I'm interested in turning my own cork grips; now that I've caught the "bug" Tom Kirkman warns us about in his book. What is the best setup for this process? I'm not too sure of myself with a hand rasp so I've been snooping around looking for a low cost powered device. For instance, the Flex Coat cork lathe setup. My question is; can I turn the cork on a mandrel or is this thing only for on the rod work. I don't have a problem messing up a handle, so long as I don't also fry my blanks while I'm learning.Thanks for any help

A cheap wood lathe like found in some of the import machine catalogs can usually be had for abou $150. Or you can buy a drill stand for around $20 and fabricate some type of support for the other end of your mandrel. I'd do them on a mandrel unless you put out the bucks for a real rod lathe.

I bought one of those cheap $20 harbor freight drill presses then I found a how to book that shows you how to build a turning jig that will work on a drill press so now I'm in the prosess of making it I was thinking of trying my hand at reel seats but it should work for cork grips too if i can get a picture up in geocities on how to build the jig I'll post it here
Richard

Bill,

It'll work. But make sure the piece you install on your press table to support the mandrel end keeps pressure against the chuck. If the chuck is installed via a morse-taper and pressure is not maintained when turning, it can come out at very high speed and do quite a bit of damage. I have some set-ups where the mandrel end is just contained in a hole drilled in a board to prevent whip. That's not the way to do it.

An easy way to make this is to obtain a live center and insert it into a wooden block. Then clamp the block and center to the press table and raise or lower the table as if it were a tailstock. You can make a tool rest with a piece of steel bent 90 degrees and one end clamped to the table. This may be the set-up you speak of.

What this gives you is a vertical lathe and it can be quite effective. However, caution is always in order as this is still a drill press and you are using it for something for which it was not designed specifically.

Some of the woodworking supply houses sell these type things complete. Pen turners sometimes use them on their drill presses rather than buying a dedicated lathe.

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My kids gave me a small lathe for Christmas to use for my rod building. It cost $79 at one of these one day tool sales held at our civic center. It is an import that seems very functional for what I am doing. My brother has a small JET lathe and I have now used both. The import works fine for me, but has obvious cosmetic differences and is certainly not of JET or Delta quality.

I want to experiment with wood inserts, but have not had the opportunity to do that yet. I am new to this also, but am having a grand time! Hopefully the lathe will be OK for this also.

Herb

To be honest, buying a really high quality wood or metal lathe is not easily done for a few hundred bucks. Luckily turning cork or the occasional wood insert does not require a really top notch, expensive lathe. What you have is likely to be fine for what you want to do.

The Jet, Delta and Frisch types are nice little lathes. But even the cheaper ones found in places like Harbor Freight or Northern work fine for turning cork and EVA. You don't need to go overboard here unless you simply want a high end model.

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My home-made setup is a power drill mounted on a drill press horizontally. I made a rod support out of aluminum and wood with ball bearing rollers. Every piece is infinitely adjustable. I always have and always will turn cork on the rod. It makes for a better fit, better bond and better overall grip for that particular rod. The key to this setup is to chuck the rod straight and level. Short pieces should have no trouble with oscillation. On long rods however, you will need to put a towel over the end to keep it steady. I only shape with sandpaper so I do not use, or need, a tool rest. My investment was minimal because I had most of this stuff around the house.

....I bought one of those really inexpensive wood lathes at Harbor Freight. It was a deal I thought could not pass. Regular price was $139 on sale for $69.

I really only want to turn cork handles on mandrels, but I am having a devil of a time finding a chuck to replace the drive center, that will fit onto the 19mm x 1.75mm threaded spindle.

I only need the capacity of the chuck to be between .25" and.50", and I'm sure even this inexpensive lathe has more than enough power to turn cork, but how any I going to use mandrels without a chuck?

Has anyone come up with a modifacation or adaptor that will accept a chuck?

I have Clemens rod Lathe, but wanted to turn cork away from my assembly area. I also have a drill press, but I thought for 69 bucks, what the heck.

This has been a tough one. What now? Thanks

Steve Swadinsky

when doinf cork handles, I glue the cork on a 1/4" threaded rod for the mandrel. On the butt end I put a "dummy" cork using a burl cork. I then remove the mandrel and turn the grip without it. I have to be careful not to use too much pressure when putting it on the lathe. This has worked well for me.

Herb

Steve,

I had no idea they used a TPI of that measurement. Most are either 8 or 16 TPI and accessories are readily available. That won't be much help to you now, however.

Somebody somewhere has to make some sort of chuck for that lathe. Check also that you don't have a morse taper on the insider of the headstock spindle (some have the taper and threads on the outside). If you do, find out if it is a morse #1 or #2 and chucks for those are available from most places. You'd only need a Jacobs chuck for what you are wanting to do.

In the meantime I will check and see what I can find for accessories for your particular lathe. There is also a website for mini-lathe owners. I will try to find it and get back to you. I'd bet someone there has an idea of where to get something that will fit your lathe.

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This just popped into my head - you could make a special adapter and just use what you have. If you counterbore the mandrel end so it will fit the headstock drive spur, and then fashion a hardwood ring with corresponding slots to hold the drive spur flats, you could then epoxy it to the end of your mandrel and have something that would work just fine. In the long run, this might be the cheapest and easiest way to go.

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Tom that is a good idea. I have something similar and never could really use it for lack of common accessories. I am going to start on such an adapter tonite. Should be easy to make and would only cost pennies. I can use a hole saw to cut myself a round wood plub and cross cut it to hold the spur drivers. Good idea. I should have thought of this years ago. Guess that's why I don't publish a rod building magazine.