it seems a very good idea.

Any one feel that its not.....or can add any thing?



"2. No matte how careful I was with getting the crosscut and center the faceplate on the log, unless the wood was almost round, I still got enough vibration to scare me (had the piece fly from the lathe a couple of times). The process of getting a good position of the faceplate and cutting the log took a good 1/2 of an hour or more (takes the fun out of woodturning).

At some point it just struck me: I should mount the piece between centers initially instead of faceplate. Now, this might be even a bigger disaster than faceplate mounting since the spur is less likely to keep a piece of wood from flying than 4-8 screws you can put in a face plate. For this to work, something else is crucial: spend a couple of minutes to center the piece between centers so there is almost no vibration. It is not the geometrical center that matters but having the rotation axis go through (or close by) the gravity center of the piece. To do this, I apply the following procedure:

1. I guess an initial center of the piece and make a small puncture on the top of the piece.

2. I put the tip of the spur in the marked point and guesstimate where the tailstock has to go. I do not tighten the tailstock all the way and have the piece suspended between the two tips but without the teeth of the spur bitting into the wood. In this way, the piece is free to rotate without much resistance (the motor has enough friction so the piece would nor rotate if the spur goes all the way in)."
 
I am not aware with your lathe ?

and you have not posted any photos of it so its hard to pass comments

A quick Google brings up some not so kind comments

" The Charnwood W811 Lathe is, I am sorry to say having been bought one as a present, C.R.A.P! (Cheap Rubbish Awful Pathetic). "

When I first started turning in 2006 I had given to me buy my dad ( Rip ) a Draper lathe single bed bar type lathe

Well the amount of times it nearly went out of the shed window :twisted: It was complete rubbish , I was on the verge of jacking it in

UNTIL I had the opportunity to use a proper lathe :mrgreen: ( Hegner HDB200XL ) Wow what a difference

That was it my Draper lathe wend down the recycling center ( Did not have the front to inflict it on anyone else by trying to sell it )

All I can suggest is to see if you have a local Club near you ( You are a mystery man as you have not added your location via your profile option )

All the clubs are listed in the AWGB web site http://www.woodturners.co.uk/branches.htm

Until I know what lathe you have I cant help any further , sorry
 
"A quick Google brings up some not so kind comments "

Loking at it last night I can only concur with notes you have pasted.

There is a snag.

Its all I can afford.

I'll try to get some pics abit later....buts its basically a motor mounted ona bed with headstock and tails tock. The adjustment for speed is rudimentary ....lets leave it at that.

In fairness its begininers lathe which i knew.
 
Sorry, am in Shropshire.

Mid way between Shrewbury, Chester and Telford.




edit: regretably spending 2000 pounds on a lathe ATM is unlikely to happen.
 
David
All table top lathes would benifit from being securly tastened to a bench of some mass.

I am near J16 M6 should you wish a visit.

Tony
 
Bemused":12thtutr said:
David
All table top lathes would benifit from being securly tastened to a bench of some mass.

I am near J16 M6 should you wish a visit.

Tony

To be honest Tony, the less anyone sees of it the better, from what I was looking at last night (but thanks for the offer, needless to say).

I take your point on the mass.

Whether to bolt through to the work top or use something on top. :|
 
I was not thinking you would bring the lathe #-o

Your lathe is not bolted down?

I have an Axminster AWVSL900, its a cheapish lathe, probably next rung up from the budget table tops, it has its problems but I get by with it.

Wish I had sort a better second hand lathe.

Joining a club and finding a local turner have been a massive help to me.

Oak garden logs are very heavy and at about £30 for 8' length not that bad, even cheaper at a salvage yard. There is always mass loading with say sand?
 
Hi David,

Being unlucky enough to be the owner of a W811, the max diameter I've managed to safely turn is 10 inches.
It's supposed to be able to take a 12 inch diameter - but I wouldn't try it.
Definitely secure it to a bench, otherwise this lathe likes to try to bouce about even a slow speeds if your workpiece is the slightest bit off balance. Mine is bolted through a solid worktop.

To be honest about the lathe, it's not really too bad as a starter/beginner lathe.
Just don't expect it to be the one you hang onto for more than a couple of years. Save up and upgrade.
Hopefully this will be the year I upgrade. All depends on cash.

Once it's secured it's pretty stable, and (surprisingly) it's one of the more quiet machines I've heard.
Don't try to do too much or take too heavy a cut in one go as it's just not powerful enough, but used carefully you'll be able to get some really nice work from it.
The motor does tend to heat up more than I like to let it work with after a little while.
Some people claim you can run the motor all day without problems. Maybe they can, but I'd suggest a 15 minute shut off to cool down every couple of hours. (Forced breaks are a real hardship.)

