Not sure if this a question about turning pepper mills or lathe alignment but I guess it’s a bit of both.
This weekend I thought I would try my hand at a peppermill.
I was using the woodturners catalog instructions and all went fine until I got to the final shaping. I had the top and bottom registered together with a ‘spigot’ or tenon of the top and was driving using a jam chuck in the bottom and had a live center in the top. I was happy with the design I was forming until I took it off to review my work and noticed that when I rotated the top the outside was not true due to the fact the spigot and its associated mortise (which were tight fitting) were not concentric with the outside. At this point (other than uttering some choice expletives) I wasn’t sure how to proceed or how to diagnose how I had arrived at this point.
Undoubtedly the spigot, the hole or in fact any of the holes in the body or head were not in alignment. I had noticed while drilling that none of the bits, even the heavy duty forstner bits, would exactly follow the obvious dead center of the spinning piece. I brought the head and tail stock together and the points do not quite line up. They are not that far off but I guess the further they are apart the more the difference is magnified. I would also guess that the more holes you drill and the more times you chuck and recheck a piece (which happens quite a bit with a peppermill) the more opportunities for error there are.
At this point I am trying to figure out if this is a technique, process or alignment issue. I would guess possibly some of each.
I have a Nova Comet II so the headstock is fixed.
All help is appreciated.
This weekend I thought I would try my hand at a peppermill.
I was using the woodturners catalog instructions and all went fine until I got to the final shaping. I had the top and bottom registered together with a ‘spigot’ or tenon of the top and was driving using a jam chuck in the bottom and had a live center in the top. I was happy with the design I was forming until I took it off to review my work and noticed that when I rotated the top the outside was not true due to the fact the spigot and its associated mortise (which were tight fitting) were not concentric with the outside. At this point (other than uttering some choice expletives) I wasn’t sure how to proceed or how to diagnose how I had arrived at this point.
Undoubtedly the spigot, the hole or in fact any of the holes in the body or head were not in alignment. I had noticed while drilling that none of the bits, even the heavy duty forstner bits, would exactly follow the obvious dead center of the spinning piece. I brought the head and tail stock together and the points do not quite line up. They are not that far off but I guess the further they are apart the more the difference is magnified. I would also guess that the more holes you drill and the more times you chuck and recheck a piece (which happens quite a bit with a peppermill) the more opportunities for error there are.
At this point I am trying to figure out if this is a technique, process or alignment issue. I would guess possibly some of each.
I have a Nova Comet II so the headstock is fixed.
All help is appreciated.
Comment