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I normally hang out in the turning forum. Years ago I bought a cheap diode laser engraver to embellish some of my work. Laser was 1.5 watt and for what it was, it did what I wanted it to. At that time, power options were very limited unless a person wanted to spend thousands of dollars for a CO2 machine. Advances have been made and I recently upgraded to an Ortur 10 watt diode machine. An Ortur LM3. Wow, what a difference. I also upgraded my software and bought a license for lightburn. A software designed just for laser engraving. Even though it's intended for laser engravers I can see the software being useful for general design and especially for scroll saw artists as it is a powerful, intuitive drawing program as well. This is my first "from scratch" project using the new laser and lightburn to do the graphics. As a complete novice it took me maybe an hour to draw this and it takes about 2 minutes to burn. I could probably draw it in just a few minutes now. The plane cork coasters are very reasonably priced from amazon.
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Elbo 2 Hollowing System review. I purchased this tool from Tim Yoder via his website. Specifically this is the Advanced model. They are currently in stock. Tim was great to work with and put my name on the waiting list as they were out of stock when I ordered. He was responsive and answered all of my questions before and after the sale. The tool is #25 of nickel plated cold rolled steel. I can only describe it as heavy duty and ready for anything. I had some doubts about articulating arm tools centered around torque on the arm. This tool performs admirably with no noticeable deflection. It was very easy to setup and use. I tested the tool on a piece of knotty dry figured pecan. Cuts were easy to achieve with only finger tip control and there was little to no tear out observed. Boring bar is 3/4" and accepts 3/8" round shank or 1/4" square cutting tools. In the future, a nice addition would be a dual use boring bar so that we could use a straight cutter on one end and an angled cutter on the other. For now there is only the straight option available. The kit included 2 HHS cutters 1/4" and 3/16". I was able to quickly and easily sharpen the cutter after use on the Sorby Pro-Edge using an 80 degree setting on the platform. A carbide tool is available from Hunter tool systems. One of the reason for choosing this tool over a captured bar is fitment on a short bed lathe. It comes with a universal bed mount and an ingenious angled under bed bar that will fit any lathe. It also comes with a stop collar so that the hight adjustment is repeatable. The laser arm is also very easy to set up and use. The design is remarkable in two ways. The wire runs inside the arm protecting it from the spinning stuff. Secondly, there is a very easy to adjust laser mount included. In the future, I would like to see a ball bearing detent on the laser mast to help align the arm. The laser seems high quality and has a narrow beam. Also available on Tim's website are storage hooks. This makes it easy to store the tool away when not in use. .40
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Look on the bright side- only 8 more weeks until spring! Our Patriot Turners- @Masonsailor took a break from his media room ceiling to turn a sweet carver's mallet- In his post, Paul tells us the species and a little more about this turning- @RustyFN created a beautifully shaped bowl from spalted maple- Rusty said it still needed sanding. It sure is pretty even without it! What’s Coming Up- Don't forget the Worldwide Woodturners On-Line Symposium is coming up next week! https://www.woodturnersworldwide.com/ I received an email today from Craft Supplies USA that they are offering a $10. off coupon for the event- Picked this off of my Instagram account from Stuart Batty- In response to popular request, here’s my schedule for the first half of 2022. My classes are getting filled up quickly but reach out if you’re interested in any particular time/location. ~ Houston, TX: January 18-22 ~ @Woodturners_Worldwide: January 27-30 If you haven’t already gotten your tickets, use the code “stuart” for $10 discount. Featuring 35 demonstrations representing 9 countries. 80 hours of content. 