holding thin material on lathe

[40fordcoupe]

I need to turn a very thin aluminum piece on the lathe. It seems like somewhere I have heard of glueing thin stock to something thick enough to hold in the 4 jaw chuck and then use heat to take the pieces apart after the turning is complete. The trouble is I cannot remember anything about the technique beyond that. Can someone help me with the details please?
Thanks in advance

[crazythunder]

How thin? Thur hole? I have used hot glue, I have used lead, I have used primer on a part and super glue. I have made disk larger than what I need then do cut off the excess. There are a lot of different ways in which to approach this.

[Mcgyver]

like crazy says, more info would be good. if its sheet metal thick, put something in the 3 jaw, face clean using a fast feed - better to leave some marks - the spiral will help hold. face another piece and centre drill on the opposite side. sandwich the work between the bung and the headstock mounted piece. The two pieces you made are slightly expendable, the work and sandwiched between and all are cut together. take light cuts. you can use double sided tape but I've found this creates surface that doesn't support the work at the cut, that is when you are cutting thin stock. for thicker stuff, use carpet tape and for thicker still use a three jaw spider

[neilw20]

If its flat, on a face plate, glue it on with shellac.
Soak in methelated spirits to remove with no damage.
If you take a skm on a faceplate first, glue to it, then machine you can make VERY thin parts.

[40fordcoupe]

wow thanks to all of you.
The piece in question is a thin aluminum casting which is a cylinder head for a model steam engine. The circumferance doesn't require turning. One side needs to be faced off. The whole thing is not thick enough to be held in a chuck securely and there are no holes in it. Sorry I wasn't more descriptive in my orginial post. I have save all three post in my tips folder.

[pastera]

Sounds like the head for one of the PM Research engines

chuck up some scrap ~1/2" diameter larger than the casting and bore a recess to hold the casting in - superglue in place, turn and use acetone to remove.

Use the same fixture to prep the other head but don't through drill for the piston rod - drill and ream with this part glued in the cylinder after you bore the cylinder before you pull it from the chuck.

Aaron

[chipsinpan]

MiteeBite makes a product that is like a wax paper that you heat up with a heat gun , then stick the parts on . You release it by butting it in a pan of hot water

[40fordcoupe]

Originally Posted by chipsinpan MiteeBite makes a product that is like a wax paper that you heat up with a heat gun , then stick the parts on . You release it by putting it in a pan of hot water

Thanks chipsinpan, I found their website and have sent them an email.

[ErnieD]

If you have removable jaws for your chuck you can make a set of soft jaws. You then bore the jaws to size and to a depth shallower than the thickness that you want to cut. This is a way to hold a piece very securely and accurately in the lathe.

ErnieD

[JROM]

try a 6 jaw chuck!
They are made for thin or fragile parts, just take it easy.

[40fordcoupe]

Thanks ErnieD and Jrom,

Both viable suggestions, but not available on my little hobby lathe. In the past I have used the soft jaws to good advantage. That was on a much larger lathe then I have at present. What I have now is a tinker toy by comparison. The closest I could come to that is by using the face plate and making a fixture on it. Anyway thanks for the input it is good to have all of these suggestions. Thats what I like about CNCzone.

[snovak240]

Depending on the thickness. Use double stick tape