Picture Me This!!!

[Roby]

Ok, I have messed with the lathe for a bit now.  What an angry beast, and I have a new respect for those of you who have tamed her.  It is now time to give Roby some advise, and perhaps answer some lathie questions.

All lathed items cut into the wood perpendicular to the grain, so it appears that tear out is of a main concern when it come to deep intricate cuttings.  What do you guys do to reduce tear out?  I assume that you get cleaner cuts with sharper tools, and by not being as agressive with the amount of wood you remove vs. time, but do you get cleaner cuts and less tear out at a higher RPM or a lower one?  It seems to me that both have their advantages, but I cannot tell a difference between them so far.

Also, I am currently building a universal jig for the lathe that will allow me to get exact and consistant cuts as opposed to doing things by hand.  (Things have to be exact if I am making gears and puzzle parts on the lathe).  The jig I have invisioned will mount carving tools, but also a spring loaded drimmel in which I can trade out bits for carving exact and intricate cuts at various angles with relative consistancy.  It is a cool setup, and to make a cut I simply turn on the lathe and drimmel, and then pull slowly down on the assembly's spring loaded drill press bar to cut the depth and angle that I want.  The drimmel, since it is also rotating seems to leave a very smooth cut with practically no tear out, and I can also use the same system to bore holes and cut notches in pieces while it is still in place on the lathe when it is not turning.

My question is this.  Do any of you have pictures of assemblies that you have set up to do similar things.  I have a fairly firm idea in mind of how I will do mine, and my prelimianary setups seem to work fine, but I would hate to boof things up by missing out some of the wisdom you guys have to offer.  I'm sure that there are lots of mistakes I could bypass by simply seeing setups that have been done in the past, and there are lots of aspects I would have wished I would have incorporated later if I had only known of thier usefulness. 

The mushroom is curious and requires pictuers.  As you know, I am attempting to make my next puzzlebox out of a single piece of wood with all moving parts crafted by cutting it out of a single block on the lathe, but I might need some help on this one.

[DCBluesman]

There is a device on the market which will do most of what you describe...and a lot more.  http://www.bealltool.com/products/turning/lathewiz.php

As for cutting without tearout, that's a bit of a crapshoot.  My belief and experience shows that wood likes to be worked at high speeds with sharp tools and light passes.

Feel free to ask away!

Oupa

[Roby]

Wow!!! But $295,  I think I have a setup of old spare table saw parts that will do most that I want.  I will play around with it for a while and see if it will serve my purposes.  I just thought that surely you guys would have built something similar from scratch, mutch like us puzzle people have numerous jig assemblies and sliding sled attachements for our table saws. 

I will try sharpening my blades and taking smaller passes and see if that will also reduce tear out.  I think that lathing is more of an art than a craft, and success comes from experience of technique more than anything else. 

I will post pics of my setup when it is finished.

[Canuck]

Roby, if you remember, I initially tried to fashion a device on my lathe to make the 'Chopsticks', I eventually came to the conclusion that it was far easier to make some taper jigs for the tablesaw    I tend to 'overthink' my jigs, I always try to stick to the 'KISS' principle as much as possible when making them! 

Keep at it brother 

[Roby]

John, you're right!!! I should just donate my lathe to the next Joe who walks by and do everything on the table saw.   

No freakin way.  I tell you that I used to make fun of you lathies, but now I am addicted.  This is so much fun, and hopefully this setup will also be way cool.  Besides, when have you ever known me to use the "KISS" method.  If anything, I do things the hardest most difficult way possible.  I will go out of my way to make things more difficult.  <<<<<Tis jus da way I'se roll.>>>>>

Hey though, on a more serious note, have you actually ever tried using a drimmel on a lathe project.  I don't have my system set up yet, but manually, it is really cool thing to do.  Oh, and when it comes down to sanding.  WOW, how cool to put a piece of sandpaper on the project while it is spinning and see the sawdust get caught up in a vortex.  It is like making pottery on a pottery wheel, but it is wood.   Very Zen!!!

Now all I need is a kiddie swimming pool, and I can lathe just like Chinney.  That crazy platypus, you know that he is insane, but you can tell by the kitty-pool photos that he is in utter bliss.

           

[Canuck]

Oh you're definitely addicted now!  It's a new Stickman era   

[Chinnomotto]

Dear Mr Master Yarger Mushroom,,,,,,thats a mouthful

Ooooooee I like that poormans Ornamental Pen wizard, anybody done a roadtest on it?

I'll sturdy the U tube videos first, wonder what the max diameter wood it will take,

I want, I want,,,,sorry peep peep

Incorporating these rods into puzzles will really jazz up the finish. Cool

Making multiple repeatitive turnings , depending on job shape, you can get a copying attachment

Like they do for staircase rails, kinda boring identical pieces

Newer lathes have an indexing ring built into the headstock which allows set angles on hold for drilling , routing  etc

Interesting to see your gismo set up, the Stickman way

I always wanted a small metal lathe to do woodworking, it has the precision  , and the x -y table allows different machine mountings

for repitition work. Contact that defective cowboy up north, hes a metal man, and has a metal lathe, for a few tips

And Skiprat has shown some incredible set ups on his xttachments for the crack egg

My attempt at 101 Woo Tuck Shuets, they were all different, and thats what a wood lathe does

Makes you an individual artist, in my case, a BS one

Good luck Master, its very addictive. I have been pencil sharpenning  for 30 years, and I am still learning, and ducking

[Canuck]

If you're looking at doing intricate inlays and such, I think that's 'Pool Cue' territory...google it, there's tons of info on the many aspects of that facet of turning.  Not sure how much of it would lend itself to puzzlebox making however    but it could open up new ideas...

[Roby]

I want a new way to make wooden gears, including some helixical ones that I have not ever been able to do.  I have also always been intrigued by the works of Hoffman and his lathed puzzles.

[Canuck]

Yeah, John Berkeley's book 'All Screwed Up' is the place to start on those 'Hoffman turned puzzles', Chinny can help a lot there because he has a unique method of doing the 'threads'

Here's a link to Amazon's sale page; http://www.amazon.com/All-Screwed-Up-Puzzles-Featuring/dp/0941936937

I highly recomend picking up a copy 

[Chinnomotto]

And while you are there Amazoning, pick up David Springett's 3 books on wood turning

Boy, can he turn a ball, and he makes beaut stands

In his latest Woodturning Full Circle, he glues 2 pieces, turns it, then split the 2 parts and glue back

Amazing shapes and swirls, He teaches you to make simple wood jigs too

Hes a clever dude

[Roby]

Thanks Guys, I will get a copy for my library.