30 days to watch. $2.25/demo. ~ @WoodworkersEmporium: Feb 28 – Mar 4 ~ @CraftSuppliesUSA: May 9-13 ~ San Diego, CA & Finger Lakes, NY: Dates TBD ~ A few IRDs and private classes. And I’m planning to be at the AAW symposium this year, so catch me there. If you haven’t already watched my free online instructions, be sure to check out https://vimeo.com/woodturning (link in bio). These videos are professionally shot so much higher quality than the ones on YouTube that are usually recorded by volunteers at my demos. I’m working on building a high-tech recording studio from scratch. I’m hoping to start releasing more high-quality instructions videos later this year. Looking forward to updating everyone on this project in the next few months in between my classes and demos. Resuming the SB Tools production is in planning. With the global disruption of the supply chain, lots of kinks to work out. In the meantime, check out @WoodworkersEmporium for any SB Tools inventory if you’re interested. If you do Instagram- here is a link- https://www.instagram.com/stuartbattywoodturning/ For The Newbies- Here's a nice little project to get started in bowl turning. Something everyone could probably use- If a bowl isn't quite what you are up to, watch Jim Rodgers explain how to create a platter. Some really great turning tips! Expand Your Horizons- It seem that more and more electronic devices are finding their way into wood turning. Personal lasers are becoming common place for embellishing and signatures. Now I see that Alan Stratton is making available some 3-D printed items in his Etsy store. Although, not strictly turning related, there has been an informative discussion in the General Woodworking Forum concerning dust collection. @Gerald initiated the thread and @PeteM added some great technical date. Check it out- On the dust collection topic, here is some good information from Robo Hippy New Turning Items- Some sale packages from the folks at Woodturners Wonders- (Click on the image for the link to the sales page) Ruth Niles has the new unique turning blanks in stock- Click on the above image for the link to Ruth's site. We mentioned this sometime back but it is definitely worth another look- Here's the link to Lyle Jamieson's site for prices and purchase information- https://lylejamieson.com/product/fireball/ Everything Else- Rick Turns list of YouTube woodturning videos from last week- I have been playing with my laser engraver. Finally was able to understand how the software works with help from a very knowledgeable gentleman in the software user's group. I found engraving signatures/dates on most items is pretty straight forward but rolling pins presented a challenge. I sign the rolling pins on one end. This needs the pin to be held vertically, be secure yet adjustable for focus. Started with a built up block and bored/turned a tapered hole The rolling pins are tapered so to hold them in place a couple of nylon screws to add pressure To allow for focus, the block had to adjust vertically, a couple of brackets with slots, wingnuts and washers I'm using my drill press table as a work surface, the addition of clamping pads to hold the jig to the to the table. First try on a rolling pin- I did get back to the lathe, too! When I did the Easy Wood Tools promotion at the Nittany Woodturners, they raffled off various items. I picked up a piece of black cherry burl and it has been taunting me ever since. Decided it would become a shallow bowl/platter. There is a void that I am not sure if I want to leave natural or fill with resin. This will be the top- The bottom- The void- Safe turning and stay well
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Hasn't been this busy on our forum in quite a while so let's just jump right in! Our Patriot Turners- We have had a new sub-forum added to the Woodturners Forum. The Ringmaster sub-forum is dedicated to those makers who create bowls using the Ringmaster method. You can find it listed under the main Woodturners Forum- https://thepatriotwoodworker.com/forums/forum/98-ringmaster-turning/ Let's see some of those beautiful creations!! @Gerald gave us a look at a commissioned bowl he is in the process of turning- Gerald tells us about the species and more in his post as well as a bit about his "new" kiln- Gerald also posted an interesting article by Ron Brown providing some additional thoughts on Carbide tipped tools. We have had several insightful discussions here on the forum comparing traditional and carbide tools. @FrederickH posted a question to the group about using a fluted parting tool. Several of our members provided their insights. If you can help out Rick, give him your thoughts at- One of our newer members @adot45 gave us a look at his latest fantastic turning. Please see his post and welcome him to the forum! More about Dave and some additional images are in this post- And more here- Even @smitty10101 is getting into the stacked ring bowls! He is looking for information about a thin parting tool. If you have a source or have made such an animal, why not share your knowledge with him- @forty_caliber and family have taken some friends under their wing. As a way to help ease the sorrow of a loss, he has turned a memory box for a family member- Forty shows us some additional images in his post. Note the laser burned embellishments! Last week we had a question about bowl saver tools. Not sure