I'm new to the forum. Coming back to building a rod (or two...) after hiatis since building a number of rods a loooong time ago. Then I used a drill and roller supports, or reamed pre made seats. Now I have a real lathe (600 lb. HD Delta) I'm thinking of using to turn the grip.

I'm building a 10'8" 4 pc Rainshadow switch rod. Check my plan to see if it makes sense. I plan to hold the rod in a scroll chuck, with the butt toward the tail stock, and the rest of the rod passing through the chuck and headstock. I will use a tape arbor to clamp the rod in the chuck. I will support the blank where it emerges out the outboard end with a tape arbor. (Only an inch or two will emerge.) I plan to do a small wrap (temporary) on the butt end and support it (lightly) on a cone shaped tail stock. I plan to ream and glue the cork rings directly to the blank with epoxy hefore I insert the blank through the lathe. ?What am I missing?

Thanks a lot. I've been lurking for a short time and it looks like a lot of good info shows up in this forum.

Steve,
In general, I think that it will likely work fine.
But, if I were you, I would take your rod section on which you plan to put into the lathe and go to the good will or somewhere there are some scrap rods.
Find a rod blank that is roughly the size blank that you are going to be doing the actual handle work on.

Then, use the test blank to test your fixtures, arbors and holding devices.

The reason that I suggest doing this is because of the semi fragile nature of rod blanks and the possible crushing that could occur - if the rod blank is squeezed too much by a clamp.

REW

Steve,
Whenever I do handle turning on the actual rod blank, I use as many of these rod rests as needed to safely support the blank and to keep it from whipping.
In your case, if you just removed the tail stock from your lathe, and clamped one of these down to the lathe bed, you would have a safe secure, non crushing support for your rod blank.

Where the rod rest bearings touch the blank, I put a couple of wraps of masking tape on the blank to avoid any bearing damage from the high speed turning of the lathe:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Basically, this rod rest is constructed from three skate board bearings, two flat aluminum piece on which the bearings are mounted, two vertical rods on which the bearing supports slide and are clamped, and one piece of aluminum base to support the rod rests.

I have turned handles on many many full length one piece rods up to 10 feet in length. I generally use 3-5 of these rests - depending on the power of the blank. i.e. heavy power blanks need less support than light power blanks. i.e. smaller, softer and more flexible blanks need more support to prevent whipping.

Your method will work just fine as you posted it. Just do a practice clamp up first on an old tedt blank first to check your needed clamping pressure, etc. to be able to hold the blank securely without any blank damage.


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When I do full length rod turning, I have a buffer motor that is fitted with a keyless 1/2 inch chuck. I will chuck in solid rod stock that is as near a fit to the inside of the butt end of the rod blank as possible. If necessary, I will add layers of masking tape to the solid rod stock to insure a slip free connection of the motor to the rod blank. In my case, and as in your case, the butt of the rod will be encased in cork, which will tend to prevent any blank splitting, if a solid piece of rod stock is inserted into the butt of the rod for handle turning.

Take care

REW

Steve,
I was just thinking.
I have an extra ball bearing rod rest. If you would like one, drop me an e-mail and we can make an arrangement to get one to you.

hflier@comcast.net

Roger