Harold Hall
Metalworking
Workshop Set Ups
Faceplate Balancing. Harold Hall
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Invariably when using the faceplate the total assembly, workpiece plus clamps, will be very irregular and far from balanced. To improve this, weights of some form need to be added. Photo 1 shows that a stack of two rectangular pieces have been added whilst Photo 2 shows tee nuts being used.
Unfortunately, due to the friction in the lathe’s headstock, a near perfect balance is difficult to achieve. If say a small hole needs boring, requiring a high spindle speed, the lathe will vibrate unacceptably.
Photo 3 shows a balancing fixture that I have made that overcomes this problem as it has very free running shop made bearings. LINK
Photo 4 shows that it can also hold the angle plate horizontally which enables workpieces to be positioned and secured much easier than when fitted to the lathe, then moved to the vertical position for balancing.
All pictures can be clicked on to provide a larger view