Woodturning Problem

edson

Hey everybody.
Is there anybody who can help me with the following problem?

When i was turning a baseball bat recently, the piece started to wobble at the narrowest part, making it very hard to turn smoothly. actually it is a right b****x, nearly destroying the piece. i had to sand the s**t out of it to smooth it properly. it happens when i turn drumsticks as well.

Is there any preventitive measures i can take?

thanks for your help!

kadman

edson wrote:

Hey everybody.
Is there anybody who can help me with the following problem?

When i was turning a baseball bat recently, the piece started to wobble at the narrowest part, making it very hard to turn smoothly. actually it is a right b****x, nearly destroying the piece. i had to sand the s**t out of it to smooth it properly. it happens when i turn drumsticks as well.

Is there any preventitive measures i can take?

thanks for your help!

Hi Edson,

If you have to sand a basebal bat to get it into shape, there is definitely something wrong with your lathe setup, technique, or both.

When you are turning the baseball bat, was the tailstock tightened up and then slackened back a 1/4/ turn. Are your centres both head stock and tailstock in good condition. It sounds as though one end is a bit loose. A baseball bat is fairly thick even the smallest diameter probably being about25-30 mm, so you should not be getting any wobble.

What tool are you roughing down with, and is it sharp. Blunt tools would also be a cause of vibration, but in this case I think it is either , bad centre drive s, loose tailstock, or tailstock running out of centre.

As for drumsticks, by their sizes they are going to give you some vibration when turning. So the thing to do here on the final cut, is to try and support the turning spindle with the fingers of your left hand, at the same time guiding a sharp skew chisel , with the thumb of your left hand, and holding the chisel handle with your right hand, and working from left to right.. WITH CAUTION, AS THIS REQUIRES A FAIR AMOUNT OF SKILL.i WOULD ADVISE FURTHER RESEARCH FOR PICTURE GUIDANCE AS WELL BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS.
Using the skew chisel for gaining a smooth cut in this fashion , is probably the most difficult cut in woodturning, and needs a fair amount of skill to perform. But if done correctly , requires no sanding.

You should search google maybe for pictures of this cut , and it should be evident what you need to do. The other alternative is to turn the drumstick to a larger diameter than normal, make a ring study to support your work, and turn say 25mm. in the centre to finished size ready for sanding. Then move the steady to support this finished dimension, then turn the rest of the spindle. Probably the best course for a novice.

You have come to the right place for info, and I am quite sure that other woodturners here later on will offer more advice.

Hope this helps, so stick around.

kadman.

Alun

edson wrote:

When i was turning a baseball bat recently, the piece started to wobble at the narrowest part, making it very hard to turn smoothly. actually it is a right b****x, nearly destroying the piece. i had to sand the s**t out of it to smooth it properly. it happens when i turn drumsticks as well.

If you're turning drumsticks or other long, thin spindle work regularly you might want to invest in a steady. This is a device that attaches to the lathe bed and has (usually) three wheels on movable arms that can be positioned to support any sized piece you're turning. See http://www.beaverpondstudio.com/Steady_Rest.html for an example of a home made version, although you can buy commercially made versions too.

You can also support the piece from behind with your left hand while holding the turning tool in your right hand, although that takes some practice. I do it when I'm turning thin goblet stems, but also support the goblet end by filling it with some paper towel and a scrap piece of wood and bringing up the revoving centre on the tailstock.

The secret though as kadman said, is to not put too much pressure on the piece from the tailstock. If you're making drumsticks, I'm assuming you're holding the piece in the headstock with some kind of chuck. If so, you only need the slightest pressure from the tailstock to support it.

edson

kadman wrote:

Hi Edson,

If you have to sand a basebal bat to get it into shape, there is definitely something wrong with your lathe setup, technique, or both.

When you are turning the baseball bat, was the tailstock tightened up and then slackened back a 1/4/ turn. Are your centres both head stock and tailstock in good condition. It sounds as though one end is a bit loose. A baseball bat is fairly thick even the smallest diameter probably being about25-30 mm, so you should not be getting any wobble.

What tool are you roughing down with, and is it sharp. Blunt tools would also be a cause of vibration, but in this case I think it is either , bad centre drive s, loose tailstock, or tailstock running out of centre.

As for drumsticks, by their sizes they are going to give you some vibration when turning. So the thing to do here on the final cut, is to try and support the turning spindle with the fingers of your left hand, at the same time guiding a sharp skew chisel , with the thumb of your left hand, and holding the chisel handle with your right hand, and working from left to right.. WITH CAUTION, AS THIS REQUIRES A FAIR AMOUNT OF SKILL.i WOULD ADVISE FURTHER RESEARCH FOR PICTURE GUIDANCE AS WELL BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS.
Using the skew chisel for gaining a smooth cut in this fashion , is probably the most difficult cut in woodturning, and needs a fair amount of skill to perform. But if done correctly , requires no sanding.

You should search google maybe for pictures of this cut , and it should be evident what you need to do. The other alternative is to turn the drumstick to a larger diameter than normal, make a ring study to support your work, and turn say 25mm. in the centre to finished size ready for sanding. Then move the steady to support this finished dimension, then turn the rest of the spindle. Probably the best course for a novice.

You have come to the right place for info, and I am quite sure that other woodturners here later on will offer more advice.

Hope this helps, so stick around.

kadman.

hi kadman
thanks for your help
oh just so ya know, the sanding wasn't really to get it into shape, the wobbling caused v. rough surface...
it is possible that the tailstock was slightly off centre for the baseball bat but not for the drumsticks, otherwise the condition of both head/tailstocks is good
i will try out your technique for the drumsticks alright
i don't do too much turning, i did it for my leaving cert construction project, never had any problems with that as regards wobbling
also turned a lamp or two since but no real projects
i'd like to take time just to do a proper project which involves a lot of turning
it is an enjoyable hobby for me

alun: i turned the drumsticks between two centres, then just sanded the tip after cutting off the waste
thanks for your help too.

Cheers lads