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rhutson - Posted - 02/11/2009: 05:34:39
I need to know what kind of adjustable lathe chuck is needed to turn a rim. I have a lathe with plenty of clearance so I'm looking to put this together and give it a go. I see a lot of chucks online but not sure what is needed.
rhutson in NC
Roger in Swansboro, NC
banjomartin88 - Posted - 02/11/2009: 05:51:40
quote:
Originally posted by rhutson
I need to know what kind of adjustable lathe chuck is needed to turn a rim. I have a lathe with plenty of clearance so I'm looking to put this together and give it a go. I see a lot of chucks online but not sure what is needed.
rhutson in NC
Roger in Swansboro, NC
Im with on you on this one Roger. I have seen many but none seem to be right for what is needed. What kind of lathe do you have? 96 Earl Scruggs Golden Deluxe 05 Gibson Blackjack 04 Sullivan Greenbrier (Custom) 60s RB-250 30s Gibson (not sure on model, I think its a 3) 01 Washburn B-16
desert rose - Posted - 02/11/2009: 05:59:38
Hey Roger
Give Tony Pass an email, I dont know anyone in the banjo world more in tune with the roundness issues concerning rims, he has custom jaws on his lathes and may be able to help you out
Scott
Dan Pennington - Posted - 02/11/2009: 08:31:41
Roger
What kind of rims will you be turning - ply or block rims? Each type requires a different kind of chuck. When I'm making block rims, I have the block layers glued to some plywood screwed to a face plate. When I'm cutting a ply rim blank or recutting a block rim, I use Cole jaws on a Oneway adjustable chuck. Some people use a large 3 or 4 jaw machinist chuck.
Check out rbuddy's shop photos:
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...&albumid=797
And my lathe setup on Mark Hickler's web site.
Dan from Minneapolis but in Harlingen, Texas till April
I cut it three times and it''s still too short.
dpetrzelka - Posted - 02/11/2009: 08:45:01
I'm in a similar situation as I have access to large metal lathes with 3 jaws, and all of the wood lathes I see have 4 jaws.
My current plan of attack is to use a turntable on the CNC Milling machine - this will allow me to turn the rim against the mill bit to rough cut the round rim from my glued up blocks. I can then chuck the round, slightly oversized rim in the lathe to turn it to the final dimension.
Other than padded jaws, do the 4 jaw wood lathes provide any better centering that 3 jaw metal lathes? (I always thought 3 was supposed to provide more accurate centering).
I was thinking about making a set of Cole style jaws - with only 3 of them, to bolt to the metal lathe chuck. Anyone have thoughts or advise?
Edited by - dpetrzelka on 02/11/2009 08:57:24
dpetrzelka - Posted - 02/11/2009: 09:24:49
Dan- That Longworth chuck is just what I need to make. Thanks for the links.
rhutson - Posted - 02/11/2009: 10:00:53
Thanks for all the great ideas, I have a 14" lathe I bought at Harbor Freight, I know everyone will tell me it is to small and all that BUT it seems to have plenty of power and I'm not going into business, just want to turn a couple rims. I have seen some pretty good 3 and 4 jaw chucks on ebay in the 1 to 2 hundred dollar range but not sure if they will fit. I'll check out some of the links and see what I come up with. If you go to Richie Dotson's site, you can see his set up with a 3 jaw chuck but I'm sure that chuck was quite expensive and he has a big lathe.
rhutson in NC
Roger in Swansboro, NC
jmetz - Posted - 02/11/2009: 12:14:55
Hi folks,
I use a 10", three jaw, self centering chuck. I believe a four jaw chuck would be better.
For what it's worth.
Take care,
Jim
fitch5string - Posted - 02/11/2009: 14:17:27
You can see my setup at www.fitchbanjos.com on my Repair page. I use an 8" 3 jaw Bison chuck with 10" aluminum pie jaws that I machined for rims, tone rings,and flanges. The chuck and jaws cost me about $1200.00 . My lathe is a 15 x 50 engine lathe.
FITCH BANJOS
www.FitchBanjos.com
Hand-Crafted Professional Banjos
Banjo Repair-Setup-Restoration
Authorized Recording King Dealer
Edited by - fitch5string on 02/11/2009 14:19:04
dubtom - Posted - 02/11/2009: 16:35:48
I had considered cole jaws my self for my wood lathe. The ones I looked at where recommended for rechucking bowls ect to remove stems and finishing bases, I got the impression that they didn't recommend them for the inital stages of turning. I have two oneway chucks with several sets of jaws,the biggest of which only go to about 6''. I haven't seen a chuck the size of Fitch's one for a wood lathe anywhere unfortunatly.
zeeway - Posted - 02/11/2009: 16:40:58
I just finished my first block rim on my recently acquired lathe. I used Dan Pennington's idea of gluing the rough rim to a plywood circle which I then mounted on a face plate. This allowed access to the inside diameter and the outside diameter and the rim face for the tone ring (hoop in my case). I sanded it on the lathe and then I then used a cut off tool to part it from the plywood. I could have just used a sander on the back face, and finish it that way. But decided it was easier to mount some plugs on the plywood blank to hold the rim with the newly cut face sticking out - and I just used sandpaper to finish it.
Next time - if there is a next time - I will make some plywood jaws like the Cole jaws to use with a small four jaw chuck, or make a Longworth chuck for the second chucking
RBuddy - Posted - 02/11/2009: 17:19:19
I put up a simple drawing of how I might make replacement scroll chuck jaws for turning rims the next time I upgrade if I do. I currently use a highly modified commercial chucking system, pics in my "Shop Pics" on my home page. It works but is a bit of a hassle changing from an inside the rim grip to the outside and I'm sure the vendor of the parts I modded would never approve of my modifications from a safety standpoint. I don't think a 3 jaw system would adequately support (could deform) a rim but you could make or have a machinist make Y shaped replacement jaws that would effectively give you 6 support points even with a 3 jaw chuck. That would spread jaw pressure more evenly around a rim.
I always thought this would be a nice small footprint metal lathe for rims:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/g4015z
Understand I haven't done all the research to see if this combination of lathe and chuck are compatible and would turn the whole variety of rim sizes. But it looked like it could be a reasonable system for a small shop.
I think you can see a bigger view of the drawing on my home page.
If you are only making a couple rims a year the face plate method is perfectly adequate and how I bet most everyone starts out.
Lathe upgrades get expensive fast. I think the best investment for the $$$ is a cross slide table for a tool holder for precision and control, and then a fancier lathe. Just my opinion.
edited for more info and clarity.
Brian
"The choice between the banjo shop and a firearm is largely dependent on the season and the weather."
Edited by - RBuddy on 02/12/2009 07:57:19
jwr.athome - Posted - 02/12/2009: 12:32:25
I have never turned a banjo rim but I have done an awful lot of other machining on a lathe. Basically, a 3 jaw chuck can only be used on work that is round or hexagonal to start with - and even then the job may not run absolutely true. With a 4 jaw chuck however, you can put in any damn shape of work you like , including oblong if you feel so inclined and by adjusting each jaw independently, you can put the centre where you like to whatever accuracy you like. To turn a banjo rim you would need a pretty big 4 jaw chuck (big that is for the average home machinist) - an alternative would be to make up a few brackets to screw onto the inside of the rim blank, which could then be bolted onto a lathe faceplate. By dint of slacking the bolts slightly and some judicious tapping with a mallet, the rim blank could be made to run true enough to start turning.
Hope this helps.
John Richardson
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