this is what the author had in mind but @forty_caliber found one that will certainly doe the trick! @forty_caliber's post from last week generated additional input that might be useful for those following the discussion of hollowing tools- Or resident Christmas ornament designer has done it again. @Ron Altier turned this gorgeous little jewel- Ron explains his design idea in his post We had lots more from our members on @FlGatorwood's little train that could. If you missed it, here's where the discussion left off- @bradleyheathhays's post from last week also continued to receive comments and inputs. Here is the entire thread location- @Grandpadave52 gave us a heads up on the contest being run by Woodworker's Journal. The challenge was to turn a honey dipper. Not sure if our own @Steve Krumanaker entered the contest or he decided to let someone else win first place . https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/honey-dippers/ What’s Coming Up- Women In Turning in conjunction with the AAW presents Kailee Bosch, Rebecca DeGroot, and Marjin Wall to give short presentations about their work, ideas, and inspirations, followed by a group discussion and Q&A, led by artist and moderator Hayley Smith. The event is free and open to the general public. For registration- https://www.woodturner.org/Woodturner/WIT/WIT-Home-Page.aspx?WebsiteKey=c9100f02-c77e-4177-a9bc-7d3eb0216238&hkey=7f6a65b2-ec98-472f-a7b6-2ac573f7258d&New_ContentCollectionOrganizerCommon=8&_zs=lMMTa&_zl=02Hp2#New_ContentCollectionOrganizerCommon For The Newbies- Nice little project for the coffee lover in the family. If you prefer a heavier version, Ruth Niles, https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/ , has some stainless steel kits. https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/project-classy-espresso-tamper/ Expand Your Horizons- Turning demo from Mike Waldt- New Turning Items- Tim Yoder has an improved hollowing rig- The folks at Woodturners Wonders have some special, short time deals on grinders- https://woodturnerswonders.com/pages/grinders Everything Else- Rick turns list of YouTube woodturning videos from last week- Safe turning and stay well
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Writing this between relatives in and out- Our Patriot Turners- @forty_caliber is the latest of our turners to join the Laser Engraver membership. He shows us his setup in this post- Looking forward to seeing more of this setup and learning more about the software for running one of these. Forty also gave us a look at the latest Pecan bowl he is turning- Here's more about the turning- In response to last week's "Wednesday's...", @HandyDan turned an ornament from Tim Yoder's video Dan tells us a little about it here- Something from our sponsor, Laguna Tools. This is a very important program and is being assisted by Easy Wood Tools as well. Read more about how our sponsors are helping our service people deal with stress- https://info.lagunatools.com/treating-combat-stress-with-woodturning?utm_campaign=Blog Efforts&utm_content=184735260&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-334443799903158 Toolmetrix is the driving force behind this effort and their YouTube channel is here- https://www.youtube.com/c/ToolMetrix What’s Coming Up- Not strictly for the turners but maybe something you'll find interesting- More information here- https://woodshows.com/?fbclid=IwAR2henZqJhbZxTHaxLC0iDrrM8t1A66rBHE4O2F1Psj_kqv6y0MrmCYQGdQ Click on the above image for the link to registration. For The Newbies- If you are new to resin casting, Alumilite has a series of informative instructional videos on YouTube. This link is to their play list- Expand Your Horizons- Mike Waldt turns a English Oak Burl Bowl New Turning Items- Something picked up from Cindy Drozda- More information here- http://www.cindydrozda.com/ Craft Supplies USA has a sale on domestic turning blanks- https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/t/27/Domestic-Hardwoods Not a new turning item but a new video on using pen mandrels from Ruth Niles- Carl Jacobson has teamed up with Cindy to produce several videos demonstrating her products. The videos can be seen at-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNy-wl-mEMeViINGA0wTaiw Everything Else- Rick Turns list of woodturning videos on YouTube from last week- Safe turning and stay well
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Just set up my new laser from Tim Yoder. And tests were in order on a piece of magnolia for a Beads of Courage Bowl. This laser is setup on the original Elbo hollowing rig. I did have to drill to mount the post but was a simple job. A friend just turned a 1 inch boring bar for me and it is much more stable than the 3/4. Laser is easy to adjust when changing cutters. I usually do not remember to take pics while on lathe but did on this one.
