Loose belt or stall "management"??

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks again!!

I spun a couple of 22" chunks of London Plane-neighbor said it was a sycamore but the grain is plain--mainly-- and after all mechanical considerations and adjustments it's clearly technique. I lightened up my touch and kept the tool from moving forward into the void as the lathe rocked with the imbalance and had far fewer catches and stalls. Lowering the lathe, posture and mostly relaxing are key. Moving up on that learning curve!! I think heavier and longer(for inside of bowls) roughing tools will help. Need a longer curved tool rest as well. It's interesting that as I turn larger pieces I'm finding it is really all about the wood! Large bowls with uninspired grain and character are still fun but the modest sized bowl with outrageous character are even better. The art seems to start at the wood pile. My next learning curve. Thanks again for the help.

The London Plane tree is a hybrid that was a result of crossing the European Platanus and the North American Platanus, as neither tree was native to England, this was the result and is called London Plane tree.

So unless it is a planted hybrid tree like in a park or peoples Yard, it would be a North American Platanus, which is called a Sycamore tree.

As Robo Hippy says the fleckted rays are prominent like many other rays (Oak) only seen in certain orientations, (quarter sawn)

I have turned some very large and small pieces of Sycamore, and it is in many ways very similar to Maple, more like a softer Maple, with turning round pieces as we normally do when turning wood , the flecks do only show on some areas and parts of the turning or sometimes not at all.

With flat wood work you can orient the cut so that you will get the flecks over the whole shown side, not so with a turning.

Sycamore wood.jpg Stopper on Sycamore wood.jpg Sycamore flecks and spalting.jpg Sycamore natural edge.jpg Sycamore hollow form.jpg

[John C Bush]

Thanks Leo,
Beautiful pieces. A friend turned some spalted sycamore on my lathe a couple of years ago. First I'd seen of it--very nice.

[Thomas Canfield]

Trying to be aggressive at slow speed with a dull tool will often cause a stall for me. Increasing speed as possible and keeping tool sharp and then adjusting the aggressive cut to match the wood works. I only have the 3520B with 2 HP so reaching stall can happen fairly easy with a 5/8 or 3/4" bowl gouge.

[Leo Graywacz]

How about using belt conditioner?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Leo,
Beautiful pieces. A friend turned some spalted sycamore on my lathe a couple of years ago. First I'd seen of it--very nice.

Thanks John, about the stalling of your lathe, that is where the shortcomings of a VFD comes into play, with the slower speed needed for very large heavy pieces you get les power from the VFD.

Not much you can do about that of course, with manual changing of belts on pulleys, where you would go to the lower speed that way you would keep the full power of the motor and even incase the power output to the spindle.

Sp you now have to decrease the power required by making smaller cuts and less aggressive cuts, cutting/slicing tools need less power that scraper type tools, it is up to you how to get there, just think about it