Beyond Beginner
Vacuum Chucking
Here is a brief review on setting up vacuum chucking systems. A lot depends on how much money you want to spend. Some time and plumbing to your individual machine is needed and there is probably no real plug and play options. Here is a vacuum pump that was recently used and demonstrated with good success.
Depending on what lathe you are on to hook up to, the attachment to the lathe may vary; pick your machine on the pull down. Otherwise, may of us use a through the headstock system, based on a 2 MT headstock internal setup.
This Hold Fast Vaccum Adapter is the easiest and most adaptable system, needing only cutting the lamp rod to length for your lathe headstock. You need a vacuum gauge and let off valve. However here is another one that, albeit expensive can be sourced/built from stuff at your local hardware store. You will need head pieces that actually hold to the piece. Many of us make these with schedule 40 PVC pipe and wood backplates, here are some commercial ones. Pick your headstock thread on their pull down.
Here is a complete autocycling system, minus the pump itself. This site gives lots of information on vacuum systems, aimed primarily on veneer users, but quite applicable to our use in turning. Hope this gets you started ~Carl
Multiaxis Spindle Turning
This is a fantastic article that explains MULTIAXIS SPINDLE TURNING in a way we can all understand.