Necessary Accessories

There are many accessories for your lathe that you will most definitely find useful and necessary, especially if you want to get the most out of your lathe in terms of its capabilities. When you purchase your first lathe, it is likely to come with several accessories: a faceplate, a tailstock live center, a knock-out bar, a spur drive, and some alan keys. With these accessories, you can complete many basic turning tasks, even a bowl, although it might not be the most convenient method. A faceplate is a threaded “plate” which mounts onto the spinning threaded headstock of the lathe and can hold onto pieces of wood from just one end through several wood screws. The faceplate that comes with your lathe will be the correct thread size, but other faceplates can be accommodated onto your lathe with threaded adapters. A tailstock live center is what slides into the extending quill and is fit by a taper, commonly referred to as a Morris taper. This taper applies to drive spurs as well, which are mounted on the opposing headstock if not turning with a faceplate(or chuck). Tapers come in various standardized sizes depending on your lathe. Live centers can be fit very snuggly into the quill and must be removed by retracting the quill until the internal knockout bar dislodges the live center. However, unlike the live center, a spur drive must be removed manually with a knock-out bar, which is a thin metal dowel with a knob on the end to place your hand on. A spur is utilized when turning spindles and must have an opposing force of the live center, as it only grips, and does not secure wood.

While there are a lot of other accessories for your lathe, there are some others that you will find necessary that may not come with your lathe. Firstly, a Jacob’s chuck will be found as a necessity when drilling any hole on your lathe. The Jacob’s chuck is put in place of the tailstock and has a Morris taper; this chuck grips drillbits just as a drill would, but the Jacob’s chuck is held still while the lathe rotates the piece being worked against. This chuck is tightened by a key, and I have found it helpful to tie it to the chuck to prevent them from getting separated and lost. 

Possibly the most important accessory to buy after you buy your lathe is a chuck. Chucks come in several sizes and screw onto the headstock spindle on the front of your lathe, and their purpose is to grip the wood and hold it from the one end, allowing you to hollow out the other end, enabling the making of bowls, platters, vases, cups, etc. All chucks vary in their thread size, so it is important to check the thread size before ordering to make sure it matches your headstock spindle; either do this or buy a thread adapter afterward. After screwing your chuck on your lathe, some chucks have a small set screw to tighten to prevent the chuck from overtightening and becoming difficult to take off when the time comes. Another accessory that is quite necessary, at least for me, is the screw chuck. While not technically a chuck at all, the screw chuck is held in place by your chuck, and wood is screwed on it to be held in place. Screw chucks often require you to drill either a 3/8ths or 5/16ths inch hole around 3/4ths of an inch deep.  The applications of this device are most common when roughing bowls, as it provides an easy method of firmly securing a large unbalanced piece of wood.