Turning is a specific branch of woodworking, its difference lies in working with a rotating workpiece driven by a lathe engine. The master produces the supply of the cutting tool (cutter, milling cutter) with his own hands or by means of a mechanical drive. For reliable fixation of the workpiece and transmission of torque to it, various devices and lathe chucks, the variety of which is due to the large number of methods and techniques of turning. Some of them can be made by hand without special equipment.
Thrust centers
Turning centers are divided into driving (gear) and thrust. The first ones are installed in the headstock of the machine and directly transmit force; for better grip with the tree, they have several teeth. The second is placed in tailstock and support the part, by design they can be rotating and stationary. As a rule, the centers have a Morse taper shank.
faceplates
Faceplate - a round metal plate with holes for fastening with self-tapping screws, mounted on the machine shaft by means of threads or bolts. They differ in diameter, the presence or absence of teeth and additional fasteners. Used for turning plates, bowls and other similar products. Often made by hand. The work with the faceplate is thought out so that the part of the wood into which the screws are screwed is subsequently removed.
Cam lathe chucks
The most comfortable and functional. They work both in compression and in expansion, so they can capture the workpiece both from the outside and from the inside. They differ in the number of cams and their drive mechanism.
Unlike metalworking, two and three-jaw chucks are practically not used for turning wood. Also, options with a spiral drive and fixed cams are not popular.
The most common type of lathe chuck for woodworking is the self-centering four-jaw chuck with rack and pinion and interchangeable jaws.
On Russian market they come from Axminster, Jet, Barracuda and other lesser known brands.
Making a lathe chuck for wood with your own hands
For the manufacture of cam chucks, high-precision industrial equipment is required and it is hardly possible to make them in a home workshop. However, there are more simple designs, which will not be difficult to build with your own hands.
Homemade woodturning faceplate with adjustable clamps
You will need a flat sheet of steel with a thickness of at least 10 mm, a steel corner 50 × 50 mm, eight M8 × 30 bolts with nuts and washers. You should think in advance how the device will be attached to the machine and, if necessary, make or purchase an appropriate threaded sleeve. After that, you can start:
- Mark on the existing plate a circle of the required diameter and two axes passing through the center and intersecting at a right angle.
- Cut out the workpiece of the faceplate with a jigsaw according to the marking and carefully sand it.
- Saw through grooves along the obtained axes, departing from the center a few centimeters and not reaching 2 - 3 cm to the edges. This is easier to do by pre-drilling slightly larger holes than the stock bolts.
- Saw off four identical segments from the corner and drill one of the shelves of each with the same drill.
- In the second shelf of the corners, cut the M8 thread and screw in the bolts.
- Weld or solder a threaded sleeve for mounting on the shaft.
- Screw the corners to the faceplate with bolts through washers.
- Fix the resulting cartridge on wood on a lathe.
To fix with such a homemade cartridge, the corners are moved to the desired position and fixed by tightening the nuts, and finally the part is pressed with bolts screwed into the threaded shelves.
Do-it-yourself vacuum cartridge for wood
If the headstock spindle of your lathe has through hole to knock out the gear center, you can supplement your arsenal with a homemade vacuum cartridge. For this you will need:
- Powerful vacuum cleaner
- Bearing closed type, approximately equal in outer diameter to the hose of a vacuum cleaner
- A piece of dense rubber hose to connect the vacuum cleaner and the bearing
- clamp
- Standard faceplate with center hole
- A small piece of MDF or thick plywood
- Textolite for adapter
A sleeve is machined from the textolite, one side of which should be equal in diameter to the internal size of the bearing, the other - to the spindle. This homemade adapter it is pressed into the bearing with glue; it will be held in the machine due to the tightness of the fit. The resulting design is connected by a piece of hose to a vacuum cleaner and fixed with a clamp.
A disk is cut out of MDF or plywood, mounted on a faceplate and turned. It is better to make the surface slightly concave. From above, to ensure a tight fit, linoleum or thin rubber is glued.
In the center, the disk is drilled through to remove air.
