Thank you very much for the kind words.

Thanks Rob. I appreciate it!

Thanks! I added a new video today!

It does! Thanks for the comment!

Thanks for the comment Joseph, and thanks for watching!

Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you liked the video

It really is just as easy as it looks. It just takes a lathe, a caliper, a ruler, and a spindle gouge. You don't even need a chuck. You can turn a cup center with a Morse taper for your spindle

Thanks my friend!

Thanks!

You're welcome!

Thank you very much! and Thanks for watching!

Hi Fifi! You definitely could if you wanted to. It's just not necessary. It's really not necessary for the cup center on the live center either for a wood sphere. The reason I have the O ring on the live center end is for the resin spheres I make.

Awesome! Its definitely not difficult but will take a bit of practice

Glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the question. That live center is made by Robust Lathes. I got the thread pitch from the printed documentation and then just found an appropriate tap on Amazon. The Live Center I use is threaded 3/4 - 10. I've placed a link to the tap I bought below. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FMO8CO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sounds interesting

Thanks for checking out my channel!

Sure! Glad to help. They are called cup centers. The one in the chuck is just a piece of scrap turned to shape with a shallow depression. The depression needs to be deep enough so the sphere sits on the rim of the depression. The one for the tailstock is mostly the same thing but with a hole drilled through it so it fits over the live center. Both are really simple shop made items, although you can find commercial cup centers at places that cater to woodturners

I don't think I ever achieve "billiard ball perfection" when turning a sphere by hand. My goal is to just get it as close to spherical as I possibly can. What's worked best for me is making sure the cup center in the chuck is running true, and consistently identifying the x, y, and z, axis of the piece. Periodically I have to recut my cup center to be sure its running true. I tried making a headstock cup center with an "O" ring but it just wasn't accurate enough. Keeping the "O" ring in the exact proper place while the glue dried, even with a turned groove for the "O" ring, wasn't as accurate as just the wood itself. With the 3 axis issue, I had to come up with a system that made sense to me. I start with the end grain perpendicular to the bed. I try to find some feature on the wood which I can rotate into position toward the headstock. After cutting or sanding, the piece is rotated 90 degrees so the engrain is still perpendicular to the bed, wood feature facing me. Third axis is rotating it 90 degrees so the end grain runs parallel with the bed. I just keep rotating through the same 3 axis until its round. I know sometimes things are lost when trying to explain it in written form so I hope that makes sense. I agree making a perfect tailstock cup chuck would be difficult. My tailstock cup center has an 'o' ring, but it doesn't tend to knock the piece out of alignment. I hold the piece firmly in the headstock cup and tighten the tailstock. The "O" ring seems to act more as a cushion then it does as an alignment aid. Or, maybe I just got lucky when I made my tailstock cup. I'm not sure I can visualize what you mean with the cordless drill against the tailstock cup, but it sounds interesting. Do you have a link to a photo online I can see?

I like how we both hold the rough sphere against the headstock cup and then press it into place. I do the opposite when I am sanding. Loosen it up just enough for the sphere to drop out, rotate it while pushing against the tailstock, then tighten up the tailstock, and this helps avoid 'burnish' marks from the headstock drive. As for a video on my tailstock cup chuck turning, I don't have one, and may do that eventually if I do a video on sphere turning. There are a lot of them out there. Anyway, I got the tailstock center close by inserting the whole thing into my small chuck. I put it in the tailstock and needed to figure a way to spin the tailstock live center, this one the whole thing rotated and some of the newer ones, just the tip rotates. So to drive the live center, I just held the arbor on my drill against the live center, and that was enough spin to be able to take a NRS/negative rake scraper to the roughed out cup center and true it up. I could have used a third or forth arm for doing that, but it worked. Perhaps the O ring on the tailstock center might work better since it gets it close. I have taken to putting a center line on the sphere after rotating it to see how close I am to being perfectly centered. Easy to see the high spot, and if the tailstock is not really tight, then a light tap or two on the high spot will center it better. Always some thing to experiment with. I am mostly a bowl turner....

@@robohippy that drill trick is inspired! I'd have never thought of that. But reading about your drill trick got me thinking. Those live centers where only the tip spins (Oneway and clones) have a hole that locks with a pin to screw on an off accessories. I wonder what would happen if instead of a pin, it was "locked with some copper wire. Once it's locked I bet it could be put in the headstock/spindle so the cup center could be turned right on that live center. Might need to turn it from the other side of the lathe with the lathe in reverse to deal with the thread direction... Hmmm, something to play around with tomorrow.

Now you got me thinking. I do have an old Oneway live center around some where.... I will try that out. In theory, a true mount in the headstock should equal a true mount in the tailstock if they line up....

@@robohippy that's exactly what I was thinking. Great minds my friend 😁

yes, but the wood should be kiln dried or it will crack while drying

I should try that for the drive center. Thanks! I have a rubber o ring on cup on the live center

Hahaha.. thanks for watching!

I'm glad you found the info useful. Thanks for watching!!

Send me an email at smw3747@gmail.com we can chat

@@ScottsMiniWoodshop gotcha . Email sent.

Once or twice 😁

Soon I'll be casting and turning a poke ball 😁

@@ScottsMiniWoodshop definitely looking forward to it!

😂😂

The video is for woodturners. No sphere jig was used while turning this sphere

@@ScottsMiniWoodshop i didn’t say that there was a sphere jig was used, but the title says (no jig) and there was a jig also I am a Woodturner been doing it 5 years