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A possible fix for Gizmo init?

Grump

Grand Master
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Aug 17, 2013
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Stevenage
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Brian
Sometimes we need to return our work to the lathe, which can be difficult in the case of a pen barrel.
To avoid damage we would wish to use soft jaws but where to get such a thing?
Here is my fix for that, I hope it helps some of you, electrical glands or have they got some fancy modern name?
The type used in junction boxes and consumer panels. I use the plastic bell mouthed ones as mini vices with the rubber insert as soft jaws init?

P1090245 (Custom).JPG

Insert the gland into your chuck and tighten.
I line it up gently using the quill on my tailstock then tighten the gland around my barrel.
The tailstock can then be withdrawn and work can commence on the barrel.
I wouldn't want to spin this a full speed but it does allow me to finish an otherwise binned project.
Cheap as chips keep a few in your toolbox init?

P1090246 (Custom).JPG

If I want to spin faster or put some grunt behind a tool on it I use a piece of rubber hose glued to my revolving center and hold it with that.
 

Buckeye

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Peter
How do you finish the bit that is in the bell?

Peter
 

Grump

Grand Master
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Brian
Maybe not an ideal solution if you want to work on the whole thing at once but one that will get you out of trouble.
In Gizmo's case he has an oval barrel he doesn't want to bin and has not drive center.
A short trip to any diy store and he can round his blanks off init?

I have used it many times to work on ends of cylinders / tubes etc.
 

paulm

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Paul
Nice one Brian, it certainly might help if not the perfect solution :thumbs:
 

Buckeye

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Maybe not an ideal solution if you want to work on the whole thing at once but one that will get you out of trouble.
In Gizmo's case he has an oval barrel he doesn't want to bin and has not drive center.
A short trip to any diy store and he can round his blanks off init?

I have used it many times to work on ends of cylinders / tubes etc.

Okay, I misunderstood and yet I shouldn't because the thread title says it all. For Gismo's problem I can see that it would be possible to work on each end by turning it around. Where I misunderstood is, I thought you were saying it was for finishing a closed end pen.

Peter
 

Grump

Grand Master
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Posts
10,504
Location
Stevenage
First Name
Brian
When I used to make acrylic tubing I was often asked for samples A4 envelope size is what I sent out.
Rather than got on a 30 mile round trip to get sort these out I kept a small stock at home.
Not very professional to send them with sawn ends and they were too delicate to hold in a chuck and risk scratching them.
This was the ideal solution that never let me down, I could have as much or as little sticking out to just trim and smarten the ends of tubes init?
Available in sizes that suited my diameters and that rubber grips very firmly and gently leaving no damaging marks on the tubing.

I thought it may be useful to some on here if they get a situation where it could become useful to them, as is Gizmo's case.
 

Gizmo3k

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Sep 8, 2014
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Location
Armadale, West Lothian
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Alan
Thanks Grump! That looks like it could do the job nicely!

At the moment I am torn between paying Snaiton £7.50 (plus £4.50 postage) for a new Rotur mandrel, getting my mandrel holder and saver bored out by about 0.1mm, or attacking the new mandrel I got with some wet and dry to remove 0.1mm, which should then fit.

I don't have the machinery to do the boring myself, and Snaiton's is the only place I can find a spare shaft for a Rotur mandrel. What does make me wonder is the tolerances in the Rotur stuff now - the new mandrel I got still fits through the standard bushings, which must surely mean the Rotur shaft is too small?

Thanks for the ideas anyway!

Alan
 
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