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Default Efficiency in turning mutiples. (long on purpose)



Dearly beloved,


Excepting (and respecting) the artists among us who never turn plebian
objects for the common people, most of us from time to time turn with no
finished object in mind or turn (or try to) many identical objects.
I've turned tops, bird houses, chain pulls, bottle stoppers etc. by the
dozens and have found a few dodges that speed up the turning to as near
as possible identical dimensions. What are your favorite dodges for
making multiple turnings, assuming artistic heresy doesn't turn you off.



I try to cut the stock and then the blanks to as near the finished
product as possible. I suppose that dogmatic expert's tradition insist
that we turn stock/blanks to fit the desired shape/size not the other
way around, but being a practicing heretic I hate waste and often tailor
the object to fit the stock/blank. I also don't try my very best on each
and every turned object at each and every turning session.


Slobs have rights too, don't they? Please forgive and read on or at
least don't throw up. As another Arch once said, "Stifle yourself". It's
ok to wince, sigh and look toward heaven! This post is mainly an
anti-spam exercise anyway, Just to keep rcw breathing in the dog days so
we don't give up and jump the track.



After first deciding on the ever-loving size/shape/holding method for
the best use of stock and turning effort for these small blanks I set
out precise turning sequences from roughing to sanding/polishing. At my
age (89) I never use a slow drying glue or finish and have been known to
skip grits.



I try to design dimensions to a set of standard open ended wrench sizes
instead of designing the turned object to a size and adjusting a set of
calipers to match or making up cutouts and templates from plywood or tin
cans. I find that softening the tips of the wrenches makes measuring
while the stock is spinning easier and safer and doesn't hurt using them
for wrenching.



I like to turn two or three preliminary pieces in order to see what the
finished abortion will actually look like and try to adjust my thinking.
Mine never look much like I envisioned them from my drawings. Anyway
seeing is better for me than making multiple drawings and it's a good
warmup for setting out a precise order of turning steps from bark to
light pull. I do _not practice on cheaper stock, I like to use the real
thing in the preliminaries so that I can know all its weapons of mass
destruction in the main event.


My turning 'idiot osyncracies' could be why my turnings aren't in
museums or for that matter in the homes of 'fiends' and family. Naw,
there's too many other reasons. Stop groaning and share your turning
dodges and quirks with us. It beats reading spam that we can't delete.



Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings



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Default Efficiency in turning mutiples. (long on purpose)


"Arch" wrote: (clip) What are your favorite dodges for
making multiple turnings, (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Your idea of using open-end wrenches as calipers is a good one. I don't
think I will bother to soften the metal, though, since the gap between the
hardness of wood and steel is so great that I don't think anything is
accomplished. As a matter of fact, I can see how a wrench, at full hardness
might be pressed on the piece while it is spinning to burnish it to final
dimension.

My recommended time-saving method is to do each operation on all the pieces
before proceeding to the next step. And, as part of that procedure, I use a
laser to set the position and depth of the cuts, so I can place each feature
how I want it without stopping for lots of measurements.

What I normally would do is turn one piece to completion, using my artistic
judgment to get it the way I like. I then set my laser to a significant
point on the piece, and then turn that feature on each of the other pieces.
Then I return the first (finished) piece to the lathe, and position my laser
to another spot and go through the procedure again--and so on.

What do you think, Arch? Would that speed up the process for you?


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Default Efficiency in turning multiples. (long on purpose)



Hi Leo,


I think that, as with all your good ideas, using a laser is a very good
method. Efficient and easily doable. Thanks for sharing and not leaving
me hung out to dry with a naked unanswered post. I chose a poor word,
"softening". I should have said "rounding" or maybe "relieving" the
sharp wrench tips. Come to think about it, annealing might be another of
Arch's long list of undesirable methods. Think I'll keep it.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings



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Default Efficiency in turning mutiples. (long on purpose)

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Arch" wrote: (clip) What are your favorite dodges for
making multiple turnings, (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Your idea of using open-end wrenches as calipers is a good one. I don't
think I will bother to soften the metal, though, since the gap between the
hardness of wood and steel is so great that I don't think anything is
accomplished. As a matter of fact, I can see how a wrench, at full
hardness might be pressed on the piece while it is spinning to burnish it
to final dimension.

My recommended time-saving method is to do each operation on all the
pieces before proceeding to the next step. And, as part of that
procedure, I use a laser to set the position and depth of the cuts, so I
can place each feature how I want it without stopping for lots of
measurements.

What I normally would do is turn one piece to completion, using my
artistic judgment to get it the way I like. I then set my laser to a
significant point on the piece, and then turn that feature on each of the
other pieces. Then I return the first (finished) piece to the lathe, and
position my laser to another spot and go through the procedure again--and
so on.

What do you think, Arch? Would that speed up the process for you?


Maybe it's the heat today, maybe it's just that I'm dense when it comes to
some things mechanical, but I just don't get it, Leo. Can you please explain
in more detail for the thermally slow?

