On 14 Sep 2003 06:31:44 -0700, (David Hakala)
pixelated:

I am building rubberband Gatling guns to sell on eBay. The eight
barrels are 1/2" wooden dowels. The rear end of each barrel has a
V-shape - not conical, just two parallel planes that taper the end.
The point of the V is rounded over to avoid sharp edges that might cut
a rubberband.

Right now I'm making two cuts on the bandsaw and rounding the point on
the belt sander. I would like to make one pass that would do it all.

Anyone know where I can get a grinding wheel with a V-shaped groove in
it, or another method of reducing production time?

How about a 1/2" roundover router bit? (And a LOT of balls
to hold a short dowel into it while turning.)

Either make a safe router jig or find some retiree who wants
some busy-work and will charge just peanuts.


---
-If thy poster offends thee, *PLONK* it out.-
http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development

If you have insurance for your shop products, check with them before you
sell. Might even check your homeowners insurance, some companies consider
what you are doing to be very dangerous and will cancel you insurance
because of potential law suits. I have never known of anyone being
successfully sued over a rubber band gun, but I know that a lot of your
better craft shows forbid toy weapons of any kind, and some insurance
companies won't insure crafters who make them or shows that allow them to be
sold. Even POP guns are forbidden at a lot of shows now days because of
liability.
"David Hakala" wrote in message
om...
I am building rubberband Gatling guns to sell on eBay. The eight
barrels are 1/2" wooden dowels. The rear end of each barrel has a
V-shape - not conical, just two parallel planes that taper the end.
The point of the V is rounded over to avoid sharp edges that might cut
a rubberband.

Right now I'm making two cuts on the bandsaw and rounding the point on
the belt sander. I would like to make one pass that would do it all.

Anyone know where I can get a grinding wheel with a V-shaped groove in
it, or another method of reducing production time?

Thanks!

David Hakala



(Please remove NOSPAM to reply via e-mail)

Larry Jaques wrote:

How about a 1/2" roundover router bit? (And a LOT of balls
to hold a short dowel into it while turning.)

Either make a safe router jig or find some retiree who wants
some busy-work and will charge just peanuts.

I'm envisioning a gizmo with a router mounted on a rail, bit down, and
dowels are inserted into a board with a lot of evenly spaced holes in a
line. Pass the router across the top and presto magnifico make a lot of
pointy roundy dowel thingies.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17730 Approximate word count: 531900
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Larry Jaques wrote in message . ..

How about a 1/2" roundover router bit? (And a LOT of balls
to hold a short dowel into it while turning.)

Oh, yeah! I did get a router a couple weeks ago. D'oh! Thanks,
everyone!

Either make a safe router jig or find some retiree who wants
some busy-work and will charge just peanuts.

Nah, I got a 13 year-old son who'll do it for less - or else. ;-)
Actually, we're equal partners in this little venture.

Use a Carborundum "Tool Room Stick" and shape the grinding wheel into
any profile you want. But I think the wheel will get gummed up on wood
in a short time.

Larry Jaques wrote:

line. Pass the router across the top and presto magnifico make a lot of
pointy roundy dowel thingies.

Ooooh, Silvan! You win the no-prize for Best Idea! I need 8 of these
barrels per gun. This rig will be perfect!

I'm glad somebody finally appreciates the power of improvisational
engineering.

How ya gonna rotate them suckahs so they have round ends
all the way -around- the end? Huh? Huh? Huh?

That's a good point, actually. We said V bit, which cuts like

|\ /|
||\ /||
|||||||

What I was actually envisioning when I thought of the aforementioned jig was
a bit with the exact opposite provile of that. It would leave a nice
little point.

Now that I think about it, a bit like that wouldn't be very useful for
anything other than making pointy dowels, and therefore, I'll bet nobody
makes one.

You could grind and file something to work maybe, but you'd be taking your
life into your hands to spin some shop made gizmo at 25,000 RPMs.

So that *does* present a difficulty.

I guess the thing to do then would be a two tiered jig...

Dowel goes into the bottom, and centered above it is a suitable guide hole
for the router. Run the router around the hole, and cut all the way around
the dowel in the process. Build the jig with eight slots, so you can do a
whole batch without having to turn the router off.

