"John" wrote in message
...
Leafing through some old turning magaines, I came across a novel
vacuum chuck in the September 1997 issue of "Woodturning" (UK).

There's an article on the Turbo RCD vacuum chuck, which used internal
vanes to generate a vacuum when the unit revolved at speed. No pumps
or through-suction - just a one-piece unit held in an existing
expanding chuck. Mainly wood, and looks hand-made, but marketed at
just under £70 at the time.

I can't trace this item - possibly the firm (Turbo RCD of Nottingham)
no longer makes them.

Can anyone remember this chuck - has anyone actually got one? I'd be
very interested to know if it worked (the "Woodturner" article seemed
to think it did).

And if it's no longer on the market, has anyone any idea how it was
made?

John
=======================
John,
Your description is a little skimpy, but it sounds like they may have been
doing something along the line of the current vane type compressors, or the
princle of the sliding vanes in Mazdas rotary engines. The vanes are
embedded in a cylinder and rotated inside a oviod shaped enclosure. As it
rotates, the spring loaded vanes move in and out following the walls of the
enclosure. Placement of ports in the walls allow air intake, then
compression before being exhausted through the exhaust port. I can't think
of how this could be done within a chuck that I'm familar with, but it's
possible it could be done with some device driven by the lathe. Of course,
that would means having to turn it on and off when you stopped the lathe for
inspections, etc. It would be interesting to see the article.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX.