On Sep 26, 3:47*pm, Gerald Ross wrote:
Scott Zrubek wrote:
I've been turning some stoppers recently, in a variety of woods. *The
two I've turned out of English Walnut have both become stuck on the
bottle stopper chuck. *I think the cause is the extra screwing in caused
by the turning process.

I'm looking at alternative ideas to remove the stopper from the chuck.
The first one I destroyed by turning to eliminate the friction point.
I've got ideas to eliminate this problem in the future, but no great
ones on how to remove the current sample.

Ideas?

What kind of chuck? *Is it the one with a flat on it with a little
roller to cause expansion. This is what I use and I just lock the
spindle and twist it back and forth while pulling. Watch your elbow if
you have a live center on the tailstock. *I found that knocking off
the sharp end edges of the roller with a diamond hone helps keep it
from digging in. I don't turn bottle stoppers anymore but use the
chuck for turning Christmas tree ornaments.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Clones are people two.

I have had this happens a few times. The best method i found is to put
the chuck/stopper in the freezer for about 1/2 hour. then use the
strap wrench if necessary to remove it. (The metal will shrink a
little more than the wood from the cold loosening it up)

Be aware though that the strap wrench will probably ruin the finished
surface of the stopper.

Once you have it off, take a lid from a coffee can and cut yourself a
washer. It's thin enough not to throw off the chuck, and will prevent
the wood from locking up onto the screw chuck again. I use washers
like that to prevent various adaptors from getting stuck also. (I have
one lathe with a 1 1/4 x 8 tpi, and another with 1 x 8 tpi spindles)

You can purchase washers for this purpose, but the coffee can lids
work fine and are free!