Or, IIRC the OP Only needed to taper off two parallel sides of a dowel, in
which case having a sliding rail thingie as originally put forward could
work, if it had two guide channels for the router.

Where there's a will, there's a way to rigimicate something, dammit!

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17754 Approximate word count: 532620
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

How ya gonna rotate them suckahs so they have round ends
all the way -around- the end? Huh? Huh? Huh?

I'm not looking for a conical point, but a V-shaped "chisel" end. The
vertical planes of the V are parallel. The vertex of the V needs to be
blunted to avoid the possibility of cutting the rubber bands.

I've been using the bandsaw and a jig made of U-shaped aluminum
channel. Clamp the dowel in the channel with a thumbscrew. Run the tip
through the sawblade at about a 42-degree angle, using a fence to
start the cut just to one side of the tip's center. Then flip the jig
and dowel over and do it again, getting the cuts parallel. This
produces acceptable results pretty fast, but I'm still making two cuts
per dowel and doing one dowel at a time. The router jig idea would let
me cut eight dowels in just one pass. I like it!

Silvan wrote in message ...

Slave labor is the best kind of labor... "Dad, it's not fair." "Doesn't
have to be fair, son, I own you until you're 18, so get out there and mow!"

Oh, no! Tony and I split the work and the profits. We spent 3-4 hours
making guns last Sunday, and Tony collected $35. That fulfilled his
hair dye ambition, which I've been hearing about for nearly a year. He
has hazel eyes so black hair looks as good as his natural blonde. But
I doubt that he will spend another $50 of his *own* money to repeat
that two-hour ordeal!

See, it's often easier to let 'em try something once than to say "no"
five times/week for several years. ;-)

David Hakala
Denver, CO

On 19 Sep 2003 20:36:42 -0700, (David Hakala) wrote:

How ya gonna rotate them suckahs so they have round ends
all the way -around- the end? Huh? Huh? Huh?

I'm not looking for a conical point, but a V-shaped "chisel" end. The
vertical planes of the V are parallel. The vertex of the V needs to be
blunted to avoid the possibility of cutting the rubber bands.

I've been using the bandsaw and a jig made of U-shaped aluminum
channel. Clamp the dowel in the channel with a thumbscrew. Run the tip
through the sawblade at about a 42-degree angle, using a fence to
start the cut just to one side of the tip's center. Then flip the jig
and dowel over and do it again, getting the cuts parallel. This
produces acceptable results pretty fast, but I'm still making two cuts
per dowel and doing one dowel at a time. The router jig idea would let
me cut eight dowels in just one pass. I like it!

If the router idea doesn't pan out, why can't you do multiple dowels
on the bandsaw? Drill holes in a line in a piece of wood with a drill
press, then cut down the centerline of the holes on the bandsaw,
giving you two pieces with a line of half holes. The material removed
by the blade should give enough clamping pressure to hold the dowels
with a couple bolts/wingnuts - just make sure they are higher than the
fence or countersunk. Also it might be faster to use two fences at
opposite angles than flipping it over. Just stop them short of the
blade so that they don't interfere with each other, and mount them to
an auxilliary table so they only have to be setup once.


-Leuf

David Hakala wrote:

Oh, no! Tony and I split the work and the profits. We spent 3-4 hours

Well, that's the thing with the kind of labor my little slaves have to do.
There *aren't* any profits.

They're usually pretty eager to have the opportunity to help though. They
*loved* painting. I loved having them help me paint. I'm not one to sit
back and drink beer while the kids sweat their little butts off, mind you.

has hazel eyes so black hair looks as good as his natural blonde. But
I doubt that he will spend another $50 of his *own* money to repeat
that two-hour ordeal!

Black hair. Well, the hair by itself isn't so bad. Depends on whether it
comes with 14 pounds of steel sticking out of his face.

I know those goth kids do that stuff just to offend people like me, so I try
not to be offended, but at the same time I hope fashion moves on before my
two become teenagers. We used to wear suspenders hanging around our knees
and pink shirts. It just seems so much more benign than the things kids do
today in order to freak out adults.

