Hi I got myself a lathe to start spinning my own corks. My blank is too long to fit into it. Ive been told I can make a jig so itll fit. Its the bottom section of a 3 piece. I have a 37in shopcraft wood lathe. I cant seem to figure out how to post a pic of it. Please email me with some suggestions of possible. gossglen@rogers.com thanks in advance

Basically if you want to turn-down a grip DIRECTLY on a lathe - you will have to replace the tailstock with a steady - mounted to the reel seat if totally round and concentric to blank.- similar to the Flexcoat cork lathe steadies (Google a picture).
It will have to be clamped down to your table with a "C" clamp - two are better. If blank section is long you may need two.

Insert a 5" bolt into chuck in Headstock with hex head cut off.
You will butt the male ferrule to bolt making sure blank is "square" to lathe - up, down and sideways.
Wrap bolt/male ferrule interface with a "non-residue" Scotch duct tape - up and down the interface for about 5". It will look egg shaped when finished. Squeeze tape to insure all is firm.
NEVER place ferrule in chuck . Protected with tape or not.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2015 07:43AM by Herb Ladenheim.

Glen,

I have not tried this so I can't speak from experience as I turn grips on a mandrel then install them on the rods. I've heard of people clamping down their rod wrapper bed on top of their lathe bed, then using the rod wrapper's rod supports to manage the rod blank while turning. I don't think I'd want to do this on a regular basis, but if you're careful it will probably work okay for the occasional turning.

I have done this on my atlas metal lathe to turn grips down...made a base to clamp down on top of the metal lathe ( like John Powell stated ) so i can use the wrapper supports...the key here is to really support the blank.....never to many supports.....

If you already have a rod wrapping lathe/wrapper/etc., you might be better off motorizing that if all you're going to turn is cork. Turning cork doesn't require much in the way of power and most any of the commercially available and relatively inexpensive powered rod wrapping machines will easily turn cork. Just another option to consider.

.................

Glen,
The following works very well.
1. Insure that you have a simple jacobs style drill chuck on your head stock. Simple to use and compact.
2. Get some graphite or fiberglass solid stock that is of a size that is near to the size of the blank butt section hole size.
3. Chuck a 6 inch section of the solid stock into your chuck and turn on your lathe with a high speed. Then, use coarse sand paper to sand a taper onto the end of the solid stock so that you can slip your solid stock up the inside of the rod blank to hold and support the end of the blank. If the solid stock is just a bit too small, you can use masking tape to build up the size of the solid stock for a nice slip fit into the end of the blank.

Then, make or obtain some ball bearing steady rests to support the blank. Then, take a 1X4 and drill a couple of hole in the center about 4 inches apart so that you can bolt the 1X4 to the base of your lathe. With the tail stock removed from the lathe, let the 1X4 extend out past the end of the lathe so that with steady rests mounted down the length of the 1X4, you can properly support the rod blank for its full length.

When you first found a blank on a lathe, you will need to determine where to mount the steady rests so that you get the blank supported at spots on the blank that does not lead to destructive oscillation. You need to start the blank spinning at a slow speed, and run your hand down the blank with no other supports that your hand so that you can determine the spot of quiet, and any spots of vibration. Place steady rests at the quiet spots on the blank and then you will be able to increase the speed of the lathe, without putting the blank in destructive oscillation.

I normally put the first steady rest at 2 feet, and then the other steady rests get spaced down the blank as needed. a heavy blank needs next to no steady rests, but a light action or low power fine tipped blank needs more steady rests to properly support the rod and prevent destructive oscillation.

To support the rods, I use a 3 ball bearing steady rest.
An example of one of my rod steady rests to support a handle on my lathe when center drilling the grip.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

An example of the steady rests that I use when using my full length rod lathe:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

At any point where I locate a steady rest, I use a double wrap of masking tape to insure that there are no marks left on the rod.

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Having said all of this, after I obtained my wood lathe, I have gone to grip making on the lathe with a mandrel and no longer use my full length rod lathe. So much easier, and there is never any risk of damage to an expensive blank. Also, if a mistake is made in shaping the grip, the grip can be tossed and a new grip made with no damage or grip removal from an expensive blank.

Good luck

what every one is pointing out, the rod can will whip as it is turned [ big time ] need to tame it down some how, every one is different but still doing the same thing .
stop the whip of the blank as it is turned

William Sidney
AK

William,
Over the years, I built many many rods using the full length rod lathe to turn the blank.

I did destroy one blank, when I was in a hurry and wanted to slightly change the shape of a new handle for a rod that I had just finished for a client.

I put the completed rod on the lathe and did not tape on a set of matching guides on the opposite side of the blank to counter act the weight of the guide train. Then, when I turned on the motor, I did not have my hand on the rod to stop it instantly if I saw that things were going bad.

As a result, it took 5 seconds to destroy a new fully completed rod as the rod blank went into destructive oscillation. I had to eat the cost on that new build of that rod. However, that was the only blank that I ever damaged out of all of the many many rods that I completed using the full length rod lathe.

Be safe

ALL THIS IS TELLING YOU - IS make the handles OFF the rod it is a lot better and easier

Bill - willierods.com

Glen said he has a 3pc blank. It will not whip with proper steadies.
herb

I missed the point about the blank being a 3 piece. If the rod were 9 foot long, that would mean that the butt section is about 3 feet long or will nearly fit fine in the 37 inch lathe.

Since the butt section of the blank is the only part of the blank that will be on the lathe for turning, a single steady rest that is about 2 feet from the butt of the rod will do a nice job of holding the blank steady.

Since this is the heavier butt section of the rod, it is very unlikely that there will be any issue at all with blank whipping or oscillating.


A single 3 ball bearing rod rest will take care of all of these issues with no issue.

Sorry for my not noting the detail on the multi piece blank being built.

Be safe

Thanks for the response i actually got myself a moris taper chuck and direct center. Now i need a 7/16 mandrel with 60 degree taper.

Thanks alot ... i need to get a mandrel 7/16 with 60 degree taper. Prob is where to find in ontario

Wow great info ... looks like im going to just use a moris taper chuck with direct center and a mandrel. I just need to find a 7/16 18 inch mandrel with 60 degree tapers. Know where I could find one in ontario?