Just have fun with this lathe. Learn what you need to learn, and develop your skills on it.
 
David
If you are interested in bowl turning, and want a cheap upgrade that will (from experience with an earlier version of the same lathe) happily turn 18" diameter, there's a Coronet Elf in the For Sale section of the forum. No connection with the seller, but it's a total bargain - swivel head, standard 3/4 by 16 nose and built in the UK like the proverbial brick outhouse
 
Davidf":8rsieb0n said:
Hi again, just thinking aroiund this...

With the new wood chuck (great!!) I want to do more but am concerned at increasing weights and psosible instability..at least intitially before the work is properly balanced (as hinted above).

I was just having google to see how other people do this.

I 've just read this...it seems a very good idea.

Any one feel that its not.....or can add any thing?



"2. No matte how careful I was with getting the crosscut and center the faceplate on the log, unless the wood was almost round, I still got enough vibration to scare me (had the piece fly from the lathe a couple of times). The process of getting a good position of the faceplate and cutting the log took a good 1/2 of an hour or more (takes the fun out of woodturning).

At some point it just struck me: I should mount the piece between centers initially instead of faceplate. Now, this might be even a bigger disaster than faceplate mounting since the spur is less likely to keep a piece of wood from flying than 4-8 screws you can put in a face plate. For this to work, something else is crucial: spend a couple of minutes to center the piece between centers so there is almost no vibration. It is not the geometrical center that matters but having the rotation axis go through (or close by) the gravity center of the piece. To do this, I apply the following procedure:

1. I guess an initial center of the piece and make a small puncture on the top of the piece.

2. I put the tip of the spur in the marked point and guesstimate where the tailstock has to go. I do not tighten the tailstock all the way and have the piece suspended between the two tips but without the teeth of the spur bitting into the wood. In this way, the piece is free to rotate without much resistance (the motor has enough friction so the piece would nor rotate if the spur goes all the way in)."

this is a standard approach - you cannot directly compare a piece secured between any centres and the same piece attached to a chuck only (even better would be chuck - or faceplate - and a live centre in the tail stock!). I find a stebdrive and live centre as good as anything and great to rough to balance and create an initial tennon or recess.

however, as others have pointed out, there is little point in securing your out of balance stock to an unsupported lathe - all that happens is that the whole thing jumps about!

everything is relative; my lathe is on wheels but the whole thing comes in at about 120kg. if I put a 1kg stock that's uneven/off centre etc then I'm fine at reasonable speeds <1000. if I put a 10kg blank I start very slow then quickly, and rather roughly, get it better balanced!!! I could add a couple of bags of sand - but generally it's an issue to work carefully around rather than panic about.

the size of stock your post suggests is going to be fine with the lathe secured.
 
dickm":el9y67n8 said:
David
If you are interested in bowl turning, and want a cheap upgrade that will (from experience with an earlier version of the same lathe) happily turn 18" diameter, there's a Coronet Elf in the For Sale section of the forum. No connection with the seller, but it's a total bargain - swivel head, standard 3/4 by 16 nose and built in the UK like the proverbial brick outhouse



Food for thought I do agree.

=P~
 
jumps":3an0r6ef said:
Davidf":3an0r6ef said:
Hi again, just thinking aroiund this...

With the new wood chuck (great!!) I want to do more but am concerned at increasing weights and psosible instability..at least intitially before the work is properly balanced (as hinted above).

I was just having google to see how other people do this.

I 've just read this...it seems a very good idea.

Any one feel that its not.....or can add any thing?



"2. No matte how careful I was with getting the crosscut and center the faceplate on the log, unless the wood was almost round, I still got enough vibration to scare me (had the piece fly from the lathe a couple of times). The process of getting a good position of the faceplate and cutting the log took a good 1/2 of an hour or more (takes the fun out of woodturning).