Such a handmade chuck provides a clamping force of 40 - 50 kg, sufficient to hold medium-sized parts during finishing.
One of the most common tools for processing metal blanks is a lathe. With it, you can make elements such as a sleeve, coupling, bolt, nut, flange and others. Equipment can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores, but it is possible to make a home-made metal lathe at home.
Feature of the machines
There are many types of lathes for metal processing. Each of them has its own design features, on which their functionality depends. In addition, each type has the ability to perform additional operations, such as milling or drilling.
Regardless of the type of unit, their design may consist of the following units:
Depending on the type and model of the device, it can be equipped with additional attachments that will increase the functionality of the equipment.
Types of universal devices
Modern manufacturers offer users an extensive list of lathes. Among the most popular, the following types can be distinguished: turning-screw-cutting, turning-milling, turning-carousel, turning-turret.
Screw cutting machine
A feature of this type of equipment is the presence of a tailstock quill stroke. Thanks to this, it is possible to equip it with a drilling chuck. This allows you to use the machine not only for turning operations, but also for turning workpieces with different profiles, leveling, making grooves and recesses in workpieces, cutting sizes to the required dimensions, and drilling holes. To do this, dies, cutters or taps can be used.
Through the use of screw-cutting lathes, it is possible to work with workpieces made of ferrous or non-ferrous metals. This type of device is most often used in tool industries, in the field of instrumentation or watchmaking.
If the choice fell on a screw lathe, it is recommended to take into account its following properties:
Milling device
With the help of this type of equipment, it is possible to machine blanks not only from ferrous and non-ferrous metals, but also from plastic and wood. The design of the device combines two types of machines (milling and turning).
The universal turning-milling machine can be used to perform such operations as turning, threading, chamfering, picking fillets, cutting straight and curved grooves, drilling holes. This became possible due to the presence of a milling part located in vertical plane beds. Such machines are often installed in school workshops.
Popularity turning and milling equipment due to the presence of its inherent advantages:
- Availability. The combination of the two types of machines results in cost savings.
- Compact size. It can be installed in a workshop with a small area.
- Ability to mount various additional elements(cutter, drill, tap, reamer, cutter, chisel).
When choosing this type of equipment, it is necessary to take into account its following characteristics:
- distance between centers;
- workpiece size;
- diameter of miter and end mills.
The presence of these qualities determines the popularity of turning and milling equipment among users.
carousel
This type of machine is mainly used for processing large diameter(more than 2000 mm) and sizes in large enterprises.
Revolving unit
The main purpose of this type of device is to process workpieces made from a calibrated bar. The peculiarity of the machines lies in the fastening of the cutting mechanism, which is carried out on a rotating drum.
CNC machine tools
In the course of work with this type of machines the minimum participation of the operator is required. It is also worth noting the ability to perform all types of operations with high accuracy.
Each of the above types of metal lathes has design features and purpose.
Self-manufacturing
If we talk about what you can do with a drill with your own hands, you should pay attention to a lathe that can be made at home. This will help not only save money, but also make it possible to perform a fairly large list of operations with different materials.
In order to make a lathe for metal with your own hands, the drawings of which can be found in the specialized literature, you must first decide on the bed. It is considered one of the most significant pieces of equipment. It is on the bed that the turning attachment for the drill is mounted.
For the manufacture of the bed, you can use a plate made of a material such as wood, up to 21 mm thick. The drill is fixed by the neck of its body, on which the auxiliary handle will subsequently be mounted.
In order to be able to cut materials such as plywood or hardboard, it is necessary to install on the bed in the drill chuck circular saw, whose diameter does not exceed 2 mm. To ensure the convenience of working with the machine, you can also mount an additional handle.
It is possible to replace the disc with a flat cutter. Due to this, the operator will be able to perform grooves of small depth.
Now you can proceed to the implementation of the emphasis, which is designed to perform the function of the tailstock. Thus, a do-it-yourself home-made caliper for a lathe can be made from two wooden blocks and one adjustment screw with a sharpened tip. This will make it possible to use the machine for processing small wooden blanks.
