Saturday, February 23, 2013

Spring Pole Lathe in Action - Finally




After a few medical procedures and a 3 night stay at John Hopkins, I finally got feeling well enough to complete my spring pole lathe. The following is a short video showing the lathe in action. I have found out two things; one, the lathe seems to work as it should and excess vibration doesn't seem to be a problem. Two, I have absolutely NO natural ability as a turner. I think this is going to be a rather steep learning curve. I have fun with the roughing gouge though. :-)

I will try to do another video later showing all the features of the lathe.

Oh well, without further ado, here's the video, my first on this blog.








Video by Casey Bacon

Music: Protect the Innocent by The Fuzzy Mountain String Band

17 comments:

dyfhid said...

Very nice - you look like a pro! What is the sapling you used? And, how is it held up to the ceiling? I see the cross brace where it "bends" but how is the far end attached? It looks in the video like it's floating.

Jamie Bacon said...

Hi dyfhid,

FAR from a pro. I'm a pretty horrible turner right now. I've never turned on any lathe before, much less a spring pole.
I believe the sapling is hickory, but I'm not 100% sure. works well though. The far end that appears to be floating is actually caught in the notch of a piece of 2 x 10 that I nailed to the joist about 5" below the joist. This seems to give the sapling a nice curvature. I made two notches in the 2 x 10 so I can swing the sapling so that the rope end of the sapling can be moved closer to the stationary poppet if need be.

Frontier Carpenter said...

That lathe looks great and really looks at home in your shop. Would love to see a close up shot of your puppets and tool rest.

Marshal said...

Not sure I am coordinated enough to do that. Great to hear you are feeling better!

Jamie Bacon said...

Thank you Marshal. As for being coordinated enough, I don't think I am either, yet. But I'm gonna work on it!

Jamie Bacon said...

Thanks Frontier Carpenter. In the next week or so, I'm gonna try to get some video with close-ups of the poppets, the tool rest, the spring pole, and how they all lock in and operate.

Bob Easton said...

Vibration? No way with a machine that solid! I guess there's no need to worry about tools falling from
where you place them on the ways. (next, you need a tool rack)

It's a very fine lathe Jamie. I'm sure we'll see fruit from your "coordination lessons."

... and let's hope you don't need to be going back to JH.

Jamie Bacon said...

Hey Bob. She does seem pretty stout. And a tool rack is in the offing for sure. Have to decide if I want the rack to be on the wall or on the lathe itself. Think I'm leaning toward trying to find a good way to mount it on the lathe.

I'm really hoping to avoid any trips to any hospitals for a while. I've seen enough hospitals lately.

Now to work on those coordination lessons. Let's see, rub belly while patting head and standing on one foot. :-)

Andy said...

Great video of you fantastic lathe in action. I don't know much about them, but that is one heck of a springpole. Your shop is perfect for it.

Anonymous said...

Wow Jamie, looks like it works great. Love the music you have with the video. And the next time you're over I'm gonna challenge you to show me your progress on rubbing the belly while patting head and standing on one foot LOL.

Mom:)

Shannon said...

Nice! I had to check the address bar and make sure I hadn't accidentally stumbled onto Follansbee's blog. Great to see the lathe in action Jamie and so glad you are feeling better. Stay that way!

Jamie Bacon said...

Thanks Andy. I think I'll really enjoy it once I learn how to use it.

Jamie Bacon said...

Thanks Mom. You'll have to come check it out in person soon.

Jamie Bacon said...

Hey Shannon! That swells my head a little to hear you say it resembles Follansbee's lathe a little. I'm sure once you saw my turning abilities, you realized what site you were on though. :-)
I'd love to have a little turning lesson from Peter. I really find myself liking his work more and more, as well as the slightly cavalier attitude he takes toward it. It's like he doesn't get caught up in everything being to aerospace tolerances, but his finished products are obviously amazing. I think that's why he and Roy are the two woodworkers I'd like to emulate the most.

Battery Testers @ AvionTEq said...

Nice job Jamie. You look like a pro on what you’re doing on the video. Thanks for sharing.

Joe Scharl said...

Great looking lathe. I'm not sure what kind of wood you were turning - but with the human foot power speed you are running, it may be good to try some green wood or softwood to work on your technique and dull your tools less frequently.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jamie, long time no hear. I hope all is well. I’m also hoping you’ll post some of your woodworking projects or lathe adventures soon.

Dean