Lathe work holding ?

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

so I just got my second lathe its a little benchtop wood lathe, its about 5X bigger then my starting lathe (a tiny unimat SL)
do to limited way to hold the projects, I've had to get creative on things, so on smaller things I have been using one of these (in a jacobs chuck)
as I had like 3 spares

a dremel polishing wheel holder has been used for small odds and ends
like the head of this mushroom, or the top part of this tree

this has worked pretty well and good, however today just testing out a new gouge 2 of my spares of these bent and are unusable now
so now the main ? on this, is there a product out there made out of a stronger metal for this already? would it be worth it to fire up the
little unimat and try to make it as its mostly just a small screw bit with a flat shelf for the wood to rest against
or is this one of those things thats so stupid in wood turning that its a shock I have not hurt myself yet?

 

[francist]

Commonly called a screw chuck or a screw center. Might have to hunt around for one that fits your machine (or make one) but they're out there.

 

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

so after looking those up online, the ones I am finding are alot bigger then what I am thinking with, most being a screw on a 3 inch faceplate
or something close to that, the bits of woods I have been working with this are around 3/4in x 3/4in x 3/4in so, very small (why using a dremel bit to start with)

I think I'll pick up a HSS round blank 4-5 mm wide turn down the front 1 cm or so to add a little shoulder and just die cut the screw part

 

[turnitupper]

die cut the screw part

Might be hard finding a die to cut that thread. Find a piece of round yo fit in your chuck, center drill for the size of screw you need, cut off head of screw and epoxy into hole. If a larger shoulder is needed, add washer.
John.

 

[Alcap]

I had an cheap older wood lathe that had about 6” faceplate that had a center hole that was countersunk on the back side with the intent to use a wood screw similar to what you do . Maybe it would be possible to scale it down for your use ?

 

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

Might be hard finding a die to cut that thread. Find a piece of round yo fit in your chuck, center drill for the size of screw you need, cut off head of screw and epoxy into hole. If a larger shoulder is needed, add washer.
John.

so the thing is, I have almost no metal working tools that can work on HSS not even sure the little bit of tooling I have for the unimat can work so i am either buying a die or a drill bit, (we'll see what one I can find first for a reasonable price) but with how much force there is wont the bit of screw just snap off? like I have had solid oak just snap in the lathe when it catch's so a bit of epoxy does not sound likely to hold

 

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

I had an cheap older wood lathe that had about 6” faceplate that had a center hole that was countersunk on the back side with the intent to use a wood screw similar to what you do . Maybe it would be possible to scale it down for your use ?

thats more or less what I am planning to do just on a very small scale I kinda want the final thing a bit bigger then the dremel bit as its nice having it stick away from the head and being able to interact with the back a bit

 

[francist]

Something like this might help you. "hanger screw" or "hanger bolt", screw thread on one end and machine thread on the other. Very commonly available in hardware stores for hanging plants and things from decorative ceiling hooks. Available in a range of sizes.

 

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

so this is a side note, on work holding I have a unimat db 3 jaw chuck with basic step jaws think this one

its a 50mm chuck I think would it at all be safe to flip the jaws to step mode and have it hold a tenon?
or is that just to little contact for it to hold and be safe?

 

[Lex_Peacekeeper]

nvm, tried it with some large dowels I have even a short piece would not stay in the chuck the moment a tool hit it.......... got to patch the garage ceiling now