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An evening of firsts

B

Bigblackdog

Registered
Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Posts
839
Location
Leeds
First Name
Mark
Last night I tried a few things for the first time.

A beall collet chuck. Excellent piece of kit. It isnt easy to get hold of here, nor cheap but it is very well made, and so far is an excellent addition to my lathe. If anything, I can see it being more useful than the scroll chuck to me for pens. Based on last nights use, I can whole-heartedly recommend this item.

First time using ebonite. Turned very nicely, although the bevel angle on my scrapers needs sorting because I struggled with getting them to cut. One thing that I did notice very quickly is how difficult it is to see what you are doing with black material. I don't have much material, because my American supply didn't turn up whilst I was over there and it is expensive over here. I need to order some from Germany soon, which seems to be nice lookking material, and is the same as the sample that I was using last night.

First attempt at a kitless pen section. Didnt end well, because half of the feed is stuck in the hole, and the other half is no longer in the hole. I haven't got the shape right either, but it didnt use much material and I wanted to have a go.

Mark
 
Doug

Doug

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Aug 25, 2013
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In the wood shop
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Take a guess
:nopic: even if only rubbish ones like mine :goesred:

I'd be interested in seeing the Beall chuck Mark, sounds very good
 
Jim

Jim

Grand Master
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Oct 19, 2011
Posts
15,617
Only the other day i was looking at them Mark at CSUSA but they were out of stock .. I have one for the metal lathe but thought that this would be better so that i won't be changing chucks to often .. Started making some mandrels yesterday, hopefully will get a couple finished today .. :thumbs:

Also i bought a few rods of clear acrylic to practice with before i try out the Ebonite ..
 
B

Bigblackdog

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Dec 28, 2014
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839
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Leeds
First Name
Mark
i will get some pics, although the black ebonite is hard enough to see, let alone photograph.

The Beall is well worth getting, Jim, but I wouldn't buy the collets- I got a set from 2mm (or 3mm) up to 20mm via ebay for much less than the smaller set that Beall offered. You may well already have a set on the other chuck.
 
Penpal

Penpal

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May 26, 2013
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Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
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Peter
Love the Collet Chuck and I agree buy the collets elsewhere. When turning black I place a white card on the rails to give a clear outline that enables detailed threading etc easy to see.

Peter.:fingers:
 
chas_41_uk

chas_41_uk

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Mar 13, 2014
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Manchester
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Chas
Sounds good, but as Doug says "WE WANT PHOTOS"
I'd be interested to know how it compares to the Axminster ER20 and ER 25 Collets :thinks:
 
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