kgstakes

One other thing I wanted to ask (and I noticed). Is when turning, and this is with the Taig lathe (and their so called live center), is that you only turn or cut towards the chuck. True? Reason I ask, is when I was using the "live center" (which is only spring loaded and spins) when I was turning wood, it would suck it out of the chuck. Now I thought I tightened the chuck up, but has anyone with a Taig lathe had that happen to them as well? I know on my atlas lathe I can use mortise tapers ( 1 & 2 I believe), wondering is there any aftermarket places that make a better live center for the Taig lathe?

I've read (unless I missed it) ways to align the tailstock to the chuck or collets. I've heard that you could turn a steel bar (or brass) to a sharp cone (point) and slide your tailstock up to it and align the two up. Seems like it would work (in theory), but in doing that this way, is there a chance that it would not be in alignment further away from chuck? Or would this be a "quick down and dirty" way of doing it ? I know some of you are professional machinists and want or need it within a thousandth or less but I just heard you could do it that way and it works. What do you guys think? Can be done, don't do it because not that accurate, or don't do it at all because it will eventually damage machine. Thank you all for your comments and I'll keep reading and learning.

In the picture see below I have some tooling some collets (which I was surprised that only one or two are completely open- can push material through headstock). The long shiny rod at the bottom is supposed to be a live center (it works but not what I expected). But yeah a longer tool rest would be very easy to build. It mounts directly to the bed ways so you loosen a bolt and move then lock it down. It’ll work not dissatisfied with any of the options just thought some…. Well, not what I was expecting. (Even though I seen pictures before I bought them). The 3 jaw I believe they are soft jaws but if not I can get some. Step jaw I like more than the single step on the taig 3 jaw chuck. all in all very happy with it so far and thank you for all your input. Greatly appreciated.

Been thinking, I’ll probably be doing more wood turning on my lathe than metal but can you all look at the accessories I have and what else would you include for turning metal or wood? I’ll post picture here so you don’t have to go back and find it.

After looking at all the pictures of the drill press you could pretty much put anything under the head. Looks to me all you have to do is replace the “support post”. Make a longer one. yeah you have to figure out how much travel you would really need for a table but I think a longer support post would cure that part of the problem. Course guess that part was obvious🤪🤪

I'd be interested in what you come with as well for a vise and X-Y axis. Question would a little machine shop or other small x-y table work? Just throwing out ideas. X-Y Table Assembly This small precision X-Y table can be used on a drill press or other machine to precisely locate your workpiece. The table is 90 mm (3.54") by 200 mm (7.87"). It has three 8 mm T-slots. The complete X-Y Table assembly is 10.5" wide, 9" deep and 2.9" high. The X-axis travel is 135 mm (5.31") and the Y-axis travel is 70 mm (2.76"). The height of the table is 60 mm (2.36"). The base is 100 mm (3.94") by 175 mm (6.89"). The dials are graduated in 0.001" and one turn of the hand wheels moves the table 0.050". The X-Y table is made of cast iron and steel. There are adjustable gibs on both axes. $189.95

It’s looking great just take your time and it doesn’t matter how long it takes if the end results keeps looking like the picture shows, nice crisp notches everything fits good just don’t get frustrated that it’s taking forever. You’re doing a great job.😀😀

Lathe base/storage cabinet finished. Nowheal up before doing any turning. Enjoy the video Video (10).mov

Oh just a side note. After building the cabinet (ash wood) the total weight is approx 64 lbs. course lathe weighs about 50 lbs (shipped) with motor and all accessories. Not bad to carry but wouldn’t want to go far with it. That was another consideration I had was balance when carrying it. Yes lathe is set back for damage control when carrying and also for balance when carrying it.

I put the lathe set in about an inch from the hand wheels of the carriage and cross slide so when I carry it the hand wheels are not hitting me in the belly and no damage will happen when I store the machine. I want the cabinet to get any damage that may happen before anything hits any part of the lathe. a foot switch is a good idea and I’ll have to look into getting one. Never thought about that, good safety feature when turning. I’ll show a picture after I get it all finished and assembled that would show how close to the front everything actually is for operation.

Lathe "cabinet" "storage base" which ever you want to call it, I've finished building it now for some spar varnish on everything and reassemble. After that maybe do some turning. Enjoy the pictures. I will post other pictures when all the finish work is done and reassembled.

Hurricane deck? Can you tell me why they call it that? lol do they can watch for hurricanes. Seriously though why do they call it that and is the “second” called something too? What’s they others called? Thanks for calling me out on that, I didn’t know what it was called just assumed.

