I. Find a can with diam. just larger than that of hand wheel. I used an olive oil can.
2. Cut out both ends.
3. Turn A from craft board to fit snugly into can. Turn hole to fit vac. hose end. Fix can to A with nails or screws or glue or contact cement.
4. Turn B. to push fit into can. Turn hole to fit over shaft or bearing housing or whatever.
5. Fix B permanently to lathe head. Drill and tap holes for small metal thread screws, or use contact cement, or epoxy putty.
COMMENTS
Drill a hole (say 4 m.m.) somewhere along the vac. line to allow some air flow to cool the motor otherwise you might cook it.
If your hand wheel must be removed for any reason you can use a smaller can, but you then have the bother of removing the hand wheel each time, and you lose the advantage of the quick fit.
A slight concavity in the face of the suction pad allows for a more positive grip on flatter objects like coasters or platters.
Remember strength of suction depends on area of job (Ibs / sq. inch) so larger jobs grip very firmly. Be wary of the small diam. jobs.
If you want to modify the foot of a natural edged bowl using a vacuum chuck try something like this.
Basically it is a large wooden tube with the rim curved to nearly match that of the inside of a bowl, and with the rim edge covered with the usual sponge rubber material to make a good suction seal.
It is necessary to leave some means of centering the bowl onto the vacuum chuck adaptor using the tail stock until the vacuum takes over, then remove tail stock and finish foot of bowl to your design.
Remember small diameter vacuum chucks do not grip as positively as larger ones.
I modified this from an idea I saw on the Internet via the Peninsula Woodturner's Guild home page.
Give it a try and let us have some feed back on your results.
