ok he was not using a wood lathe but one could turn wood on this lathe
if one wanted to

he drilled a hole through a point 7 or point 9 mechanical pencil lead

it was a competition and his competitor was using another technique
that was more interesting and did not involve a lathe

i think it was called edm or something like that

it used an oil bath and electricty to drill into the lead

the drill bit was an electrified probe where the electricity did all
the work

very precise and acccurate too

iirc the edm shop buttered its bread doing fuel injector nozzles

In article ,
Electric Comet wrote:
i think it was called edm or something like that

Electrical discharge machining.

it used an oil bath and electricty to drill into the lead

Also know as spark erosion. A well known technique for removing broken
taps from metal.

Depending on the capability required, they can be easy home-shop projects.

--
Stuart Winsor

Tools With A Mission
sending tools across the world
http://www.twam.co.uk/

On Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:08:17 +0000 (GMT)
Stuart wrote:

Electrical discharge machining.

yes

Also know as spark erosion. A well known technique for removing broken
taps from metal.

so that is how they do that

Depending on the capability required, they can be easy home-shop
projects.

are there off the shelf units
i had never heard of it but now will have to look some time

in this competetion the operator could not see as it progressed
but instead listend and watched the bubbles

seems to work in a variety of material too
steel aluminum and pencil lead

wonder if it could be used in wood

In article ,
Electric Comet wrote:
On Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:08:17 +0000 (GMT)
Stuart wrote:

Electrical discharge machining.

yes

Also know as spark erosion. A well known technique for removing broken
taps from metal.

so that is how they do that

Depending on the capability required, they can be easy home-shop
projects.

are there off the shelf units

Commercially yes but not at prices you or I would want to pay.

i had never heard of it but now will have to look some time

in this competetion the operator could not see as it progressed
but instead listend and watched the bubbles

seems to work in a variety of material too
steel aluminum and pencil lead

wonder if it could be used in wood

I think it requires that the material be electrically conductive. I'm
surprised it works with graphite (not because of it's conductivity but the
nature of the material).

I saw a simple one demonstrated at a model engineering show and the plans
to build it were on a single sheet of A4 paper, I bought a set, and it
wasn't tightly drawn. A second much more elaborate one was featured in
"Model engineers workshop" (UK magazine) over two monthly parts.

I've seen nice, intricate, patterns cut into razor blades. Hardened
stainless steel and difficult to cut any other way because it's so hard
and thin.

--
Stuart Winsor

Tools With A Mission
sending tools across the world
http://www.twam.co.uk/

On Tue, 01 Nov 2016 23:22:49 +0000 (GMT)
Stuart wrote:

I think it requires that the material be electrically conductive. I'm
surprised it works with graphite (not because of it's conductivity
but the nature of the material).

also what i thought

there is a part two of the video that i have not seen
the operator mentioned that 12mm deep is the critical point and that
is where part two starts i think

I saw a simple one demonstrated at a model engineering show and the
plans to build it were on a single sheet of A4 paper, I bought a set,
and it wasn't tightly drawn. A second much more elaborate one was
featured in "Model engineers workshop" (UK magazine) over two monthly
parts.

will have to look for that

I've seen nice, intricate, patterns cut into razor blades. Hardened
stainless steel and difficult to cut any other way because it's so
hard and thin.

what i have seen so far was all small scale

but i wonder if it is also used at large scale

On Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 2:05:38 PM UTC-4, Electric Comet wrote:
ok he was not using a wood lathe but one could turn wood on this lathe
if one wanted to

he drilled a hole through a point 7 or point 9 mechanical pencil lead

it was a competition and his competitor was using another technique
that was more interesting and did not involve a lathe

i think it was called edm or something like that

it used an oil bath and electricty to drill into the lead

the drill bit was an electrified probe where the electricity did all
the work

very precise and acccurate too

iirc the edm shop buttered its bread doing fuel injector nozzles

It must be true...A keyboard with no punctuation keys...Why else would someone go thru the effort of typing 5 letters in lieu of 1 simple keystroke?

On Tue, 1 Nov 2016 11:05:22 -0700
Electric Comet wrote:


ok he was not using a wood lathe but one could turn wood on this lathe
if one wanted to

he drilled a hole through a point 7 or point 9 mechanical pencil lead

was wrong on the diameter

the winner drilled a 0.3 hole through a 0.5 lead on a lathe

did not see what happened to the edm competitor but in part 1 he
was concerned about the depth