Hello Arch,

Sounds like you've sort of run the gamut of home made ways to cobble
up for eccentric turning. As a renouned tool-a-holic, I own most if
not all of the eccentric chucks on the market and only a couple of
them let you go back to an exact previous setting.

I have also turned faceplate work eccentric by using multiple holes
and a screw chuck faceplate into a glue block on the workpiece. You do
have nearly precise return to previous positions, but your offset
can't be to excessive or you will tear out the screw threads in the
wood. If possible one should use the tailstock to help support wood
like this.

I have at times used my Nova Chuck with the 35 mm tenon jaws, which
have serrated teeth inside the jaws, to do eccentric turning for
goblets, etc. You have fair control of the amount of eccentricity once
you have clamped it down onto a tenon.

I do more oval turning of hammer handles between centers and have
demonstrated that locally and in Australia and New Zealand many times,
but have only made one oval hammer handle for an actual hammer(which
was for my wife's hammer when she broke the handle and wanted one out
of Lignum viate).

Each of the commercial eccentric chucks have their merit. My first one
was the Robert Sorby Eccentric Chucks, which shifts the wood sideways
with a rotating eccentric disk that the wood is mounted to. I've since
purchased the Escoulen ball and socket chuck, the Axminister eccentric
chuck, one that is made by a fellow in England with different mounting
holes (can't remember the name at the moment), and for Christmas 2005
my wife purchased the new Escoulen chuck which combines the ball and
socket with the portion similar to the Robert Sorby chuck. This thing
has many more adjustment options than I have imagination. I covered
all of these except this last one in my book, "A Guide to Work Holding
on the Lathe", which is available from Amazon.com.

I hope this rambling adds to your discussion.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com

On Apr 4, 2:55 pm, (Arch) wrote:
Store-bought eccentric and multi-axis chucks are expensive. I've never
used one, but I understand that they work well and are easy and precise
to use. My cobbled messes work to a degree, but commercial chucks are
probably much more useful and convenient for changing eccentricity or
shifting axes in measured steps, plus being able to return to any one
step. BUT, some cost more than a quality mini-lathe!

My eccentric chucks are nothing more than a machinist faceplate with a
radial slot for a dog. I used a shortened pipe tap moved along the slot
to hold the blank and vary it's eccentricity. I can drill an accurate
hole in a blank for a tap much easier than I can turn an accurate tenon
for a die, but either a hole for a tap or a tenon for a die allows for
_cutting threads. Much better for securing wood than the crushed threads
made with a bolt or the headstock spindle. I also used a tailstock
center or a rotating backing plate when possible.

I've sharpened and ridged the jaws of an independent 4 jaw wood chuck.
Adjusts and holds pretty well for eccentrics. I've also slit a 2.5 in.
length of 2 in. pipe into 4 sections and inserted them into the 4 jaw
chuck as deep 'jaws'. I can round the end of a blank and move it off
the spindle axis and hold it there in these 'jaws' or in a scroll chuck
with deep jaws. Adjustments are limited and a pain to make. As for
precision, forget it. It's true, "You can't go home again" nor can you
go back to a previous axis with this set up.

I've thought about scribing concentric lines on a face plate and
drilling holes on the lines , but scattered about the radii so they
don't overlap. A screw or small tap could be attached to the various
holes for holding the blank on different eccentric axes. Seems like a
lot of messing about with imprecise adjustments.

Sorry for my tedious and confusing description. Do any of you have (or
can suggest) other cheap homeshop chucks or methods for holding a blank
on variable axes with convenient and fairly precise adjustments. If so,
how do those of you bereft of pricey factory chucks do it?

Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter

http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings