X-Y Cross Feed

by Hal Mahon    hal.mahon@umb.edu

One of the pleasures I enjoy is devising special purpose jigs, fixtures and tools to use with my wood turning lathe. Such is the case for the X-Y cross feed shown in Figure 1. I use this tool to turn surfaces that are flat or straight to a tolerance exceeding my  unsteady gouge control. This capability is a common feature on metal lathes. I hope this article starts a flurry of discussions from other wood turners sharing their special tool creativity.

The X-Y Cross Feed is a moveable vise with screws that move the vise, independently in one of two perpendicular directions. It was designed for precision milling of wood and plastic on a drill press. The cross feed is mounted on my lathe bed in place of the banjo. With one of my gouges clamped in the vise the gouge can be moved, incrementally, perpendicular to the axis of rotation or parallel to this axis. Grizzly (800-523-4777), Northern Tool and Equipment (800-533-5545) and Craftsman (800-377-7414) offer various types.  The most important features for me included the largest possible range and a reasonable price. In one of the flyers from Woodcraft (800-234-3818 x1) in North Conway, NH. I spotted the vise in Fig. 1 with a 7” x-direction and a 6” range in the y direction for $60. Ken Good, chair of the Mt. Washington Valley Woodturners, picked this unit up for me and held it until I showed up at one of their subsequent meetings.

I used my Delta disk sander to remove about 3/8 inch of iron from one end and some iron from the other side of the cast iron vise-base to provide a square reference aligned with its x and y travel.  The X-Y Vise is lag bolted  to a three layers of glued together oak flooring to raise it to the working level for my lathe. The slot along my lathe bed is 1 17/32” wide. A 1/4 “ thick by 1 ½ by 4” long piece of mahogany glued along the center of the bottom keeps the unit from twisting on the lathe bed. A 3/8” bolt and an oak block secure it to the lathe bed. The oak block is 2 ½” long by 1 ½” wide, and is drilled and tapped for 3/8 by 16 threads.  One turn of the bolt releases the tension so that the device can be slid along the lathe bed into approximate x-position. A 14 mm end wrench I picked up at Spags, just fits the 3/8” bolt head, and I keep this wrench handy.

A 3/8” f long shaft bowl gouge is good for putting a flat bottom in a deep vase. Tool chatter can be reduced to zero by turning the y-direction screw slowly. The rings I glue together for segmented bowls (see Fig. 2) need to be flat, and the y-motion achieves the high degree of flatness I require. The best tool for me to use is the straight, McNaughton coring gouge, as shown in Fig. 1 because it is long, and about 9/32” thick and 15/16” deep. I use two wooden wedges to hold this tool at an angle in the vise.

Some wood turners presenting at Pinkerton Academy put their work in a large metal lathe to achieve precision tool control. I no longer have ready access to a metal lathe. This X-Y Cross Feed Vise from Woodcraft as discussed here provides the precision level of perpendicular tool travel I find useful.

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Aug 2006