Whatever wood equipment you use, prepare yourself to face problems within a very short time. The problem may be very small or you might face major problems with your woodworking tools.
A wood lathe is no exception. You might buy some of the best wood lathes from the market, but there are verities of problems you might face while working with it. In this blog post, I will provide solutions of some common wood and metal lathe problems that you will face at least once if not more in your life.
Whatever problems you face with your tools, take it as a challenge to learn from it. This challenging mode will improve your ability to learn from the problems and will able you to solve more upcoming problems in the future.
Wood lathe vibration problems
Before giving a solution to this problem, you’ve to know at first the general vibration rate of a wood lather. Generally, a wood lathe spins at a rate between 2400 and 3000 RPM (revolutions per minute).
For several reasons, a wood lathe may vibrate while working.
A high possible reason is the wood you’re working on with your lathe is not centered. A wood lathe spins in the high rate we knew it before. At such a high speed and with an unbalanced wood, the lathe is made off balance and this results in the vibration of the wood lathe.
Can this vibration be dangerous? It can be. But in most cases, it’s not an important thing to care about.
To avoid this situation what you can do is: shave off the wood properly and place the wood in the center position.
There is another reason for the vibration of a wood lathe and that is the high RPM of the machine. To stop vibration due to high RPM, just slow down its vibration rate.
Producing Uneven Lathing with your Wood Lathe
You’re performing uneven lathing with your lathe machine. Is it your fault or a fault by your machine? This is really a difficult question to answer.
Yes. It could be your problem or it could be a problem with your machine. Your lack of experience with the machine can cause this. The more you will use your wood lathe, the more you will be an expert on performing even lathing.
My Wood Lathe is Making Grinding Noises
Do you know when a wood lathe makes grinding noises? When its parts are not lubed properly. Any parts that move whatever it is your wood lathe or a bicycle, they need timely lubrication. Check out whether the bearings, seals, and gears are lubed well. And make sure you use a brand lubricant for your parts.
What lubricants should you use?
This is a question I get a lot from woodworkers. They are unsure about what type of lubricants to use in their wood lathes. Remember one thing: every machine needs some level of lubrication or coolant for proper functioning. What type of coolant you will use depends on the metal type your machine has.
There are three different types of coolant in the market: flood, mist and dry. There are different opinions on what lubricant to use in what situation.
Here is my advice. Use dry lubricant for small and quick lathing works. If you’re going to perform some large jobs with your lathing machine, you need to use the flood lubricant. Use misting coolant if your machine builds up heat while using.
Are lathing accidents common?
Lathing accidents are not too common. What you need is apply common sense and follow safety rules and regulations while working with your lathe machine.
Here are some of the safety tools you should use:
- Wear gloves
- Wear Goggles
- Wear a tight-fitting dress. If you wear loose dress, your loos part could be caught out by the lathe machine
So, if you use these attires and follow the safety guideline, you can avoid accidents with your machine.
So, these are inputs on some common lathe problems and I tried to give you some solutions. What are yours? Let me know in the comment box.