Gregory, Have to laugh because my name is Kurt also. Then I realized you were talking about the other Kurt's answer regarding slitting blades. Sometimes things get a little confusing for this little brain to fully function correctly. I've only used "regular carbide wood blades for my table saw so when I seen people using slitting blades I wanted to know why. I assume better cut no set in the teeth and I can see if you wanted a dado or groove in your work piece it would give you a better cut, square bottom in the cut, etc. I sorta knew the answer to why everyone was using them but really didn't know where to look for them. I've seen them on Jim's website but I guess for some reason I thought it was a specialty item that you would use only for certain cutting operations. Not all the time. Good to know and I'll be looking for some thin blades and maybe be able to use them as a "stack dado" for future operations.

Oh sorry I know it won't fit the taig lathe with out major mods done to the jig. I believe it's for full size lathes but don't know for sure. It does fasten to the cross slide and I'll add here a link to blondihacks utube, and see all the parts and how it fastens to the lathe.

I was just wondering on utube and came across this little gismo. Don't know if it would really work for a mini lathe but I thought it was interesting enough to share with you all.

Now I have another question, why slitting blades for model work?

Sorry everyone that’s been following, been side tracked with a new tool. Right now I’m working on what I call 3rd deck of the river boat. Here’s how far I am so far and the deck is just sitting in the rest of the boat. Looks crooked in picture that’s why.

I guess I should have rephrased what I was asking. I need a blade that is 1/32 thick. Maybe you understood and I’m not understanding exactly what you’re saying 🤷🤷

kurtvd19, If I'm understanding this correctly, I could buy slitting blades and use them as a "dado set"? That would be nice, I do some ship building, honestly I'm building my first one now Mississippi Riverboat by Occre. But I also do miniature furniture and try to do the same joinery as I would do for full size pieces. Tell me more about these slitting blades or send me someplace and see what they do. Thank you for all your help.

I've made many "jigs" or "accessories" for my large table saw over the years and now that I have a modeling table saw I've duplicated many of the things I've done with my big table saw. Shown below are some of the "jigs and/or accessories" I've built for the model table saw. Like to see what everyone has done to make a job easier or more importantly safer. I use a piece of basswood as a sacrificial fence when cutting a groove on the edge of a board. Example shown next This is the side of a 1/12th scale dresser and the edge dado or groove was done with the sacrificial fence for no damage would happen to the actual fence. I use this jig to help hold small pieces down against the table when sawing. Use this to cut thin strips of wood. Everyone needs some sort of a push stick. Getting to the point have to redo the end again. My table saw sled. Use this a lot for cutting stock down to length or I use a stop block for multiple cuts. This one I use for making box joints for boxes or drawer construction. Finger board to keep stock up against fence. This jig I made to cut a taper on a table I was building. 1 degree taper. My first sled I built for the table saw and with this one I really use for multiple cuts. I use a stop block on this mostly. You can also do angle cuts by mounting a scrap block at the angle and then cut you piece. Then lastly, has nothing to do with the table saw just added here to show a storage idea for different accessories for your tools. These are for my Taig lathe but I've made others (similar to the 3 jaw chuck for holding table saw blades. What do you have for jigs, accessories, or tool storage ideas??

Keith, Work with what you have and hey, if it works and does the job you need, who cares what you use. Only thing anyone on here needs to do is be proud of the work they've done and that's it. Did you set up a jig to hold the drill? Got a picture of your set up?

That's good to know about the duplicator, I've been looking at them and wondering how good they do. I was thinking turning legs for tables, chairs, etc.

Chuck, I just want to say one thing, I'm amazed at what you do. I can "see" all the work you put into this project. Great job. I just drop my jaw with amazement with what you do and what everyone does on here.

What type of work do you all do on a lathe? I've heard some to masts, but what else have you made? Can you post pictures of what you've made so everyone can see? I'm working on building a base with a couple drawers for my Taig lathe but will get to turning a few things in the near future. Also, any fixtures you have made for your lathe would be cool to see too.

I see a discussion about where to get them was on here but I have another question. I know this is a ship building forum but I also build miniature furniture and was wondering what is the thinnest (I guess that's spelled right) blade you can get for a table saw? Reason I'm asking is I would like to make dadoes for drawers and use 1/32" (.79mm ??) thick material. I realize deflection and heat build up is an issue with thin blades but are they available that thin? Oh, and you all are using slitting blades for cutting, may I ask why? Are they thicker than a "normal" blade that you would use and more stable?