See, it's often easier to let 'em try something once than to say "no"
five times/week for several years. ;-)

I'll remember that.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17846 Approximate word count: 535380
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Silvan wrote in message ...

They're usually pretty eager to have the opportunity to help though.

:-) That's before they hit puberty and discover the price of
skateboards. Tony begged me to let him scrub the toilet when he was
three. He really got off on cleaning, for some reason. Now he wants to
be paid for getting up in the morning.

Black hair. Well, the hair by itself isn't so bad. Depends on whether it
comes with 14 pounds of steel sticking out of his face.

Oh, no... nothing permanently scarring until he has his own home. And
I told him I'd fire him if he ever again came home with Magic Marker
heavy-metal "tattoos" all over his arm. He was surprised to learn that
employers can do that just because they don't like the way one looks.
I dunno what they teach him in school but that lesson seems more
important than Aztec marriage rituals.

I know those goth kids do that stuff just to offend people like me

I don't know all the reasons they do it, but I don't think shock value
is the main reason. Rebellion against the stifling conformity taught
in public school is a major factor. When my high school mandated
neckties, we kids held a competition to wear the ugliest one possible.
I won with a 75/25 blend of pink polyester and blue aluminum mesh.
Then the Powers That Be decreed, "hair must not touch the ears," so I
shaved my head and painted a scarlet A on my pate with mercurochrome.
:-) My kid fiercely defends his individuality (for which trait I
credit/blame myself), so he goes for distinction in everything.

Eye doctor: "Tony, do you have any questions about your first contact
lenses?"

Tony: "Do they come in colors?"

Dad: "What color do you want?" Just playing along out of curiosity.
;-)

Tony: "Brown and blue?"

Dad: "You plan to alternate colors daily?"

Tony: "No. I want one brown eye and one blue eye." Like Marilyn
Manson, not David Bowie.

I hope fashion moves on before my two become teenagers.

It will, and you will regret it. Teenagers have been aggravating their
parents with clothing since zoot suits, which were the 1940s
equivalent of "sagging pants."

Dave Hakala

David Hakala wrote:

They're usually pretty eager to have the opportunity to help though.

:-) That's before they hit puberty and discover the price of
skateboards. Tony begged me to let him scrub the toilet when he was
three. He really got off on cleaning, for some reason. Now he wants to
be paid for getting up in the morning.

Yeah, I can imagine. I'm sort of dreading those days, because right now
both of my kids are really eager to help for free.

Oh, no... nothing permanently scarring until he has his own home. And
I told him I'd fire him if he ever again came home with Magic Marker
heavy-metal "tattoos" all over his arm. He was surprised to learn that
employers can do that just because they don't like the way one looks.

I wonder what all these kids are going to do when they have to get jobs.
Especially the ones with tattooed black things on their faces and such.

I don't know all the reasons they do it, but I don't think shock value
is the main reason. Rebellion against the stifling conformity taught

Oh, sure it is. They love it when I'm repulsed by their appearance. I can
see it in their eyes, under all the metal things.

Tony: "No. I want one brown eye and one blue eye." Like Marilyn
Manson, not David Bowie.

Ah, well, as long as he's not trying to look like David Bowie.

It will, and you will regret it. Teenagers have been aggravating their
parents with clothing since zoot suits, which were the 1940s
equivalent of "sagging pants."

Maybe zoot suits will replace goth. That would be OK by me.

Truthfully, I can't imagine how it could get much worse, unless it becomes
fashionable for kids to cut off their ears or something.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17878 Approximate word count: 536340
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Silvan wrote in message ...

Truthfully, I can't imagine how it could get much worse, unless it becomes
fashionable for kids to cut off their ears or something.

I hear the bleeding edge of fashion these days is to split one's
tongue like a snake's. shudder

And "Tiger Man" here reminds me how blessed I am to have a normally
weird teenager:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_365440.html

David Hakala

David Hakala wrote:

I hear the bleeding edge of fashion these days is to split one's
tongue like a snake's. shudder

Gack. Probably started by somebody who accidentally ripped out one of those
stupid tongue rings.

And "Tiger Man" here reminds me how blessed I am to have a normally
weird teenager:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_365440.html

Gack!

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 18032 Approximate word count: 540960
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/