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"Lobby Dosser" wrote: (clip) Can you please explain
in more detail (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Certainly--I am delighted. I have a laser pointer mounted to a solid part
of my lathe by means of some parallel linkage. This holds the beam
vertically, and allows me to move it along the work, or across the work.
This is much like the laser guidance that is used for hollow turning, but it
is mounted to the lathe frame, rather than the tool.

Step 1: I turn my first piece in the normal way, shaping it to get what I
want.
Step 2: I position my laser bean on an important point on the piece, such
as the bottom of a cove or notch, or the top of a curve.
Step 3: I insert each of the other blanks, one at a time, and shape them to
match the one I already have done.
Step 4: I reinsert my original piece, and reposition the laser at another
salient point.
Step 5 and on: I do steps 3 and 4 until I'm done.

I usually have to go over each piece and sort of blend the cuts to eliminate
any bad transitions, and I'm done. I didn't need to use calipers, and I
didn't have to keep checking to make sure I didn't over cut any part. If
you put a white card on the ways, below the cut, the laser beam will start
to show as you approach the correct diameter. I consider the cut is
finished when the shape on the white card matches the shape and size I had
when I adjusted the beam to my pattern piece. I find that I can get things
within a few thousandths. Remember that no one is likely to hold the pieces
close together for comparison, so they don't have to be perfect.

Let me know if any part of this is still not clear.




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Default Efficiency in turning mutiples. (long on purpose)

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"Lobby Dosser" wrote: (clip) Can you please explain
in more detail (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Certainly--I am delighted. I have a laser pointer mounted to a solid part
of my lathe by means of some parallel linkage. This holds the beam
vertically, and allows me to move it along the work, or across the work.
This is much like the laser guidance that is used for hollow turning, but it
is mounted to the lathe frame, rather than the tool.

Step 1: I turn my first piece in the normal way, shaping it to get what I
want.
Step 2: I position my laser bean on an important point on the piece, such
as the bottom of a cove or notch, or the top of a curve.
Step 3: I insert each of the other blanks, one at a time, and shape them to
match the one I already have done.
Step 4: I reinsert my original piece, and reposition the laser at another
salient point.
Step 5 and on: I do steps 3 and 4 until I'm done.

I usually have to go over each piece and sort of blend the cuts to eliminate
any bad transitions, and I'm done. I didn't need to use calipers, and I
didn't have to keep checking to make sure I didn't over cut any part. If
you put a white card on the ways, below the cut, the laser beam will start
to show as you approach the correct diameter. I consider the cut is
finished when the shape on the white card matches the shape and size I had
when I adjusted the beam to my pattern piece. I find that I can get things
within a few thousandths. Remember that no one is likely to hold the pieces
close together for comparison, so they don't have to be perfect.

Let me know if any part of this is still not clear.


I have a problem when splitting wood. Can't seem to hit the same place
twice in succession, Would a laser on my axe help?

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

It's tourist season in Florida -- bag
limit two.





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"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...


Let me know if any part of this is still not clear.


The last paragraph cleared it up for me. Thanks, Leo.

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Default Efficiency in turning mutiples. (long on purpose)

On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 8:45:00 -0500, Arch wrote
(in message ):


What are your favorite dodges for
making multiple turnings, assuming artistic heresy doesn't turn you off.


At my
age (89) I never use a slow drying glue or finish and have been known to
skip grits.



Mr. Fortiter, Consistent with your avoidance of slow-drying glues, and so on,
I suppose you do not buy green bananas, either. (grin)

My methods are strictly old-school, I guess. As others do, I make a prototype
in the material I intend for the entire project. I determine the largest
diameter for the entire piece, and then turn my blanks to that diameter.
Picking the landmarks - the high and low spots of the piece, I mark the
blanks accordingly, each in its turn on the lathe. (no pun intended) I use a
specially modified outside caliper with its ends flattened and rounded so as
not to snag on turning material. With the caliper adjusted to the proper
diameter for a given landmark, in my left hand - and a thin parting tool in
my right, I cut a groove for the caliper to ride in, and then keep cutting
until the caliper slips through the cut. You can feel how it is riding on the
wood, and when it is going to slip. With practice I am satisfied with my
measuring methods to give me a dimension very close to the original. When the
landmarks are cut to their various depths on the rough spindle I just cut
away anything that does not look like the original, attempting to use the
same rhythms and modes I used in making the original. Not a purist turner, I
use mainly scraping techniques for this kind of turning as it gives me the
best results with my skill set. This is not scientific or extremely precise,
but it works well for my wants. I have done a bit of measuring on baluster
spindles in my 100+ year old front hall stairway and know that they are not
any better than my own duplicating methods.

I did buy a duplicator attachment for my lathe, once upon a time, but I was
not particularly happy with the results of one effort. Its principles are
sound and its construction robust and precise. I suspect my own execution was
at fault. In any case the duplicator now quietly collects dust and spiders in
my basement. sigh.

Respectfully submitted,
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

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On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:07:01 -0400, Gerald Ross wrote:

I have a problem when splitting wood. Can't seem to hit the same place
twice in succession, Would a laser on my axe help?

--
Gerald Ross


Yes, especially when having someone else doing the splitting..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing
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