Lathe spindle converter

ldlinford · Post by **ldlinford** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:04 pm

Hi all. New member here. I inherited my father-in-law's Mark V a few years ago, but only recently became a lathe turner. I love it! My question: Is there a converter on the market that will turn the headstock spindle into a hollow lathe spindle? Many of the lathe accessories available through catalogs and on-line sources are made to insert into spindle rather than slide over it, and so cannot be used on a ShopSmith.

Thanks!

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:21 pm

ldlinford wrote:Hi all. New member here. I inherited my father-in-law's Mark V a few years ago, but only recently became a lathe turner. I love it! My question: Is there a converter on the market that will turn the headstock spindle into a hollow lathe spindle? Many of the lathe accessories available through catalogs and on-line sources are made to insert into spindle rather than slide over it, and so cannot be used on a ShopSmith.

Thanks!

I just want to say - Welcome to the forum. I am not a turner so I can not answer your question definitively. However, stick close. I know someone will.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:49 pm

Yes, welcome to the forum.

There are likely workarounds for most anything you want to mount on the Shopsmith spindle. One exception comes to mind -- a vacuum chuck -- but perhaps someone has done that as well.

You could mount a chuck onto the Shopsmith spindle to hold a Shopsmith 10ER tailstock morse taper holder, as was done by someone here on the forum recently. There's a thread on that setup, but I didn't run across in a quick check for it. Or, machine supply houses like Enco sell a morse taper socket that also could be mounted in a chuck.

What exactly were you looking to mount on the Shopsmith? Perhaps someone here on the forum can give you specifics on how to go about that.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:48 pm

ldlinford wrote:Hi all. New member here. I inherited my father-in-law's Mark V a few years ago, but only recently became a lathe turner. I love it! My question: Is there a converter on the market that will turn the headstock spindle into a hollow lathe spindle? Many of the lathe accessories available through catalogs and on-line sources are made to insert into spindle rather than slide over it, and so cannot be used on a ShopSmith.

Thanks!

If you could explain what you are trying to do I might be of more help. If you are looking to connect a vacuum chuck I have been unable to find a solution, despite looking for many years. For anything else I have run into there are many solutions and most things I wanted a vacuum chuck for I have found alternative solutions.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:22 am

Vacuum Chuck?? Is that what he wants? I thought he was looking for a way to use a morse taper on the Matk V.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:37 pm

There are workarounds for most accessories. Please let us know which accessory you're interested in using. Mostly you just have to be creative.

rpd · Post by **rpd** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:43 pm

paulmcohen wrote:If you could explain what you are trying to do I might be of more help." If you are looking to connect a vacuum chuck I have been unable to find a solution, despite looking for many years. For anything else I have run into there are many solutions and most things I wanted a vacuum chuck for I have found alternative solutions.

One of these could work for you, the rotating union mounts between the spindle and the vacuum plate or chuck and they have 5/8" plain inserts.

http://www.vicmarc.com/default.asp?contentID=548

There is a design for a DIY rotary adapter on this page (concept only, never built).

http://www.bobchapman.co.uk/html/for_woodturners.html

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:12 pm

I think he means like a metal lathe. Hollow headstock. No. There is no way to convert the shopsmith to this type of config. But, all of he mentioned items would work if you are trying to use an mt in a chuck mounted socket.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:23 pm

If you look closely at the Vicmarc web site, you'll find that they make a chuck adapter/insert with a female 5/8" through bore that would fit the Shopsmith spindle and 45mm male thread. This is the thread size for their Rotating Unions that accepts either a small hose from the vacuum pump or a hose from a vacuum cleaner. Then you also need the vacuum bowl or chuck. The Vicmarc Rotating Union doesn't run the vacuum line through a hollow spindle.

To me, it looks like those three parts plus a vacuum pump and you're in business. But the parts are a bit pricey.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:02 am

pennview wrote:To me, it looks like those three parts plus a vacuum pump and you're in business. But the parts are a bit pricey.

That is exactly what I was looking for, where do you see prices?

For now I am just curious, since I have found other ways to do what I needed to do mostly using cole jaws (with multiple kinds of bumpers) and jam chucks.