George wrote:
I'm a relative newby to turning and have a problem for which I don't see an
easy solution.

I've just turned a bowl which is 6 1/2" in diameter but with a 4" opening.
The bowl is finished and it is now time to part off the tenon/spigot. My
problem is that my OneWay 4-jaw chuck doesn't open wide enough to hold the
bowl by its opening, and the Jumbo Jaws don't close small enough to hold it
by the opening. The outside from the opening on top to the sides is too
high to be caught by the rubber jaws on the outside.

What is a reasonable solution? Some sort of jam chuck on a spur and hold
the tenon by the tail stock while I part it off?

Thanks.

George (another one)


I have run into the same problem. That's when I dust off my original
reversing "chuck" that I thought I would never use again when I bought
a set of cole jaws.

I made it of two plywood discs about 12 inches in diameter. The first
is mounted on a faceplate, turne round on the lathe and padded on the
surface with non-skid carpet underpad. The second disk is attached to
the first with three stove bolts and wing nuts equally spaced around
the perimeter. The second disk has a hole in it to fit around the base
of the bowl (actually I made three different ones with different
diameter holes) so that the tenon or chuck recess can be finished off.
I stapled a piece of the carpet pad to the inside of this disk and
made radial cuts in it so the shoulder that presses against the bowl
is protected. This hole is also tapered, being larger inside where the
bowl sits.

To use, just invert the bowl on the solid disk, seat the second disk
over the base of the bowl and tighten the three wing nuts equally to
clamp the bowl. I also found it convenient to have sets of different
bolt lengths for different bowl heights. Put the wing nuts on the side
toward the headstock to keep them out of your fingers while spinning.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

The difference between the blues and
the blahs is that you can't sing the
blahs. --George Carlin