If we talk about how to make a lathe from a drill, it should be borne in mind that there are several options for devices that you can make yourself, the main thing is to have a ready-made template.
The caliper tends to wear out during the operation of the machine. At the same time, the possibility of a backlash is not excluded, which will negatively affect the quality of the operation performed. To avoid this situation, it is recommended to periodically adjust and fine-tune the caliper.
The woodworking joiner's machine has a frame. For its manufacture, you can use beams or metal channels. Their thickness and dimensions are directly dependent on the load with which the equipment will be operated.
Shafts with guides located longitudinally are mounted on the beams. For their fastening, you can use a welding machine, bolts or a screwdriver.
The headstock can be made of a hydraulic cylinder, in the cavity of which two bearings are mounted. The wall thickness of the cylinder can vary from 5 mm or more. The cavity of the hydraulic cylinder is filled with a special lubricating fluid. Then the electric drive is mounted.
The electric motor is responsible for the movement of the cutting part of the machine. Engine power is directly dependent on the power of the device. When choosing it, it is necessary to take into account the size of the workpieces, to be processed on the wall:
- to work with small workpieces, you can use a drive with a power of not more than 1 kW;
- if it is necessary to process large-sized workpieces, it is necessary to choose an engine whose power ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 kW.
A manual machine for processing metal or wood should be assembled taking into account the fact that all its components must be insulated. This will ensure the safety of the operator when working with the machine, as well as the strength of the structure.
Possible options for the cutting mechanism
The easel mechanism is necessarily equipped with a cutting part. There are several options for this node. Among the most reliable are the following:
The right choice of equipment will provide the ability to perform an extensive list of operations when processing workpieces, increase the accuracy of the work, and also reduce the time to complete it. A independent production lathe for metalworking will help to reduce the funds required for the purchase of ready-made equipment.
Lathes, even in our time, play a huge role in the production of certain parts. All components and all equipment on any machine changes over time, as it is subject to wear.
All these items of equipment must be of high quality and durable, since quality finished products depends entirely on the quality of the installed parts. So is the lathe chuck. It is without this element that the machine becomes useless. Below we will analyze everything related to this element of the lathe. Let's start by finding out what this detail is.
The cartridge is one of the main elements turning equipment. It is due to him that the future workpiece is fastened (installed). It is attached to the headstock with a gearbox. The chuck mechanism consists in a cam device.
It is the cams, under the influence of mechanical force, that tightly fix various workpieces with different diameters and sizes. Due to its massiveness and tight fastening on the machine, the chuck carries out an accurate movement of the workpiece and does not allow the workpiece to move during operation, and also does not allow deformation. Also, the chuck rotates the workpiece, which makes it easy to process.
purpose
It is this part of the machine that has the most important mission in any workpiece processing. Due to the cam mechanism, which is located inside the chuck itself, the workpiece is clamped and centered. This happens due to the simultaneous narrowing of the cams around the plane of the workpiece. After clamping the workpiece, the workpiece is clamped with a quill located on the tailstock. When these actions are done, the machine starts and the part that can be processed is rotated.
Tip: You need to know that before starting the equipment, after replacing the lathe chuck, you should set low rotation speeds. This is done in order to check the values of the end and radial beats of the cam chuck, which is idling.
Variety
Nowadays, lathe chucks are distinguished by the presence of fasteners (cams). There are only three of these types:
two cam
Such cartridges are capable of fixing complex, asymmetrical and shaped parts in themselves. In such cartridges, it is possible to fix surfaces that are not subject to processing. They are used in small production, as well as in serial production.
Three cam
This type of equipment is the most common and is used in all works. Allows you to process round and hexagonal parts. In this type of chuck, three different jaws are used. Regardless of this, the workpiece is centered along with the clamping of all three cams.
Four cam
This type is used for processing rectangular workpieces. Here, for each cam, there is a separate mechanical assembly that makes all cams independent.
