Home made vice / Turntable bearings ? effortless spininng

Indy Joneds

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Ive got a turn table but it doesnt spin effortlessly , it can even stick a little and then all of a sudden it starts to move. i regreased the bearings but it just doesnt float like i want it to do . Its besically two round pieces of steel with a circular groove cut in the bottom of one and the top of the other that then sandwiches the bearings .

Does anyone know which kind of bearings/rotary device i need

Ive seen a video showing the use of a harddrive disc but not sure how that work or if it would take the weight of my vice .

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated
 

grumpyphil

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Without more specifics it's going to be pretty difficult to diagnose the problem but assuming everything else is at least "OK" I would look first at the grooves. If they aren't really smooth (polished is better) the bearings are not going to roll smoothly.
 

Ron Spokovich

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Grumpy is right, concerning the grooves. First, you're going to have perfection in the grooves, and, if your plates are softer than the balls contained, the idea won't fly for long. Flat spots will show up, for an eventual lumpy feel. I think the place is called Aurora bearings, that manufacture flat, roller bearing assemblies of various diameters. They're something like a large flat thrust bearing. You should have a competent Machinist machine a groove in each plate, for each part of the bearing. If you go this route, the cost can exceed, with bearing cost, a commercial unit like GRS offers, unless you're after some large, custom size not normally offered. Depends upon the money you want to spend. All the stuff & parts are out there.
 

Thierry Duguet

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I used a small car wheel bearing, I like the weight and it is very sturdy, I attach steel disk to it to increase the surface and the inertia. Cost, about $90.00
I think that if you use a central axe and have your disks rectified you do not need a groove, the bearing will move naturally (because of the lateral friction) toward the center of the disks, of course you will need two bearings.
 
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monk

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check the tips section there may be an idea or 2 that would suit your needs. among them, the lowly bowling ball. don't laugh, they're better than you may think--- better than nothing. most any home improvement center sells different sized lazy susan bearing sets. the 4" one i show here- i attached 2 blocks of wood and i use a leather shot-filled bag.
the snuff lid i show here-- i still need to put a border all around the edge. the border cuts will roll over the edge. i use this instead of the vise, as there's a good chance of the graver slipping over onto the vise top. this bearing was about 4 bucks, and will support really heavy weight.
 

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Sam

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The GRS turntable consists of nylon balls and a spacer that keeps them separated, sandwiched between two steel plates. If you have the GRS turntable, lubricating the nylon balls does not work. The turntable needs to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. Lemon Pledge furniture polish does the trick very well (from former GRS tech expert JB Taylor).

I've tried and tried and never could make a suitable turntable from a lazy susan bearing.
 

Skylineski

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i got a Shimpo turntable (potters banding wheel) it was $65. it is awesome. about 15 lbs and smooth as you would ever want. i looked all over for a good turntable and this was by far the best i could find without spending a couple hundred dollars. hope this helps

Doug
 
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monk

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The GRS turntable consists of nylon balls and a spacer that keeps them separated, sandwiched between two steel plates. If you have the GRS turntable, lubricating the nylon balls does not work. The turntable needs to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. Lemon Pledge furniture polish does the trick very well (from former GRS tech expert JB Taylor).

I've tried and tried and never could make a suitable turntable from a lazy susan bearing.

sam: though i rave about such, this sort of thing is surely no replacement for the real thing. for a newbie with no operational budget, they do work. i know, as i can remember days when no money was available for toys. the first vise i got was the magna block. i dang near sat up all night spinning the thing. i always encourage home brew stuff, as you never know--- an engraver may just be born.
 

Barry Lee Hands

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I have never used a turntable except at shows or in Emporia during classes.
In my professional career, I have found the GRS positioning vise with a few jigs for holding barrels and such handles everything I need to do.
one mod I have done on all my vise is to take a cold chisel and knock the centering doohickey out of the middle of the vise to allow the jaws to slide side to side.
this allows a lot more offset than the stock setup, and only takes a couple of minutes.
 

Sam

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sam: though i rave about such, this sort of thing is surely no replacement for the real thing. for a newbie with no operational budget, they do work. i know, as i can remember days when no money was available for toys. the first vise i got was the magna block. i dang near sat up all night spinning the thing. i always encourage home brew stuff, as you never know--- an engraver may just be born.

Don Glaser used a turntable made from hardware store parts. I could just never get mine to turn without catching. For me perfect smoothness of rotation is critical when doing fine shading and less critical when doing heavier cutting.
 

Sam

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I have never used a turntable except at shows or in Emporia during classes.
In my professional career, I have found the GRS positioning vise with a few jigs for holding barrels and such handles everything I need to do.
one mod I have done on all my vise is to take a cold chisel and knock the centering doohickey out of the middle of the vise to allow the jaws to slide side to side.
this allows a lot more offset than the stock setup, and only takes a couple of minutes.

Barry, that's a very interesting vise hack! I'd like to try that.
 

monk

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sam & others:: the lazy susan plates are very close together. when ea part is screwed to a wood block, the screw heads will bang into each other. at this point, it was useless. i took a small file and filed down the screw heads at the contact points. it's now very smooth in rotation. just a thought for those on a low budget.
having said that, i'd never trade my centering vise for one.
 

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