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Just a reminder that we are about 2 weeks into our summer raffle to help offset the costs of running the Patriot site. If you haven't already picked up your tickets for some awesome prizes, here's the scoop! Our Patriot Turners- Our turners were back at their lathes this week! @RustyFN posted his curly maple segmented bowl and it is a beauty! Rusty received lots of positive comments about it. Check out the post at- @AndrewB turned a slightly different style pepper mill. The grinding mechanism is different from his past turnings- Andrew shows us his progress from the rough blank to the finished mill- Andrew also gave us a review of his new buffing system He gave us the link to this product in his post- One of our long time members posted his first turning. @Ron showed us the beginnings of a cane he is making- He received lots of encouragement and some suggestions on this turning- @forty_caliber poste a question about using the parting tool. Check out his post and see if you can offer some suggestions or ideas- @Steve Krumanaker started turning a tall vase from flame box elder. Looks like this is going to be a beauty! More images in Steve's post- Just a note here, if you subscribe to the Woodworker's Journal, next issue has an article about flame box elder- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/box-elder/ Steve has decided to up his game, when deep hollowing, and ditch the laser pointer for a more advance method of determining wall thickness. Check out his post on his most recent upgrade- @Gerald challenged us to post our Mother's Day turning gifts. Gerald's gift turning is fantastic! See additional images and our member's comments in his post- I need to start writing down the trails to some of the stuff for each weeks Wednesday's... I can't remember how I came across this video of Gerald's presentation to the Magnolia Woodturners- What’s Coming Up- A little something different from Cindy Drozda- Click on the above image to Cindy's site and registration information. From the AAW- Click on the above image for the link to more information and registration. For The Newbies- We have been linking videos from Record Power on lathe maintenance. Although aimed at a specific lathe model, the information can be pretty much applied to any lathe. Here is part# 3Part# 3 of Mike Waldt's beginner series for turners. Again this is a replay of a live session and is kind of long. From the World Wide Wood Turners, a nice demonstration on various methods of holding a turning. Expand Your Horizons- Mike Waldt has something for the more advanced turner in this video- Alan Stratton's take on chasing threads Mike Peace recently published a video on the various types of spiraling and texturing tools. Within the video, Mike refers to links for longer videos on each tool. He also has a PDF article that can be downloaded at- https://www.mikepeacewoodturning.com/2019/05/03/texturing-and-spiraling/ IMHO, there can be no greater honor than to be asked to create a burial urn. Sam Angelo has a video demonstrating how to calculate the internal volume using some easily made measuring devices. New Turning Items- Robert Sorby Brand Ambassador Darryl Jones introduces the Deluxe Sovereign TurnMaster Box Set- The folks at Woodturners Wonders have a heavy duty compass capable of drawing 28" circles. Check it out at- https://woodturnerswonders.com/products/12-inch-carpenters-compass Premier Gauges has some interestingly designed wall and bottom thickness gauges- More information can be found at- https://premiergauges.com/ Everything Else- Rick Turns list of YouTube woodturning videos from last week- I had one last piece of cherry but it had some pretty nasty cracks. Decided to see what could be found inside. I'm surprised that I could get this much. Sill a couple of cracks that will need taken care of At this point I normally submerge the piece in the soap and water solution for a couple of days and then on to drying in a paper bag with shavings. Turned out my pot is only 12" in diameter!. I CA'ed the cracks, wrapped the bowl in stretch wrap and put it in my little drying box (ala Rick Turns). Then for the cleanup! Safe turning and stay well
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Just a gentle reminder- When posting threads, PLEASE add tags to your posts. Our Patriot Turners- @Ron Altier asked us for ideas about modifications that could be made to make his lathe run slower. He received lots of comments and suggestions. If you have any recommendations, maybe you could help him out- Ron also posted a few more ornaments he finished and explained how he made some of the marvelous designs- @RustyFN Has been really busy this week! He started out showing us a bowl he turned- Rusty used his emblem on the bottom- Rusty has been able to score free wood from several places. He told us about his trip to the saw mill where he picked up a walnut log- Which yielded this fantastic looking bowl- Check this post for more details- Rusty has a really