anyone used this before?

[Robert McGowen]

Sounds like one of those ideas I should of thought of first..............

Just received a Woodcraft flyer and it has a tap that threads wood the size of your spindle threads. Says that you can thread the hole in a piece of wood and then use the block as a glue block so that every piece basically has its own wooden face plate. You just screw the block directly on to the spindle and turn. I guess you could make face plates as big as you wanted. If you turned the thing round after it was threaded, but before you mounted your piece, it would always be centered also. Any pros or especially cons?

[Jim Becker]

Certainly a practical way to have a lot of extra blanks "mounted" and ready to go. Many folks use multiple faceplates for that.

The one thing you need to consider is that this is fine for bowl work where your wooden "face plate"/glue block is cross-grain (normal face plate orientatoin) and your bowl blank is the same. But it's not good for end-grain work...not a good glue situation. A chuck is still preferable for that situation until you get "large" and then there are other mounting methods.

[Christopher Zona]

My first instinct is to be careful of stripping out the threads in the wood and use the recommended tap drill size. Typically in mechanical design applications, a rule of thumb is to plan the length of thread engagement to equal at least 1 1/2 to 2 times the diameter of the thread, i.e. a 1-8 UNC thread should have around 1 1/2" to 2" of thread engagement to have proper holding torque.

All things said, is this practical for wood? Maybe not. Species, moisture content and thread pitch will all have different effects. I think it would turn into trial and error to fine tune things.

I have used a little Lee Valley mandrel for mounting work pieces to make spinning tops. After few attempts with some kiln dried walnut, I got the hang of tool pressure to avoid the mandrel from stripping, but this particular mandrel has 3/16 fine threads. This led to the thought of cutting the head off of a 3/8 bolt and employ it in the same fashion on a different project. It worked better because of the larger diameter and more course thread.

That’s my two cents.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

There are a number of good articles out there on some of the sites about how to do it. I would have tried it but just never got around to getting the Tap.

[Travis Stinson]

Also very handy for making cheap vacuum chucks from MDF/hardwood and PVC couplings.

[Stephen Hibbs]

i think it would work with hard stuff, or especially mdf, but soft wood will strip easily. Sounds pretty cool if the wood can hold up. Maybe putting a small ring or hose clamp or some such thing would help keep the wood piece from breaking as well. Unless it's really expensive it's worth a shot.

[Jim Ketron]

Talked to a few guys at the woodturning club tonight that got one, they said they work great!

[Bob Hamilton]

That is the method that metal spinners use to mount their wooden mandrels. The blank is turned down to the interior shape required for the spun part. Most recommend using hard maple for the mandrels.

Bob

[Harvey Schneider]

I'm wondering? When working on a large bowl, can you mount the blank directly to the spindle and do away with thin woodworm or faceplate mounting? The larger diameter sounds like it would have greater strength.
What provides the stability and keeps the work from rocking on the spindle?


Harvey

[Adam Howard]

I just got one and spent some time in the learning curve.

Seems to work fine, and should prove to be a useful addition to the shop for a meager $30. I see lots of possibilities.

The only bad part, is there is some technique to learn. The instructions tell you to mount the work on the lathe using a faceplate or chuck, drill the right size hole (1 1/8 in my case). You use the tailstock to apply pressure while advancing the tap with a wrench. There's a little indent in the end of the tap that's just right for a live center. It takes a bit of technique to be able to advance the tailstock and turn the wrench to apply the appropriate amount of pressure. Since the tailstock threads are a different pitch, I was turning the tailstock handwheel about twice as much as the wrench. Not a problem, just something to learn with hands on.

In about 30 minutes of playing with a couple pieces, I made one bad one, and one good one. Should do okay from here on out.

There are lots of possibilities, and you may be able to use a drill press or some other system to apply pressure.

Once the threads were cut, it looked like they'd be quite durable.

[Gordon Seto]

I'm wondering? When working on a large bowl, can you mount the blank directly to the spindle and do away with thin woodworm or faceplate mounting? The larger diameter sounds like it would have greater strength.

It depends on what your time is worth. You can accomplish the same thing with a pin chuck. This is not something I prefer, because I can't shift the axis to take advantage of the grain revealed once you drill and tap the hole. A big chuck of wood may still move even after several years and not stable enough for tapping threads. Glue blocks are more practical.
On large bowls, I would trust a good metal faceplate rather than less than 10 threads on wood.
Proper size woodworm screw is safer because the threads are cut by the screw and the shoulder of the screw chuck provides wider leverage.

Gordon

[Steve Harder]

If you want to try this on the cheap, buy a bolt with thread the same as your lathe. Then file 4 slots in the end - just take a look at a real tap and copy. The bolt works fine in wood, and if you like you can always buy the tap later.

[Chuck Beland]

I just got a few 1 x 8 TPI nuts at Lowes & drilled a hole in some scrap I found then gorilla glued the nut inside. I haven't tried to turn anything yet with it.

Chuck

[Kurt Forbes]

I have seen some nice faceplates made this way. Think corian or hard wood. Actually cheap pine tapped with alot of CA glue and then retapped works great also. We have a older turner in the local club that swears by the taps.

[Harry Goodwin]

I think Harbor freight have a 1" tap for about $3.00 on sale. I am not sure of the 8 threads an incch. Harry