Shopsmith Forums

I have a 10 ER- and I have a jacobs chuck on it currently. My question is what do I want to turn bowls, but I do not know what pieces I need to to safely turn? Can anyone help, I have seen other lathes and how they are put together, but this is confusing.

Semper FI
TRLENOIR

trlenoir wrote:I have a 10 ER- and I have a jacobs chuck on it currently. My question is what do I want to turn bowls, but I do not know what pieces I need to to safely turn? Can anyone help, I have seen other lathes and how they are put together, but this is confusing.

Semper FI
TRLENOIR

I do knot own a 10, and to my knowledge, Jacobs did knot make a lathe chuck, so please take my comments with a grain of salt. I believe that you have a drill chuck on your ShopSmith. You will need to remove it and use a lathe chuckor a faceplate to turn a bowl. You will also need a tool rest, but again, I do knot own a 10, so I can knot help you with that.

The face plates and tool rests are essentially the same on the 10 as the mark 5/V.

The first bowl I ever turned I turned using a faceplate and a live tailstock.

I was able to comfortably turn using these methods, only moving to a chuck as I began to turn goblets.

As my memory serves me now, I think my 1st bowl was a dead-center tail stock and a face plate. You know, now it seems my first bowl was turned using my drill-chuck, which had a large bolt chucked into it, which had been screwed to my working piece of material. hmmmm. I'm only 36... why is my mind going now?

With your imagination, you will be surprised at what you can accomplish without the 'necessary' acoutrements. Just use your head, there is no decent substitute for what God gave you, and common sense can help keep your body together.

Semper fi

trlenoir wrote:I have a 10 ER- and I have a jacobs chuck on it currently. My question is what do I want to turn bowls, but I do not know what pieces I need to to safely turn? Can anyone help, I have seen other lathes and how they are put together, but this is confusing.

if the only lathes that you have ever seen are the ones with 2 flat bars as the ways, then the ER10 or the Mark V can certainly be confusing. once you get used to it, though, it is pretty straight-forward.

for the lathes that you are probably used to, the headstock is fixed on the left, a banjo on the ways holds the tool rest, and the tailstock slides on the ways. the center that mounts in the tailstock adjusts in and out like a spindle.

for the SS lathes, the headstock slides on the ways, the carriage on the ways hold the tool rest, and the tailstock is fixed on the right. it is the headstock spindle moves in and out.

the ER10 spindle and lathe tailstock take the same accessories as the Mark V. the faceplates and chuck adapters are called 5/8" smooth (if you are buying them from someone other than SS). the tailstock has a #2 morse taper. the #2MT is a very common spec for a lathe accessory.

you may or may not have gotten the tool rest with the ER10 (I did not). I do not know if the Mark V version will work. assume that it will not until someone tells you for sure that they have done it.

so, must have:
1) a way to hold the wood to the drive spindle (typically, faceplate, drive spur, or chuck),
2) a tool rest,
3) one or more lathe chisels, and
4) a way to sharpen the chisels (unless you buy chisels with replaceable carbide tips).

sharpening the chisels is every bit as important as having electricity to run the ER10 (some would say more important).

your life will be easier if you also support the work from the tailstock with a live center. if you are going to do long, thin turnings, then you will want to build a steady rest of some sort to stabilize the wood when it is thin.

if you want to do pens, then Penn State sells a pen mandrel that fits the ER10. you will also need either a 60degree live center or one of their new hollow live centers to use it.

if this is your first turning experience, then finding a local turning group or a local store or community college that has turning classes is highly recommended.

welcome to the forum. feel free to ask more questions. this is a great group of helpful folk that you have found.

Ivan