awesome neighbor. Told Rusty he could have wood from a recently felled tree. They think it's maple- Rusty posted more images in his post and has even started turning one of the blanks. In this particular thread, there are some interesting comments on which bowl gouge might be best. Rusty decided on the 1/2" Sorby- Since Rusty is working with "green" wood, he was curious about the drying procedures and at what point in the turning process should drying take place. Our members offered several options and ideas. Maybe you could add something to what has already posted Rusty adapted a bandsaw circle cutting jig to help him cut bowl blanks- he shows us more about it in his post- We are still getting additional input on a post from a couple of weeks back on the HSS subject. Our own @Steve Krumanaker added a link to a video he made on making handles for tools. Steve posted some images of the "tea lids" which he has been making. His little laser does a fantastic job of adding embellishments to the turnings. See Steve's post for more images- Steve had to create a jig to help hold these lids during the turning process. He shared the specifics of how he made a special expansion chuck- @AndrewBreally came out smelling like a rose! A while back he obtained a bunch of tool rests- but they didn't fit his lathe. Well all was not lost as he explains in this post- @Masonsailor is still learning about his new lathe. He posted an update on some of the features- What’s Coming Up- Carl Jacobson is offering a live online class https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F33zhDit%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3dU9tbCT_bBqQRb1sbx_zaPwBi8cjcYINxqgdoYCW9EGG1zNPhckZVnII&h=AT2Nanrkmfka0_NeZU9kGjaoMGAAc7epV_E6YNxKr0sNUaSoh176gAi_5Vbc7-FG_c4rsQMCwZEZmlXk5kMhkNX9go3J_LhtqqvKbdOD488xsCVlU-JJ74id60MR01EPnA&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0fR3DEM_uFCeZT6ING_O0GgL370DBA4CMApwnPii3gw_5CpEr0xzJg_dtKTyKgAEVOj4c1b1shbErx0WkfdpkSvv5TnUVtkgXVZhdNrboxD1S6bJznZUcPPStOa2JWTblHc8Ruit_BBPvDhTRKLtiSKEg For The Newbies- A lot of turners use the "OneWay Wolverine" sharpening system. Ron Brown shows an eas to set it up for sharpening gouges- In addition to the previous jig, Ron Brown has another jig for setting up the grinder for sharpening other tool. To get the best cuts and safest operation, we need to have the lathe running at the proper speed. In this video, Mike Peace, provides insights on when to change the lathe speed- Expand Your Horizons- Here is an interesting process for turning and coloring a "wet" blank by Alan Stratton- In the video I was intrigued by the steady rest that Mr. Stratton used. I liked the idea of being able to mount/unmount the steady rest without having to remove the turning. Here's the link to more information- https://www.aswoodturns.com/2014/09/steady-update/ New Turning Items- Ruth Niles has some new mandrel adapters for her newer stoppers- You can get more information from Ruth's site- https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/mandrel-adapters/?fbclid=IwAR2UmPqFG7zD_zUZhlxTuw_iK69I2_FDvVVScOJOPWna1XEncD8GX403ksw Everything Else- Rick Turns YouTube video listing from last week- Back in the summer, the tree guys dropped off some cherry. I've been making stuff from the log. Some of the pieces I rough turned, soaked in the soap solutions and then stored them in shavings. Had this shape kicking around in my head for a while. Took it out of the shavings and began working on it a week or so ago. Got it cleaned up- Started to refine the hollowing. The little shop made laser device to check the thickness- Finalizing the shape- Chuck for holding it to finish off the bottom- Mounted and secured- It was going to be pretty plain so I decided to add some detail. Hindsight is 20/20. Not sure gold leaf was the best color. More hindsite- I really don't like the glossy finish. Maybe it will darken over time- Safe turning and stay well
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Just about to wrap up on the first of these. I did several several searches with different phrases and eventually found some quotes that I thought would work. Some of the lids have knobs and some don't so I wrote two versions of each quote for the engraver. These have two coats of spray can shellac on them. They'll get sanded and finish coated in the morning. "Sereni-tea" for a lid with a knob. Liked this quote when I found it. "Sereni-tea" for a lid with no knob. This one I made up. Can't see it because of the knob but the last word at the top is "me" Wife liked this one too. 21 of them starters, actually did four more but didn't have metal lids for them. They'll go in the kitty for next batch if there is a next batch. Also did 25 honey dipper lids. I came up with a new look for the knobs on a few of them. If you notice there is a little "tail" at some of the intersections on the honeycomb. I was also getting that on my lettering. Replaced the belts on the Y axis and that fixed it. The belts didn't appear to be worn but apparently they were.