But the varieties of cartridges do not end with three types. They are also divided according to the mechanism for fixing the workpiece:
collet
They consist of a sleeve with slots, in which the petals are located (various modifications include from 3 to 6 petals). These petals act as cams.
Wedge
This type of equipment is used mainly on machine tools with numerical control. Fastening workpieces are produced using 3 cams, which are located on a hollow spindle.
Lever
In these cartridges there are sliders, with the help of which the cams move by force with a lever. This type is used in small batch production, as well as for processing a single workpiece.
Membrane view
In this case, a pneumatic actuator is used, with the help of which the membrane is compressed. This type is used only for fine machining, to remove a thin layer of chips.
Drilling
Such cartridges are similar in principle to cartridges for hand drills. When tightening the nut with a special key, the cams are smoothly squeezed out. Due to this action, the part or tool is clamped.
Shrink chuck
This type of device is very inconvenient in its operation. This is due to the fact that when the workpiece is fastened, the cartridge itself is thermally heated, the same actions are performed when the tool is removed.
hydraulic chuck
The same principle of operation as in the thermochuck. The clamping of the part is carried out due to the liquid, which, under pressure, compresses the cams. Due to the liquid content in the cartridge, additional damping of vibrations that occur during operation is performed.
Tip: Before choosing a lathe chuck on wood or for metal, it is necessary to determine the type of processing, material and molding of parts. It should also be remembered that acquiring additional devices for the cartridge will not be superfluous.
Design
Consider the structural elements that make up the scroll chuck:
Key
It is used to carry out actions for clamping a part.
Spring
Allows, at the expense of the key, to perform certain actions to clamp the part and vice versa.
Sleeve
Produces free passage of the key.
Stopper
Prevents loosening of the part while the machine is running.
Gear
Transmits rotational motion to a spiral disk.
Flange
The part on which the whole structure is fixed.
Spiral disk
Due to the rotational movement of the gear, this disk drives the cams.
Cam reverse
It is used to clamp the workpiece from the inside.
Cam straight
It is used to clamp the workpiece from the outside.
Frame
An element of the part on which the cam mechanism is located.
overhead cams
For clamping long and short workpieces with large diameters.
Each of the details of the entire mechanism performs a specific function and is not superfluous.
Assembly according to drawings
The assembly of a cam chuck for turning equipment is carried out according to diagrams that can be downloaded from the Internet and printed on a printer. As a rule, factory cartridges cost a lot of money and therefore many have learned do such details homemade. Their design is simple, but quite understandable. Before assembling this fixture, you must fully understand the entire mechanism of the chuck and the operation of the cam mechanism. If it is not possible to make such elements with your own hands, then they can be ordered from any turner. It will be inexpensive.
Assembly begins with a flange, on which all the necessary holes for fasteners are located. Following it, all the details of the mechanism are gradually installed, which are completed by covering the body and bolting the entire patron
Installation
Installation is carried out as follows and in strict sequence:
Mandrel installation
First of all, this part is installed to ensure the full dressing of the cartridge.
Installing the chuck itself on the spindle
With the help of a frame, it is put on the spindle and fastened with bolts.
Anchoring
fastened cartridge on the spindle with bolts. In this case, a simple open-end wrench will be a good helper.
Workpiece clamping
After installing the cartridge, a part, workpiece or tool is fixed in it.
cartridge release
After all work, the mandrel is removed.
Tip: After changing the jaw chuck, it is necessary to check the operation of the machine. End runout and seat taper should not exceed three microns.
It is important to know! This tool should be subject to frequent disassembly in order to lubricate and clean the cam mechanism! If the cartridge is in a removable state, then it must be prepared for storage. To do this, the cams are brought to the center, this ensures the safety of centering, and the hole in the center must be plugged with a clean rag or other material. This will prevent dust from getting on the walls of the hole.
Video reviews
Video review of installation on the machine:
Video review, disassembly, cleaning, polishing:
Video review of a lathe chuck made of wood:
Video review of a homemade, wood lathe chuck (cheap option):
