Best Type of Spindle Connection for Woodturning Tooling?

[Steve H Graham]

I have started working on setting my metal lathe up for woodturning. By that, I mean I ordered some chisels and watched a bunch of Youtubes.

I am wondering what type of spindle most lathes have. In other words, when you attach things like chucks and spur drives, are they usually threaded onto the spindle, and if so, what's a typical thread size for a lathe?

It seems to me that the smartest way to do this is to make an attachment that fits in my lathe chuck on one end and attaches to woodworking stuff on the other. That way, I can remove the woodworking stuff just by opening my 3-jaw chuck.

My lathe is a 16 x 40 (actually 16.9" swing), so I wouldn't want to use stuff for tiny lathes or huge lathes.

[Reed Gray]

Most lathes will have a #2 morris taper for inserting some drives. Here in the US, most of the smaller lathes have a 1 inch by 8 tpi thread, and the larger lathes have a 1 1/4 by 8 tpi thread. There are a few variations, but these are the standards. A metal lathe can work for woodturning, mostly if you have one and don't want to spend for a dedicated wood lathe.

You can learn a lot from You Tube videos, and some are better than others. Search for woodturning clubs in your area. Much better, and I know there are a number of them down in Florida.

robo hippy

[Dave Cullen]

Right - #2 MT (Morse Taper) and 1"-8 are most popular.

[Brian Myers]

A 16" metal lathe is probably MT3 or 4 in the headstock. Southbend used MT3 in the headstock on there 9" metal lathes with MT2 in the tailstock. There are MT adapter sleeves , be sure to get one without a tang ( cost more) so you can easily remove the drive center. The spindle on that has to be fairly large (upwards of 2-1/4") but you could get an adapter made to drop it to 1-1/4 x 8.

[Marvin Hasenak]

If you have a 3 jaw chuck you could also use it to power your spur drive. That is what I do when I use my metal lathe to turn acrylics.

If you post a pic of the lathe and the brand and model number, maybe someone has already made the transition to a wood lathe and will have some suggestions.

[Eric Schatz]

Watch this video and you will understand everything you need to know about holding wood on a lathe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXil-5dEeo

[Steve H Graham]

Thanks for all the replies. The lathe is an Eisen 1640G. It's the same as the Victor model of the same name.

I would like to avoid using the spindle taper because it's an MT7, which means a big and expensive adaptor. Also, it would mean removing the 3-jaw metal chuck, which is heavy and aggravating to deal with. I was thinking it would be much easier to have a straight-shank adaptor that fits in the chuck.

I suppose I could make a straight shank with an MT2 bore.

Everyone is cutting wood down here for hurricane season. Today I saw a huge pile of seagrape wood and wondered if it was good for anything. Lots of tangled-up crotches.

[Steve H Graham]

So far just about every example of woodturning I've seen involved either a spur drive or a 4-jaw self-centering wood chuck. Does that pretty much cover it? If so, I think the easiest thing would be to put a chuck and a spur on separate shanks and be done with it.

I am also wondering if it's possible to use a tool rest with a wood base instead of metal. I don't know if it would be rigid enough. I am not anxious to gouge up the ways of the lathe by sliding a metal gadget around on them.

Edit: watching the recommended video now.

[Marvin Hasenak]

You can use a 2MTsolid socket adapter, one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hardened-Gro...item486110b587 in your chuck. That will take any 2MT spur drive, or MT accessory designed to fit the headstock.

You can also buy 2MT threaded adapters so that you can screw a wood chuck on to it. These have a threaded end with a male 2MT end. I know I have seen those adapters, but the place escapes me at the moment. With the above and the threaded adapter you can use just about any wood lathe accessory you can thing of.

The tailstock, all you really need is a live center and drill cuck, you should either have those or be able to find them in a lot of supply houses. The only thing left is the banjo and a tool rest, they can be fabricated or picked up used off of eBay. Just make sure it is big enough to fit he ways of the lathe.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Best Wood Tools has the threaded 2MT adapters. http://bestwoodtools.stores.yahoo.net/onepihetachr.html

You will need a drawbar, I would wit until I got all of the parts and make it myself, just a threaded bolt with washers will work.

[Steve H Graham]

Thanks for that Ebay link. I would rather buy an adaptor than make one. The one in the ad is hardened, though, so it might slip in the lathe jaws. I guess I can look for one that isn't hardened, or maybe I could anneal it.

Evidently what I called a "tool rest" is a banjo and tool rest.

I am looking at pictures and videos, and it sort of looks like the long distance from the lathe axis to the ways (swing) is excessive for wood turning. I am thinking it might be best to take a hardwood board, cut a slot down the length of it in the center to create two wooden "ways," attach the banjo to it, and clamp the whole thing it on top of my cast iron ways. That would elevate the whole mess an inch or so, and it would allow me to use a normal banjo (used) instead of fabricating something complicated that fits on v-shaped ways. I assume v-shaped ways would make it hard to move the banjo around properly.

The lathe carriage is going to be pretty close to my right side, and the tailstock will have to be jammed up against it. I'm thinking I could declutter things by putting a tool holder with an MT4 bore in it on the tool post and moving it with the compound slide. That would definitely be easier than using the bulky tailstock and ram. I could push them back to the tail end of the ways.

[Steve H Graham]

Will I be okay if I start out with one spur center and one 4-jaw MT2 chuck? I don't know which chuck to get. I guess that's a new puzzle.

[Steve H Graham]

I think I found something useful. Evidently the Shopsmith has a spindle with a 5/8" plain bore, so you can get lathe stuff with 5/8" shanks to fit it. That looks like an easy place for me to start. And there is a chuck called the Nova G3 that accepts an insert to adapt it to a Shopsmith.

It's funny to read about this stuff and see people call it "expensive." I saw people talking about the Nova chuck, saying it cost a lot, and I started quaking in my boots. Then I checked, and it's about $120. By machining standards, that's far from expensive. It's nice to see that there are some relatively cheap things you can do with wood. I paid $150 for a plane the other day, which ruined my day. Spending 30 bucks less and getting something way cooler than a plane would be nice.

[Marvin Hasenak]

If I was setting this up, I would but he 2MT socket for use with a spur drive and my spur drive would come from Penn State Industries. One of these. https://www.pennstateind.com/store/h...e-centers.html

I would buy a piece of 1-8 all thread and make an adapter. First I would remove the threads on about 3" of it, screw a nut on the threads all the way to the smooth part and weld it in place. Then face off the nut so that you have a square face for a wood chuck to screw up to. The shaft is the part you removed the threads from. Place your shaft in the machinist chuck with the threads pointing out. Buy a chuck of your choice and you are in business on the headstock

Next, make a banjo and tool rest. Simple if you have access to a welder, but doable since you have a lathe and I am guessing other machining tools. I have gotten by with a simple one homemade from maple, look at the designs for tool rest by searching eBay "lathe banjo tool rest".

If you have questions, I can send you my phone number.

[Steve H Graham]

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

I ordered a couple of things, and if it doesn't work, I will make changes.