# Turning Speed



## tbroye (Aug 23, 2008)

What speed do most of you use when turning Resin/Acrylic/plastic or wood.  I had been using 1800 on my Delta Midi Lathe.  This morning I was turing a Rattle Snake blank and wondered why it was turning so easy and fast looked at the speed and it was 3700rpm I had for go to set in back last night after polishing another blank.  Some times it seem like it takes for ever to trun something especially Plastic at 1800rpm.  I did slow it down as I got near the bushings and then got a catch and blew the end of the blank up.  So now instead have a Button Click Sierra with a Diamondback blank I have a Poker Sierra with a Diamondback black.  I was able to cut the roughly 1/4" off the Button click tube/blank and make it the same as a regurlar Sierra.  Will post pictures later.


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## igran7 (Aug 23, 2008)

I turn acrylic and other man made materials at the fastest speed possible.


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## marcruby (Aug 23, 2008)

I turn plastics at about 1200 once the initial rounding is done.  Very fast speeds are fast, but there's a much increase risk that a catch will completely destroy a blank.  About 600 for any kind of figured wood, sometimes slower if it looks like there's a serious grain issue.


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## fernhills (Aug 23, 2008)

I turn as fast as can with pens only, 3700 rpm, For burls, plastics, there is more risk of a catch at slower speeds. Tools must be sharp and very little force applied to the business end of turning tool you are using.


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## Rudy Vey (Aug 23, 2008)

I turn everything fast: wood, acrylics, stab wood.


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## JayDevin (Aug 23, 2008)

zoom zoom zoom and I  dont have a Mazda!  

Turn them Babys FAST!!!!!! and with SHARP toools!!!


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## tbroye (Aug 23, 2008)

Thanks guys I thought things went better at the faster speed.  The catch cam the messed up the blank came at 1800rpm.


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## MesquiteMan (Aug 23, 2008)

My lathe only has 2 speed for turning, wide open and off!


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## ldb2000 (Aug 23, 2008)

Like Curtis.....Full speed and off


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## Ligget (Aug 24, 2008)

Full speed for me too!


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## arjudy (Aug 24, 2008)

Full speed for me as well. I only use slower speeds when sanding wood with micromesh and when applying CA to be used to create a slurry to fill open grained woods.


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## Fred (Aug 24, 2008)

I like many others turn fast and always sand slow. Finishes determine what speed I use after everything else is done.

One thing though, get in the habit of turning the speed DOWN when you are finished. You can always speed the lathe back up when you turn it on later. If you leave the speed on HIGH and are not paying attention later on and turn the lathe back on you stand a chance of doing yourself a little bit of damage in a really quick way!

NEVER adjust the tool rest while the lathe is running at any speed ... that is just asking for a problem to catch up with you!


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## rherrell (Aug 24, 2008)

Applying CA-500
Sandpaper-750
MM-1000
Turning-3000


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## rherrell (Aug 24, 2008)

Fred said:


> I like many others turn fast and always sand slow. Finishes determine what speed I use after everything else is done.
> 
> One thing though, get in the habit of turning the speed DOWN when you are finished. You can always speed the lathe back up when you turn it on later. If you leave the speed on HIGH and are not paying attention later on and turn the lathe back on you stand a chance of doing yourself a little bit of damage in a really quick way!
> 
> NEVER adjust the tool rest while the lathe is running at any speed ... that is just asking for a problem to catch up with you!


 If I followed that rule I'd never get anything done!:wink::wink::biggrin:


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## Rifleman1776 (Aug 24, 2008)

fernhills said:


> I turn as fast as can with pens only, 3700 rpm, For burls, plastics, there is more risk of a catch at slower speeds. Tools must be sharp and very little force applied to the business end of turning tool you are using.



Actually, faster reduces chances of catches. For roughing a smaller gouge is a better tool also. Fast, small, light touch.


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## OldWrangler (Aug 24, 2008)

Add me to the full speed bunch. I turn some cross-cut woods and I find turning end grain is impossible at slower speeds. I have 3 gouges that I sharpen before each turning. I don't let them get dull. Then finish to bushings and final size with an extra sharp skew. But everything at 3600. I have an occasional blow-out but they are usually my fault...dull tool, too much pressure, just lack of concentration or a bad glue joint.


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## Rifleman1776 (Aug 24, 2008)

OldWrangler said:


> Add me to the full speed bunch. I turn some cross-cut woods and I find turning end grain is impossible at slower speeds. I have 3 gouges that I sharpen before each turning. I don't let them get dull. Then finish to bushings and final size with an extra sharp skew. But everything at 3600. I have an occasional blow-out but they are usually my fault...dull tool, too much pressure, just lack of concentration or a bad glue joint.



