"Peter Holt" wrote in message news:42b33523.0@entanet...
Having upgraded my lathe I have to buy new fittings to fit the different
thread size. I was intending to buy a couple of face plates but have seen
face plate rings advertised. I have a Supernova chuck and the rings look
a
more versatile proposition but are they as strong? I often put some
pretty
uneven and unbalanced lumps of wood on the lathe and wonder if the rings
may
distort.

I've been looking at trying 'em for some time myself and decided to take one
for a test drive. I borrowed a 75mm Nova ring from a mate and tested it out
on my Supernova2 chuck. (I hope he's not reading this...) Being chicken,
I started relatively small; a 7" length of roughly 8" dia air-dried redgum.
Unbalanced enough to give me problems with a walking lathe when started at
the lowest speed.

After quickly knocking it down a notch or two and roughing it down to safer
proportions I thought I'd try a jam test. I have a sharpened 3/4" rod I use
as a "roughing" scraper, which I'd rather sacrifice than a good HSS tool so
I cowered behind the headstock, brought it up to about 1200 RPM and
literally harpooned the beast. (PS: Don't try this at home, kids!)

To my surprise (and waste of adrenaline) the faceplate stayed secured, the
chuck simply stopped dead. On restarting, the wood was still as centred as
I'd roughed it. The faceplate ring had certainly passed the worse I'll ever
dare to throw at it! I'm impressed! I already have a couple of faceplates,
so have no immediate need, but 'tis definitely on my wish-list.

One downside: I wasn't accurate when harpooning (it's not a skill normally
associated with turning) and it jammed on the very end of my 10" tool-rest,
bending the bugger down some 1/4". Methinks I'll think thrice before trying
that test again, if ever...

- Andy