Hi Emily

I'm coming in a bit late, just back from a very enjoyable 2 weeks with
my youngest son and his family, (read 3 grand kids = lots of fun)

You sure are not starting off with the easiest turning project, turning
very thin spindles are quite hard to do.

Using a spur drive to drive the spindles would not be my choice, it
would be like pushing against a strip of cardboard from both ends,
it'll buckle. pulling from both ends would keep it tensioned and less
likely to whip in the case of thin spindle turning.

Use your chuck to hold one end and fit your other end of the wood into
the live center opening, (you knock out the loose center pin) get it in
tight and tape it to the live center, now you are able to tension your
spindle just a little.

If you don't have a woodlathe chuck yet, get at least a drill chuck
with the MT2 for holding spindles, you will need one for drilling on
your lathe anyway, I do recommend getting the Oneway Talon chuck
though, and the extra set of spigot jaws to hold thin stock.

The Henry Taylor miniature set is a good choice for the small items you
intent to make in my opinion, as you will be close-up to the lathe and
turning stock, you might find a bit wider skew a good addition as the
1/4" one is pretty narrow.

Oh yes one more thing, before I forget, if you use Morse Tapers, you
will need to use draw bars to keep them from coming loose.(a draw bar
is a threaded rod that screws into the end of the MT and goes to the
other side of the headstock or tailstock and a washer and nut will then
keep the MT from loosening and damaging the MT taper.)

One more thing, you can go cheaper on the chuck and tools, however good
equipment does not remind you every time you use it that you should
have bought better quality.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo





Emily P wrote:
Hello,

I am a full time woodworker but brand new to woodturning. I am planning
on purchasing a jet mini lathe and I am about to buy my first set of
tools. I was looking at the Henry Taylor mini tools as a possibility.
After doing some reading on the forum to get some recommendations I
noticed that just about everyone seems to recommend going with full
sized tools over midi / mini tools. I am wondering if that is always
the case even if you are only looking to turn small scale objects - no
bowls full sized spindles, etc? I am buying the lathe to do some
production runs of a very specific small scale item for my business -
spindles less 3/8" diameter tapering to 1/16" between 4-7" long with
beads coves etc. These will be crochet hooks and needlework tools. My
question is given what I will be turning would you still advise buying
full sized tools?

Thanks,
Emily