At some point it just struck me: I should mount the piece between centers initially instead of faceplate. Now, this might be even a bigger disaster than faceplate mounting since the spur is less likely to keep a piece of wood from flying than 4-8 screws you can put in a face plate. For this to work, something else is crucial: spend a couple of minutes to center the piece between centers so there is almost no vibration. It is not the geometrical center that matters but having the rotation axis go through (or close by) the gravity center of the piece. To do this, I apply the following procedure:

1. I guess an initial center of the piece and make a small puncture on the top of the piece.

2. I put the tip of the spur in the marked point and guesstimate where the tailstock has to go. I do not tighten the tailstock all the way and have the piece suspended between the two tips but without the teeth of the spur bitting into the wood. In this way, the piece is free to rotate without much resistance (the motor has enough friction so the piece would nor rotate if the spur goes all the way in)."

this is a standard approach - you cannot directly compare a piece secured between any centres and the same piece attached to a chuck only (even better would be chuck - or faceplate - and a live centre in the tail stock!). I find a stebdrive and live centre as good as anything and great to rough to balance and create an initial tennon or recess.

however, as others have pointed out, there is little point in securing your out of balance stock to an unsupported lathe - all that happens is that the whole thing jumps about!

everything is relative; my lathe is on wheels but the whole thing comes in at about 120kg. if I put a 1kg stock that's uneven/off centre etc then I'm fine at reasonable speeds <1000. if I put a 10kg blank I start very slow then quickly, and rather roughly, get it better balanced!!! I could add a couple of bags of sand - but generally it's an issue to work carefully around rather than panic about.

the size of stock your post suggests is going to be fine with the lathe secured.


Thanks. 8)
 
Blister":1vgcms9w said:
I am not aware with your lathe ?

and you have not posted any photos of it so its hard to pass comments

A quick Google brings up some not so kind comments

" The Charnwood W811 Lathe is, I am sorry to say having been bought one as a present, C.R.A.P! (Cheap Rubbish Awful Pathetic). "

When I first started turning in 2006 I had given to me buy my dad ( Rip ) a Draper lathe single bed bar type lathe

Well the amount of times it nearly went out of the shed window :twisted: It was complete rubbish , I was on the verge of jacking it in

UNTIL I had the opportunity to use a proper lathe :mrgreen: ( Hegner HDB200XL ) Wow what a difference

That was it my Draper lathe wend down the recycling center ( Did not have the front to inflict it on anyone else by trying to sell it )

All I can suggest is to see if you have a local Club near you ( You are a mystery man as you have not added your location via your profile option )

All the clubs are listed in the AWGB web site http://www.woodturners.co.uk/branches.htm

Until I know what lathe you have I cant help any further , sorry



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLARKE-CWL100 ... 3f08b84310



Mine's the Charnwood equivalent to this.

A simple affair a suspect best suited to light work and quickly getting out of its depth for heavier bowl work.

I did bolted it to the work top last night which has improved the stability a lot but I'm still uneasy about the weight and balance. I think maybe i need to work up steadily to bigger things and not take too big a leap.

The Coronet "Elf" has gone (regrettably..as it sounded a really nice machine....and from a reputable seller....which you can't be sure of with e bay) but by the sounds of it the seller has sold it to a family member which he is probably better for him..

I'm keeping an eye on e bay for something but it like I ve been sold a dummy on a totally different topic a few years ago, which is (now) taking some putting right :?: :x. Looks like someone has passed a problem on. Shouldn't happen but it does apparently.
 
Hi David,

The Clarke one is exactly the same machine with a different manufactures label stuck to it.

As I said previously, it's a decent enough machine for learners/beginners and can handle a certain amount of work.
Just don't try anything too heavy on it, as the motor will just give up and go to the pub by itself!! :lol:

I've had my W811 for about 3 years now, and it still works as good as I need it to just now.
With a little financial luck this I'll be able to upgrade this year. But I'll still keep the old toy as a back up as long as it still works.

For what the machine costs, it's pretty much value for money in the sense that you get what you pay for.

The main issue I have with it is doesn't run perfectly true, so getting a piece to centre when I turn it around is a bit of a hit & miss. It's close, but could be much better.
 
gerrybhoy70":2i8dnx6t said:
Hi David,

The Clarke one is exactly the same machine with a different manufactures label stuck to it.

As I said previously, it's a decent enough machine for learners/beginners and can handle a certain amount of work.
Just don't try anything too heavy on it, as the motor will just give up and go to the pub by itself!! :lol:

I've had my W811 for about 3 years now, and it still works as good as I need it to just now.
With a little financial luck this I'll be able to upgrade this year. But I'll still keep the old toy as a back up as long as it still works.

For what the machine costs, it's pretty much value for money in the sense that you get what you pay for.

The main issue I have with it is doesn't run perfectly true, so getting a piece to centre when I turn it around is a bit of a hit & miss. It's close, but could be much better.


Yes, pretty true all round. :)

Just got another job started. :D



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