...grrr... doing something wrong

TXMoon

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Maybe I am too heavy handed with the soft woods? Everything was going great, I had the shape I liked, was very happy with the bead foot and rim. I started to hollow it out and it flipped off the lathe and bounced across the floor. I had a big pile of shavings there yesterday before I swept them all up. After lunch I am going to put it back on the... can't think of what you call it, the plate with the holes for screws, and turn off the foot and make another mortise and see if I can finish it. I saw more cracks in the wood (you can see it in the second image) so I am not too hopeful it's going to stay in one piece.
C01.JPG C02.JPG
 

Steve in VA

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Sorry to see this! Hopefully it just bounced on the lathe and floor, and not your chest.

I think you're referring to a faceplate? Good luck as it's a nice looking piece!
 

Tony

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What speed were you turning at? Sounds like you just had a catch and pulled it out of the chuck. Hope you're okay, that's the main thing! Tony
 

TimR

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Were you chucking on the inside of the base? If so, looks like a bit too much pressure. I don’t like inside chucking for that reason, and certainly not for bowls...less forces generally using that technique with shallower turnings like platters.
 

TXMoon

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What speed were you turning at? Sounds like you just had a catch and pulled it out of the chuck. Hope you're okay, that's the main thing! Tony
Around 900, just under 1000. I was standing to the side so I was in no danger of being hit.
 

TXMoon

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It happened again. Was hollowing out the inside and boom, popped off the chuck. At this rate I am going to have a lot of aromatic fire wood this Winter.
C03.JPG
 

rocky1

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Chucking inside, compounded by soft wood, with no tailstock support. Minor catch is all it takes and it blows out.

Plate with all the holes for screws is maybe referring to Jacobs Chuck, if you were trying to turn another mortise or tenon on the bottom.
 

TXMoon

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Chucking inside, compounded by soft wood, with no tailstock support. Minor catch is all it takes and it blows out.

Plate with all the holes for screws is maybe referring to Jacobs Chuck, if you were trying to turn another mortise or tenon on the bottom.
I tried a tenon on another piece and it ripped off as well.
 

rocky1

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Are you going to SWAT? If so, take what's left of that with you and go see @Nubsnstubs and let him show you a trick or two using his tailstock steady.
 

Eric Rorabaugh

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I can send you more. Just keep practicing. With cedar being so soft, you don't want a lot of pressure on the tenon. If you were chucked on the inside, very little pressure and need tailstock support. Chuck from the outside and go slow speed snd light cuts with sharp tools.
 

rocky1

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I can send you more. Just keep practicing. With cedar being so soft, you don't want a lot of pressure on the tenon. If you were chucked on the inside, very little pressure and need tailstock support. Chuck from the outside and go slow speed snd light cuts with sharp tools. AND, TAILSTOCK SUPPORT.
 

TXMoon

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I can send you more. Just keep practicing. With cedar being so soft, you don't want a lot of pressure on the tenon. If you were chucked on the inside, very little pressure and need tailstock support. Chuck from the outside and go slow speed snd light cuts with sharp tools.
I'll keep at it. The carbide tools have new blades on them. I should have rotated the round scraper for the inside. I'll just take deep breaths and shallow cuts.
 

rocky1

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Carbides can be a tad aggressive of softer woods, to suit my taste. On a softer wood, you'd probably do better with a regular old round nosed scraper inside the bowl.
 

TXMoon

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Carbides can be a tad aggressive of softer woods, to suit my taste. On a softer wood, you'd probably do better with a regular old round nosed scraper inside the bowl.
Oh I have one of those. I am trying to learn how to use one. I did well on the outside but didn't use it on the inside.
 

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Kevin, I was at the Habitat for Humanity on Walzem right up the road from my house yesterday and they have 4" x 4" x 8' cedar pieces for $8 each. Grab you some and play with those.
 

TXMoon

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Kevin, I was at the Habitat for Humanity on Walzem right up the road from my house yesterday and they have 4" x 4" x 8' cedar pieces for $8 each. Grab you some and play with those.
Thank you, I'll swing by and get some
 

duncsuss

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If you are going to expand your chuck jaws into a recess, you need a ring of solid wood at least 1" wide around the recess. (Your pix look like you have maybe a quarter inch, but that could be my eyes.) For soft woods like cedar, I'd go even wider than that.

The alternative is, as folks have said, to clamp around a tenon (sometimes called a spigot) - but what they didn't tell you is that these have to be large enough that they don't simply snap off. If you clamp the chuck jaws too tight, you can easily crush cedar. After fighting it a number of times, I now use my 4" chuck jaws clamping on a tenon, or my 3" jaws expanding into a recess that has 2" or more solid wood all around it.
 

TXMoon

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If you are going to expand your chuck jaws into a recess, you need a ring of solid wood at least 1" wide around the recess. (Your pix look like you have maybe a quarter inch, but that could be my eyes.) For soft woods like cedar, I'd go even wider than that.

The alternative is, as folks have said, to clamp around a tenon (sometimes called a spigot) - but what they didn't tell you is that these have to be large enough that they don't simply snap off. If you clamp the chuck jaws too tight, you can easily crush cedar. After fighting it a number of times, I now use my 4" chuck jaws clamping on a tenon, or my 3" jaws expanding into a recess that has 2" or more solid wood all around it.
You're right. It was 1/4", and since the bowl is still solid I can take that down again and try a tenon. I'll throw the "base is 1/3 the diameter of the rim" thing out the window and just try to finish the bowl.
 
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