I believe that professionals and instructors will support the 'faster means less catches' technique. Makes sense, faster the object is turning, the less time the tool is in contact with a 'catachable' spot on the wood.


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## bitshird (Aug 25, 2008)

I wish it would go faster, but 3200 for any thing pen size


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## heinedan (Aug 25, 2008)

I turn my acrylics at 1400. I turn my pens with a dead center in the headstock, and a live center in the tail stock. I do not use a mandrel. If I get a catch, the blanks simply stops turning, I withdraw the tool, and adjust my angle of attack. This process avoids blow outs, out of round blanks, and gives me a much better fit when installing the pen components.

Dan


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## Larry Gottlieb (Aug 25, 2008)

Full speed for turning.
Slow for sanding.

Larry


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## mywoodshopca (Dec 28, 2008)

full speed for everything.. I tried once on shaping at about 600, but felt like I was going to be there all night..


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## JerryS (Dec 28, 2008)

Interesting to see so many of you turn at full speed .  I'll have to give it a try .


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## hunter-27 (Dec 28, 2008)

MesquiteMan said:


> My lathe only has 2 speed for turning, wide open and off!


Got to love that Seebeck guy don't ya!!!


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## Verne (Dec 28, 2008)

So, THAT'S what I've been doing wrong. Never too late to learn.
Vern


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## NewLondon88 (Dec 28, 2008)

I figure that I'm no more likely to be able to avoid a catch in 1/8 of a 
second than I am at 1/67th of a second. And turning slow, I'm more likely to
put some muscle behind the tool.

I turn at full speed with sharp tools ..let the tool do the work.

For sanding, polishing etc. I slow it down. Turning larger objects I use the
low speed. (bowls, mugs and such)

Also, I watch the plastics carefully. Some types can melt if you're turning
them too fast.


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## MesquiteMan (Dec 28, 2008)

I know I already answered a long time ago but thought I would add a little.

I turn all pen blanks from square to finished at 3,500 rpm, as fast as my lathe goes.  I sand and apply CA at 1,500.  I NEVER turn slower that full speed, regardless of material.  I have never had a blank blow up on my either.  If you stop andthink about it, a small diameter router bit cuts cleanest at maximum speed of 30,000 rpm.  A planer gives you the best cut with more cuts per inch.  When you turn full speed, you are in effect getting more cuts per inch.


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## marcruby (Dec 28, 2008)

Macho turner's aside, the simple truth is that you should turn at whatever speed you want to.  I have never had a problem getting a well turned blank at any speed on my lathe.  If a tool is sharp enough you can turn at 100 rpm.  I find that very high speeds limit the turner's choices.  I vary speed according to what I'm doing.  People who announce that there is only one way are, well... boring.

Marc


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## Constant Laubscher (Dec 28, 2008)

yep, same for me!


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## jkeithrussell (Dec 28, 2008)

Full speed ahead.  

I only use the slower speeds when applying CA finish.


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## leehljp (Dec 28, 2008)

marcruby said:


> Macho turner's aside . . . People who announce that there is only one way are, well... boring.
> If a tool is sharp enough you can turn at 100 rpm.  I find that very high speeds limit the turner's choices.
> Marc



Sorry Marc, but you wrong, on two counts.

First you come across as deliberately intending to inflame or demean with the "macho" and "boring" statement. If you don't agree with something or want to contradict something, do it objectively, - but don't inflame by throwing a personalizing term at individuals that seems to be deliberately intended as derogatory. I do believe there is a rule on this forum about deliberately doing this to others.

Stick to the issues! You do great work and you offer great suggestions and help and that is appreciated by many and by me, but please stay with the objective. 

Second. What you wrote in itself is misleading because of the information that it leaves out. The "100 RPM" and "sharp enough" are two variables of at least 4, and to limit those two in the argument is by themselves misleading and will not do what you suggest.

100 RPM on the lip of a 14 in bowl is quite different than a 1/2 in diameter pen! Lumping all turning together is misleading.

At 100 RPM with even laser?/cnc sharpened chisels, "feed rate" IS affected to a considerable degree. Not everyone can feed at 1/1000 of in inch control into "iron wood" or "soft pine" so that there are no "catches". Steadiness/FIRM grasp pressure changes MUST be made and the kind of turning needed on pens, at the diameter of pens, requires more control than most people are capable of!


It is a fact that speed alone affects cuts as Mesquite man described. So why don't manufacturers make 100 rpm planers, which would certainly be safer? Why do the faster RPM planers make smoother cuts? 

While the pict below is not pen turning, it was a test done by a resident engineer on a woodworking forum that I frequent daily: Same bit, well sharpened, soft wood, different speeds, Drill press, same approximate feed rate, different results according to speed.



 

Slower speeds in turning require finer feeding rates for the same chisel and stronger firmer grips, or tear out / catches will happen that would not - if the speed were faster.

The wood in this pen below was not sanded even one bit but was turned at around 3500 RPM. Sanding would have smeared the "dots". These could NOT have been turned at 100 RPM by a normal person no matter how sharp the chisel is. (The finish was sanded, but not the wood.)


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## intillzah (Dec 28, 2008)

I turn at about 700 to knock down the squareness of the blanks, then at 1500 to turn.  I'm going to try and go flat out on the next blank and see what happens.  But that Ryobi lathe I have sounds scary at 3 grand......


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## Wolfcoast (Dec 29, 2008)

Hmm.  I've always turned my pens at a slower speed (~1200).  After reading how many turn at high speed, I may have to do some experimenting later on today.

(oh yeah, any excuse to go out to the garage)


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## www (Jan 1, 2009)

same for me


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## leehljp (Jan 1, 2009)

Slower speed require finer controlled feed rates. Much Slower speeds require higher skills/experience than most people have. 

Faster speed mean less catches for less precise feed rates!


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## marcruby (Jan 1, 2009)

At high speeds you never have a second catch!!  Thanks for the compliment, though...

>



leehljp said:


> Slower speed require finer controlled feed rates. Much Slower speeds require higher skills/experience than most people have.
> 
> Faster speed mean less catches for less precise feed rates!


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## leehljp (Jan 1, 2009)

marcruby said:


> At high speeds you never have a second catch!!  Thanks for the compliment, though...
> >



Everyone gets a catch and on occasion, even a second catch - on a square blank, regardless of the speed. The catches are as much due to too fast a feed rate - for the speed of the lathe, . . and too loose on the tail stock or mandrel nut as anything else! Faster turning speed on a pen sized blank create more "cut" and less "catch". Pen turning isn't bowl turning! The "hint" at "never having a second catch at high speeds" is in error as to its intended truth.

Yes, my tools are _shaving_ sharp and stay that way.


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## marcruby (Jan 2, 2009)

Like I said, thanks for the compliment, intended or not.  I wouldn't let someone run a lathe at 3000 rpm in my shop until I knew they could control a skew at 500 rpm.  I hate wasting wood and picking up eyeballs.

Marc


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## tipsteve (Jan 2, 2009)

I'll throw in my 2 cents.  I am self taught and found that I got better results turning at high speed.  I sand and finish at the slowest speed possible.  Working with the CA finish at high speed risks melting/burning the finish and ruining your MM.


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## Chasper (Jan 2, 2009)

Turn all pen materials, full speed
Sand and MM, full speed
Apply CA, full speed

Sometimes I slow it down a pully or two when I'm buffing.


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## evanslmtd (Jan 3, 2009)

Hey Guys
In the past I was turning my blanks at about 1200 RPM. After reading this string I decided to try turning the blanks at full speed. 
Yesterday I turned 1 pen as I normally do and 2 pens as fast as my lathe would turn. IMO, turning at the higher RPM's worked a lot better for me. Not only was it much quicker, but the blanks turned at the higher speeds seemed to come out nicer/smoother.
Thanks for the tip guys.


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## TellicoTurning (Jan 3, 2009)

I read through this thread and didn't answer earlier because everyone was saying same thing I would have said.. I turn pens at second to highest speed on jet mini.. I don't actually know the speed off top of head.  I sand at the same speed, but will drop to bottom to apply CA.   If I've done my work right with the tools, little sanding is needed.

On peppermills, I'll start at about 850 to round over the blanks, I drill at 450 or 650 depending on the size of the drill bit, but once I'm rounded, drilled and ready to do the shape of the mill, I kick up to about 1100 or 1500.  

On a bowl blank, I start slow until I get the blank balanced and spinning true, then I'll start kicking the speed up.  I like to run a bowl at about 1100.  I'm more likely to get a catch in a bowl and much faster than that it's harder to dodge when it comes off the chuck..


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## NewLondon88 (Jan 3, 2009)

ozmandus said:


> I like to run a bowl at about 1100.  I'm more likely to get a catch in a bowl and much faster than that it's harder to dodge when it comes off the chuck..



Just one more reason to keep hitting the gym and keep those reflexes sharp.

Turn fast
Dodge quick

:biggrin:


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