I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each one
in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but how do I
accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has a capacity
of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I suppose I could
just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't believe I could
get it drilled straight enough.

The obvious solution would be to just turn the posts in three sections,
but I'm not happy with that. My tailstock isn't designed to hold a chuck
and drill bit, so drilling on the lathe is out. Can you think of a better
way I can do this? I suppose I could just turn the tops of the posts and
use other techniques to fasten them to the square bottoms. I just have this
feeling I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

- Owen -

P.S. In case it makes any difference, I'm laminating 2 pine 2x4s to make
the blanks.

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with
the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously
I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and a
steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold square
stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you ask.

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper? Do
you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any drill
size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck, and more
accurate.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and a
steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold square
stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you ask.

Excellent!

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder. To
move it forward or back you turn this wheel that sits around the cylinder.
(It's kind of like those routers that adjust the height by turning the ring
around the motor.) The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can
move, it slops all over the place. It's a really dumb design if you ask me.
(Sears Craftsman lathe)

I don't really like my lathe, but it's what I have right now. I intend to
upgrade it someday, but this day isn't it.

Thanks for the great idea!

- Owen -

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:21:59 -0400, "Owen Lawrence"
wrote:


"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and a
steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold square
stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you ask.

Excellent!

I've also seen, but never had occasion to try, secondary "tail stocks"
attached to a wall to turn long spindles. Something like that could
be as simple as a 60* center mounted on the wall, provided you got it
at the right height. It seemed to be working out okay for the guys
I've seen doing it, but I would think it wouldn't hurt to add a little
"insurance" by mounting a couple of big eye bolts to the wall as well,
and using a rachet strap to cinch the lathe against the work so it
can't slide and let your long spindle fly out at you.

That's only useful, of course, if (like myself) you don't have a
steady rest- or if you are turning a really big column that doesn't
leave enough room for a steady.

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder. To
move it forward or back you turn this wheel that sits around the cylinder.
(It's kind of like those routers that adjust the height by turning the ring
around the motor.) The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can
move, it slops all over the place. It's a really dumb design if you ask me.
(Sears Craftsman lathe)

I do a lot of vases and hollow forms, and while my Delta does not work
the same way as you've described the Craftsman, it *is* limited to
2.5" of travel on the tailstock- since I like to drill a pilot hole
for hollowing, especially in end-grain, and most of my stuff is quite
a bit deeper than that, I've experimented a little, and found that
it's not really a problem to chuck up a drill bit in the tailstock,
and then slide the entire assembly along the ways without worrying
about the depth adjustment at all. There *is* the possibility of
slop, but one hand on the jacob's chuck keeping the chuck in place and
pushing the tailstock lightly downward, and the other feeding the
tailstock in seems to do the trick just fine- I can't find any real
difference in the finished hole between that method and feeding it in
with the hand crank.

Might be worth a try, and if it doesn't work for you, the bright side
is that it's not only a cheap accessory, but one that is more easily
moved to a different lathe at some future time than a threaded item
like a chuck.

I don't really like my lathe, but it's what I have right now. I intend to
upgrade it someday, but this day isn't it.

Thanks for the great idea!

- Owen -

"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
...

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and a
steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold square
stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you ask.

Excellent!

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder.
(clip)The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can move, it slops
all over the place.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about drilling on the lathe by sliding the tailstock forward instead of
cranking the ram? (I still recomend using a steady rest, and doing the
bedposts in one piece.)

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
...

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and
a steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold
square stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you
ask.

Excellent!

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder.
(clip)The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can move, it slops
all over the place.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about drilling on the lathe by sliding the tailstock forward instead
of cranking the ram? (I still recomend using a steady rest, and doing the
bedposts in one piece.)

My lathe isn't long enough to use the tailstock this way for this project.
I suppose it's something to try some other time, but I tend to research
things to death before ever trying anything that could be the slightest bit
dangerous. Everything about my tailstock is sloppy until it's locked down.
I wouldn't want to get the bit canted and then have it jamb or snap.

Can you tell me where I can find a picture of your suggested steady rest? I
think I get the concept okay, but I'd like to see it in action. I looked
for one, but didn't find one. If I can turn the whole length on my lathe,
then I can drill the hole by just ramming a gouge into the end, can't I?

- Owen -

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: Can you tell me where I can find a picture of your
suggested steady rest?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Owen, if I delete "no spam" from your address, I wind up with nothing ahead
of the @. If you would like to see a picture of my steady rest, please
e-mail me, or explain how to get a usable e-mail address out of what I am
looking at.

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:06:12 -0400, "Owen Lawrence"
wrote:


"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
...

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and
a steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold
square stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you
ask.

Excellent!

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder.
(clip)The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can move, it slops
all over the place.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about drilling on the lathe by sliding the tailstock forward instead
of cranking the ram? (I still recomend using a steady rest, and doing the
bedposts in one piece.)

My lathe isn't long enough to use the tailstock this way for this project.
I suppose it's something to try some other time, but I tend to research
things to death before ever trying anything that could be the slightest bit
dangerous. Everything about my tailstock is sloppy until it's locked down.
I wouldn't want to get the bit canted and then have it jamb or snap.

Can you tell me where I can find a picture of your suggested steady rest? I
think I get the concept okay, but I'd like to see it in action. I looked
for one, but didn't find one. If I can turn the whole length on my lathe,
then I can drill the hole by just ramming a gouge into the end, can't I?

Sure you could- but would you need to? I thought the idea was to
drill the hole to use as a mortise to connect multiple shorter parts
of a spindle to make one long one- if that's the case, and you get
around it by turning the whole post in one go, why would you still
need the hole? (Just curious)

You can get a "drill bit chuck for the non-powered end of the chuck.
Then all you would need to do would be turn a peg on one end and drill
the hole on the other. I do hope your lathe can turn slow enough to
not harm the drill bit.




On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:09:37 -0400, "Owen Lawrence"
wrote:

I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each one
in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but how do I
accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has a capacity
of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I suppose I could
just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't believe I could
get it drilled straight enough.

The obvious solution would be to just turn the posts in three sections,
but I'm not happy with that. My tailstock isn't designed to hold a chuck
and drill bit, so drilling on the lathe is out. Can you think of a better
way I can do this? I suppose I could just turn the tops of the posts and
use other techniques to fasten them to the square bottoms. I just have this
feeling I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

- Owen -

P.S. In case it makes any difference, I'm laminating 2 pine 2x4s to make
the blanks.

Owen Lawrence wrote:
I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each one
in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but how do I
accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has a capacity
of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I suppose I could
just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't believe I could
get it drilled straight enough.

Make a fixture to hold the post off the drill press table. Not too tough
.... use a wooden clamp (the kind with two handles and wooden jaws - I
don't know the precise name) to hold the post and any other sort of
stout clamp to hold that clamp to the table. Swivel the table around to
put the post under the bit.

Bill

--
I'm not not at the above address.
http://nmwoodworks.com


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simplest solution - put tailstock in a bench vise, arrange headstock the
proper distance away, insert wood and turn - if you are worried about the
lathe moving, tie the lathe to the bench with chain or wire (something that
does'nt streach much


"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
...
I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each
one in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but
how do I accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has
a capacity of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I
suppose I could just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't
believe I could get it drilled straight enough.

The obvious solution would be to just turn the posts in three sections,
but I'm not happy with that. My tailstock isn't designed to hold a chuck
and drill bit, so drilling on the lathe is out. Can you think of a better
way I can do this? I suppose I could just turn the tops of the posts and
use other techniques to fasten them to the square bottoms. I just have
this feeling I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

- Owen -

P.S. In case it makes any difference, I'm laminating 2 pine 2x4s to make
the blanks.




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:16:02 -0700, "William Noble" wrote:

simplest solution - put tailstock in a bench vise, arrange headstock the
proper distance away, insert wood and turn - if you are worried about the
lathe moving, tie the lathe to the bench with chain or wire (something that
does'nt streach much


Too friggin' easy, Bill...

lol


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Hi Owen
KISS
Make a steady rest, take the tail stock off of the lathe, then use
your turning tools (scraper etc.) to make the hole in the end.
Just the same you would make a small box close to the head stock, now
just at the end.
Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


On Aug 18, 3:09 pm, "Owen Lawrence" wrote:
I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each one
in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but how do I
accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has a capacity
of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I suppose I could
just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't believe I could
get it drilled straight enough.

The obvious solution would be to just turn the posts in three sections,
but I'm not happy with that. My tailstock isn't designed to hold a chuck
and drill bit, so drilling on the lathe is out. Can you think of a better
way I can do this? I suppose I could just turn the tops of the posts and
use other techniques to fasten them to the square bottoms. I just have this
feeling I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

- Owen -

P.S. In case it makes any difference, I'm laminating 2 pine 2x4s to make
the blanks.

wrote: Make a steady rest, take the tail stock off
of the lathe, (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm with you so far, other Leo.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
then use your turning tools (scraper etc.) to make the hole in the end.
(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Owen's need for the hole in the end is for doweling the two halves together.
I contend that with a steady rest, he can do it all in one piece.