Best way to attatch pot call to lathe?

[DanNolen]

Awesome, thanks guys

[DanNolen]

vince, so with this 4 jaw chuck i would be able to accurately drill my bore for my duck call barrels too? because currently i have a small drill press and the travel is not enough to drill all the way through the blank, i have a bigger one at work that i have access too, but i would rather be able to do it on my lathe if possible, i have a drill chuck that i bought for the lathe to be able to drill my inserts of my duck calls, with my collet chuck, but if this 4 jaw jobber will hold and accurately drill my barrel blanks maybe this is the way to go, martin showed me how to make a bottlestopper chuck which i am going to do but i wonder if i shouldnt also along with that drop down the $ for a 4 jaw?

[VECtor Calls]

Yeah, the drill chuck for your tail stock is the other cost.  If you've got it, then I would want the 4 jaw too.  Its all about the money spent man.  Whether you've got it to play with or not I guess. 

Have you drilled with your collet chuck yet?  I never have.  I've always drilled on the lathe with my 4 jaw. 

Drilling with the 4 jaw is super accurate....JUST as long as you keep your wood chunk in the 4 jaw until you are done drilling, and it was seated correctly to begin with.  A person can screw up anything of they don't pat good attention to what they are doing. 

I do almost all of my drilling on my floor model drill press.  I step drill on the lathe though.  For goose call barrels and for coyote howler barrels.

Gotta have a solid jobber bit too!  Don't go trying to drill on the lathe with a spade bit!  THAT is a mess!  Not enough backing in the shaft of a spade bit!

Vince

[Brent Winingear]

If you are doing duck calls, you probably already have or need to get a collet chuck. I do my turkey pots with a 5/8" expanding mandrel in a collet chuck. You just drill a 5/8" hole almost all of the way thru the center of your blank, mount the blank and use your live center to hold the blank against the mandrel.



After you get the blank rounded to size, you hog out the inside.




Then trim your center pedestal to the correct height.



Then you can reverse the call and do the back side and edge of the call.



4 jaw chucks work very well also, but there's a reason that they are nick named "knuckle busters". This is just another way to skin a cat.

[VECtor Calls]

Brent, how is the pot held in place when you are not drilled all the way through and removing the inside dimensions in pic 2?  Did you just remove your tailstock for the pic?  Why do you not drill all the way through 5/8" right from the beginning?

Vince

[Brent Winingear]

I expand the mandrel enough so that I basically press it on to the mandrel with the tailstock. I really doesn't take that much to hold it as long as you don't just dive into it with the tool.

[VECtor Calls]

Maybe it is the camera flash, but I am not seeing the expansion screw on the end of your mandrel like my Flint Hills ones do. 

Why would a person NOT want to drill all the way through to begin with?  I would want to, to get to the set screw. 

I guess by not going all the way through, it is easy for you to have your blank squared up with your drill hole vs. the end of your mandrel?

Vince

[Brent Winingear]

On this one I used the other end of the mandrel. I have a forstner bit that happens to be just a hair undersized so I can press the blank on a straight 5/8" shaft.

You don't have to stop short on the drilling, but it just helps stabilize the blank when you're doing the rough work.

[VECtor Calls]

Good stuff.  Thanks for the pics and the thoughts.

I always enjoy all the different ways folks like to make pots on the lathe.

Vince

[Brent Winingear]

No problem. I started doing them this way because I didn't have a 4 jaw. I now have a chuck, but still prefer to do them this way. I guess everybody has a method that suits them better. As you said, it's nice to see the different ways that people do things