Metal Lathe: Difference between revisions

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In addition to being excellent for stems, many pipe makers also use metal lathes for stummel work. The tool carriage and cross slike can be used to rough in stummel shapes, while using it freehand, sort of like the technique used for drawing with an "Etch a Sketch" children's toy. It is also possible to set up a wood lathe style tool rest on a`metal lathe, which allows the use of wood lathe tools to slide along the work. Using a Jacobs chuck in the tail stock allows for very accurate boring of the chamber, mortise, and air hole, as well as facing the shank. A good quality, 9x20 or larger metal lathe, properly set up, can give one all the advantages of the metal lathe as well as most of those of a wood lathe.  
In addition to being excellent for stems, many pipe makers also use metal lathes for stummel work. The tool carriage and cross slike can be used to rough in stummel shapes, while using it freehand, sort of like the technique used for drawing with an "Etch a Sketch" children's toy. It is also possible to set up a wood lathe style tool rest on a`metal lathe, which allows the use of wood lathe tools to slide along the work. Using a Jacobs chuck in the tail stock allows for very accurate boring of the chamber, mortise, and air hole, as well as facing the shank. A good quality, 9x20 or larger metal lathe, properly set up, can give one all the advantages of the metal lathe as well as most of those of a wood lathe.  


The lathe pictured is from Harbor Freight. It has been disassembled, cleaned, and re-fit with improved hardware, and a home brewed chuck, fashioned from a Grizzly 6" 4-jaw independent chuck, and modified after the J.T. Cooke style chuck that several tool makers are making for stummels (this home brewed version works just as well, but sure is not as pretty!). The locating pins allow for precisely positioning the air hole relative to the tobacco chamber. For bent pipes, to sets of locating holes are used. Drill the mortise on the shank bend axis, reposition the block for the air whole, tobacco chamber axis, drill the air hole, then loosen the block slightly, pivot the block on the pins, and re-tighten it to perfectly align the chamber with the air hole.
The lathe pictured is from Harbor Freight. It has been disassembled, cleaned, and re-fit with improved hardware, and a home brewed chuck, fashioned from a Grizzly 6" 4-jaw independent chuck, and modified after the J.T. Cooke style chuck that several tool makers are making for stummels (this home brewed version works just as well, but sure is not as pretty!). The locating pins allow for precisely positioning the air hole relative to the tobacco chamber. For bent pipes, to sets of locating holes are used. Drill the mortise on the shank bend axis, reposition the block for the air whole, tobacco chamber axis, drill the air hole, then loosen the block slightly, pivot the block on the pins, and re-tighten it to perfectly align the chamber with the air hole. It's also a great tool for [[The Shape First]] method. For this method, the stummel is shaped prior to drilling and cannot be chucked, so the special bit is chucked into the headstock and the stummel is guided into the spinning bit.


A full size metal lathe can also be used with a shaping, with sanding disk on an arbor chucked into the headstock, and buffing wheels with arbors. A full size metal lathe comes about as close as you can get to a one tool pipe shop!
A full size metal lathe can also be used with for shaping, by chucking a sanding disk on an arbor into the headstock. This also works great for buffing wheels. A full size metal lathe comes about as close as you can get to a one tool pipe shop!


An excellent resource for information on the Chinese 9"x2" lathes can be found on Yahoo groups. The file sections include entire manuals, as well as through cleaning procedure, and various modifications and improvements:
An excellent resource for information on the Chinese 9"x2" lathes can be found on Yahoo groups. The file sections include entire manuals, as well as through cleaning procedure, and various modifications and improvements: