Dowel rod on the lathe

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:09 pm

I've made dowels on the lathe. 1/2" and 3/8". Could only do about two feet at a time. This was good only if I ran out of dowels and had to have a few more short ones. Just some poplar or oak strips and a sharp skew, and a few minutes. This seems a lot simpler than making one of those dowel machines.

Wouldn't want to do this on the lathe if longer ones were needed or needed a bunch.

pieceseeker · Post by **pieceseeker** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:05 pm

saminmn wrote:If you have a router, you can make a jig to cut your dowels for you. I think I saw this idea in a library book, so I don't have a reference for you. I will google it and see if I can find it on the web.

Edit: Hereis an example.

That does look like an interesting jig to make. But, since this is a (hopefully) one time fabrication, it would be pointless to make a jig for a 1 3/16" dowel/cylinder.

This is an alignment tool for aligning an upper housing to a lower housing in which 2 reciprocating shafts must move in the same "line".

This could be a guessing game about what I'm aligning.

pieceseeker · Post by **pieceseeker** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:30 pm

Well, just completed the 1st step in the process of making an alignment tool. I did find an oak dowel 1 1/4" dia x 36" at HD. Straightest one I could find anyway.

Since I've never used the lathe feature yet, I had to align the headstock to the tailstock per PTWWE. It was off some. Good experience anyway. Also installed the 2 bearing quill last weekend, it sure made a huge difference on runout.

With the keyless chuck installed and a 1/16th bit, I sure couldn't see any runout where the bit lined up with the tailstock point.

The morse taper adaptor in the tailstock was a little finicky aligning straight. Probably some setscrew grooves worn in it since 1983. I'll check that out later, may need a new one or try to resurface where the setscrew seats on it.

Anyway, chucked up the 14" dowel (final length will be 12") on a Nova attached to a live center. That end was fine, but the other end needed support for drilling. Had a solid morse taper adaptor for the Nova, but I think it is unsatisfactory for the job. Didn't seem to mount tight in the tailstock. It's a #2 morse, but it's about 1/2 the length of the Nove live center morse. Maybe just need to drive it in a little harder.

So, I just held the far end of the dowel with my hand while feeding the 1" forstner bit into the end of the dowel.

Followed up with a 3/4" forstner bit for the deeper hole. A 5/8" bore bronze bushing will be pressed in and glued. Filed divets into the bushing for better glue grab.

[ATTACH]22315[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]22316[/ATTACH]

Since the bushing is a 5/8" bore, I can use the headstock shaft to align the bushing end while the glue is drying, the other end mounted in the Nova chuck.

I was thinking of using Gorilla glue for the bushing. Whattayall think?

I'm hoping that I can cut out a small circle of sandpaper, glue it to the headstock collar, use the bushing to mound to the spindle, apply a little pressure and be able to drive the dowel well enough to sand it to the required 1 3/16" dia.

We'll see....

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:14 pm

IMHO 2 part epoxy for gluing in the bushing. Gorilla Glue foams and expands and may push out the bushing.

pieceseeker · Post by **pieceseeker** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:51 pm

terrydowning wrote:IMHO 2 part epoxy for gluing in the bushing. Gorilla Glue foams and expands and may push out the bushing.

That was to be the purpose of mounting it up on the lathe while the glue dries. A little pressure at both ends would keep the bushing in and aligned straight.

pieceseeker · Post by **pieceseeker** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:39 pm

Dowel w/bushing on headstock end.

[ATTACH]22317[/ATTACH]