Problem getting a chuck to fit a lathe

[William Roscoe]

My GF has a 1987 Buffalo lathe that has a male 5/8" long shaft that looks to be about a 12 TPI. This is such a strange size, I cannot even find a nut from Lowes to fit on it. She wants to get a chuck to turn bowls with. Are we going to have to get an adapter made at a machine shop?? Any ideas?

 

[Bill Clemmons]

You might try asking on the Old Woodworking Machines site.

 

[walnutjerry]

PennState usually has a pretty good selection of adapters

Jerry

 

[William Roscoe]

I just registered and waiting for approval.

 

[Mike Mills]

Is the shaft 5/8 long or 5/8 diameter? That is pretty small but I believe the shopsmiths have a 5/8 diameter. What type of chuck do you have? Nova has four adapters listed with 12 tpi but the diameter is larger.
For the tpi measure from one peak to the inch mark and subtract one.
http://www.teknatool.com/products/chucks/Do you have a chuck to fit my lathe_Thread Listings.pdf

 

[mkepke]

Measure the diameter and count the threads per inch.

Some possible options:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/spindle-adapters.html

-Mark

 

[William Roscoe]

It's also 5/8" dia. and probably 12 TPI

 

[JonB]

The first question should really be: is this lathe capable of turning bowls? What is the swing capacity (the distance from the center of the spindle to the lathe bed)? If I remember correctly, Buffalo tools are cheaply made and light weight, not really made to spin larger pieces of wood (6"-12" diameter). Mounting a piece of wood that's heavy or out of balance on a light weight machine can be very dangerous, be careful!
That being said, you don't really need a chuck to turn bowls, you can start between centers and mount with a face plate and glue block. Using a glue block is more stable and will have less vibration. Gripping a piece of wood with a tenon is like gripping a sponge, the wood compresses.
My suggestion would be to either join a woodturning club and get some instruction from one of the members or taking a turning class (WoodCraft offers classes) before attempting to turn a bowl on your own.

 

[William Roscoe]

If I cannot find her a chuck to fit, then turning between centers might be an option. Would you just turn it around and use a jam chuck to finish off the bottom?

 

[JonB]

Do you have a face plate? You can mount to a face plate and jamb chuck to finish the bottom. The only drawback with that is once the face plate is mounted, you can't make adjustments. When mounting with a face plate you should use good screws, #12 sheet metal screws work well, never use drywall screws as they are too weak and will break.

To use a glue block, start between centers to get the initial shape and turn a flat on the bottom with a slight concave. Mount a piece of dry lumber to a face plate with good screws, turn round and flat on the face also with a slight concave. To mount the wood to the face plate use thick CA glue, once the bowl is turned inside you can separate the piece from the glue block with a chisel and sharp blow with a hammer. Then you can jamb chuck to finish the bottom.

 

[Mike Mills]

I'm thinking by jam chuck you are talking about a friction chuck, some folks do call it a jam chuck. I use a friction chuck on almost all bows or similar item.
If you have the time (abt 1.5 hours) here is an excellent video by Mike Peace that covers almost every way to chuck/hold an item on the lathe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXil-5dEeo

 

[Rick M]

Oneway sells a 5/8-11 adapter.

http://oneway.ca/chucks/adaptors.htm

 

[Jim Wallace]

This business will make any adapter you want: http://bestwoodtools.stores.yahoo.net/

 

[William Roscoe]

I found the exact chuck adaptor I needed at Oneway and also ordered one of their chucks. Thanks for the tip Rick!