# Mini Lathe Parting Tool Trick



## steamermeister (Feb 20, 2013)




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## Pauli (Jan 3, 2008)

*Wood turning paradigm?*

I can sort of feel the lacking vibrations in the movie!

Although parting off is one of my worst operations (aparantely, I'm not alone...), I cannot help thinking that the base problem is constant in most hobby turning. It's sort of endemic, that we take on working pieces in our lathes (and mills... but that's possibly another thread ?!), that simply are slightly to big, beyond the best operating range of our lathes... ;-) Has to do with economy. We don't use our lathes to the extent to support a larger size lathe.

However, this movie gives hope. Apart from parting off, should we really run our light duty, overstrained lathes in reverse, with inverted tools all the time?

Are we simply stuck in an 18th century wood turning paradigm for historical reasons?!?

I know, that I will try out inverting everything, next time I run the lathe!


PS Parting off tool would possibly be better off slightly above center, in this reverse/ inverted mode. Other tools are probably best dead center?


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## steamermeister (Feb 20, 2013)

As some of the people in the video comments pointed out, this is probably not a long term solution to the problem of chatter because it puts stress on the saddle plates, which normally don't deal with the force of turning when running forwards. That said, I think it's an interesting out of the box idea.

As for me, I've recently done a number of modifications to my 7x12 lathe and now it runs more like a full sized tool room machine.

I've replaced the stock spindle bearings with taper roller bearings which are designed for axial and radial forces. Normal bearings are only meant for radial forces.

I've replaced the compound slide base with the "drilled and milled" version sold by Little Machine Shop. This eliminates tool post overhang because it mounts to the cross slide near its end instead of on its center.

I've drilled and tapped holes into compound slide top in between the gib plate adjustment screws for the addition of thumb screws to lock the compound slide travel and remove any slop when I don't need to move it.

Finally, I replaced the piston style quick change tool post that has served me well for many years with an OXA wedge style tool post.

All of this serves one purpose: to maximize rigidity, which is the name of the game in any type of machining; slop being the root cause of all chatter. This is particularly important on smaller machines because their short dimensions make them inherantly less rigid than larger machines.


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

*not quite a lathe*

Hassle free parting:


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