Holdfast Vacuum System

[David Delo]

Bought the Holdfast system with the 3" and 6" cups for some twice turned bowls that are larger than my cole jaws can hold. Thought they would be dry enough by now but they still need some more time to dry so I tried the system out on some 8" walnut salad bowls I'm doing.Put the bowls in the tailstock with a reverse chuck adapter and slid it over right onto the cups and presto, perfect alignment and vacuum pops the taped shaft right out of the tailstock. Superior holding power and rock solid. Still used the tailstock to get the bottom done except for the leftover little nub and finished that off without the tailstock.This was exactly what I was looking for and that's exactly what I was expecting to accomplish. Love it when a product meets your expectations. Big thumbs up on the first couple of bowls I used it for.

[Roger Chandler]

Congrats David on the HF system..........I have had pretty good luck with mine. Porous woods will bleed more, so just expect that. Some type of sealer can help a bit as well or finishing off the inside before taking the tenon off...........just adds time to the overall project.

[David Delo]

Congrats David on the HF system..........I have had pretty good luck with mine. Porous woods will bleed more, so just expect that. Some type of sealer can help a bit as well or finishing off the inside before taking the tenon off...........just adds time to the overall project.

Thanks for the tip Roger. The first bowl I did got 80psi (thought I had 90 dialed in but misread the gauge) and delivered 18 inches. The second got 90psi and delivered just shy of 24 inches. Did try to move the second one after seeing the big difference on the gauge and it wouldn't budge. Neither bowl had any marks on them to show where the vacuum cup had been placed so I was happy about that.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I also got the Holdfast system, and I'm happy. I lost a piece because an internal hose popped off, but I fixed that with some stainless wire. Haven't had a problem since. Porous wood does pose a problem. Roger has the best solution. Lots of our wood here are the porous varieties. Norfolk pine hardly stays on the chuck, it bleeds through so much.

I press the tailstock adapter on pretty tight, then release the tailstock clamp. The vacuum slides whole tailstock towards the head. I would think that little time the adapter pops off the tailstock could introduce some misalignment. Probably not, but that's what I do. Withdrawing the quill with the clamp loose gets the adapter off.