A question to all you bodgers?

[clcuckow]

I just love the term bodger

I am looking at making a workmate attached pole lathe and am looking for the bits and pieces I will need. While at B&Q I got to think about the centre and crank for the poppets (I just love that too... God I am sounding girly ).

I was thinking of using T nuts for the crank poppet but the largest I could find was M8. Is that to small a diameter?

Also what would you say the minimum would be, M12?

 

[Eric_Methven]

I just love the term bodger

I am looking at making a workmate attached pole lathe and am looking for the bits and pieces I will need. While at B&Q I got to think about the centre and crank for the poppets (I just love that too... God I am sounding girly ).

I was thinking of using T nuts for the crank poppet but the largest I could find was M8. Is that to small a diameter?

Also what would you say the minimum would be, M12?

M8 should be fine. If using threaded bar for the crank you'll find a small length of hose pipe over the handle part will save blisters.

Eric

 

[clcuckow]

Thanks Eric,

If I had to place a bet on who would be the first to respond it would have been 'you on the nose'

I take it that I will have to keep the extension quite short so it does not bend?

Re: the crank I was planning on cutting my on thread on to some 8mm rolled rod.

 

[Eric_Methven]

If you mean the extension being the bit that sticks out from the poppet and attaches to the workpiece, then keep it as short as possible. Not so much for bending, more for avoiding judder when turning. The stresses on the wood being spun back and forth are quite great and the steadier they are held between centres, the more stable and smoother your turning will be.

Eric

 

[clcuckow]

Thanks Eric,

You were spot on, My concern about the diameter was due in part to the fact that the crack set they sell on the woodsmith's store was M12. But if I can get away with M8 I think I will. Now all I have to do is find a source for the hardwood for the poppets.

 

[ANDYRAF]

What's a poppet?,
Cars have poppet valves.

 

[Aaron]

My other half calls me that sometimes

 

[Eric_Methven]

What's a poppet?,
Cars have poppet valves.

In modern parlance they would be called head and tail stocks.

Eric

 

[Eric_Methven]

Now all I have to do is find a source for the hardwood for the poppets.

Try a supplier of reclaimed timber. Someone who recovers and restores old oak doors for example. If you can find an old broken (beyond repair) oak door of say, 2" thickness, you could not only use the bits that go across the top, middle and bottom, as poppets but the long side pieces as rails too.

Alternatively you could abandon wood and go for steel box section for the entire thing. Not by any means authentic but certainly rigid enough for the purpose of turning wood using foot power.

Eric