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Our Adopted Family Christmas Project was a complete success. Thanks to all who participated and congratulations to the raffle winners! Our Patriot Turners- Lots of great projects and discussions this past week! @Ron Altier started us off with a sweet little birdhouse ornament! Ron tells us a little about this turning and the little additions he added- @Steve Krumanaker embellishes some of his orders with an inexpensive laser. Steve shows us just how versatile one of these machines can be- Check out the comments in his post- Steve was a very good boy this this year and Santa rewarded his behaviour with an awesome new toy. We all can't wait to see what Steve does with it! @RustyFN showed us a new bowl he is making and wondering about what type of finish might be possible. Rusty received lots of great comments and suggestions. Head on over to his post and see what you think- Rusty also asked us our opinion on a new emblem he is designing to identify his work. He posted three different ideas and wondered which one we liked best. Why not add your input to help Rusty? Rusty looking for a new bowl gouge and saw several at Woodcraft. Rusty asked us which one(s) would be best. Our turners offer lots of suggestions and which one might be best. Rusty is our big winner this week for the number of posts! When you have HSS tools, you need to sharpen them, so Rusty is replacing his standard bench grinder. His question was centered on what to look for in a grinder for turning tools. We were able to help him with his purchase. Check his post to see which grinder he bought! @AndrewB was also looking for new HSS gouges and inquired about sharpening. Andrew's post generated a lot of conversation on sharpening and our members even provided some additional advice on jigs. This is a great conversation on sharpening- What’s Coming Up- Two on-line events events in the next couple of weeks- January 9- Click on the above image for the link to more details and registration On January 23- Click on the above image for the link to more information and registration. For The Newbies- There was lots of discussion this week on HSS turning tools. To get the absolute best finish from these types of tools, they must be sharp- and kept sharp. Here are two videos from well known turning experts. See how they keep their tools sharp Expand Your Horizons- Mike Peace decided to expand his horizons and give carbide tools a try. See his impressions in this video- Now if he would have just bought the Easy Wood Tools!! New Turning Items- Gauging the thickness of a turning can be challenging. There are all sorts of jigs, devices and tools you can make or buy. This one adds the digital function to the mix. It probably will not work for small opening hollow vessels but for bowls it will do the trick. More information and a video of the operation is here- https://segmentedturning.org/product/digital-wall-thickness-gauge/ Everything Else- Rick Turns list of You Tube turning videos from last week- ...and somedays the Dragon wins... At least the new dust collection setup works! Safe turning and stay well
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Everyone here knows, when I'm making honey dipper lids for mason jars I use a cheap laser to embellish the lids. Everyone always asks, how big of a piece can you do? No one ever asks how small. I had an idea today to embellish a knob or two to see if it would work. So, here is the result, toothpick on top for scale. Keep in mind this is done with cheapo machine that's probably 4 years old now, not sure about that anymore. I'm still amazed at what it will do. They actually look much better in reality, picture is blown up enough to show the imperfections pretty good. Still, I think the "honey lady" is going to like them.
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Hard to believe that on Friday we will have put 2020 behind us. Let's hope 2021 will see the end of the pandemic! Our Patriot Turners- @PostalTom finished up his Christmas stocking tree. It turned out fantastic and can be seen in his update to a previous post- @RustyFN has a laser and he has combined it with his CNC machine to design some emblems to finish off his turned bowls. Check out his post to read more about what he is doing and the comments from our members. @HandyDan gave us a Christmas eve peek at some of the ornaments and displays he made- He received lots of positive comments in his post and he gave us a source for some of the embellishments. @AndrewB is looking for some ideas on reverse chucking a bowl. Our members came through with flying colors! They offered techniques, sources and photos to help Andrew figure out the best way- What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda Has a live online demonstration/class coming up in January- Click on the above image for the link to her site and more information. For The Newbies- It's a little late for this year but a great time to get a jump on next year's ornaments and gifts! Here's Carl Jacobson creating a Christmas Gnome! If that's not your cup of tea, how about Mike Peace turning a nativity scene. A two video set turning all of the pieces- Part 2 is linked from this video. Expand Your Horizons- We all have turned small lidded boxes. Most of them have had slip fit type lids. Here, Sam Angelo demonstrates how to add threads to the box and lid. This is a two part video set. Part 2 is linked from Sam's YouTube channel. Tim Yoder always brings something new to the plate. In this video he demonstrates how to turn a beautiful Christmas ornament using a cardboard mailing tube. Several months ago we were discussing ways to liquid proof turned vessels. The use of epoxy seemed to to be the preferred material but the trouble was in how to apply it evenly. Zac Higgins shows what he did with a rotisserie motor. Zac provides sources for all the items he used. New Turning Items- I copied this from Ruth Niles' latest newsletter- Click on the above image for the link to Ruth's site. Everything Else- Last week's YouTube woodturning videos from Rick Turns- I am always mesmerized by the work of Frank Howarth. His video style, the projects and the detail are top notch. This one is no exception- I finally finished up the lathe dust collection modifications. The PVC elbow sat a little high. The replacement is made of wood and turned pretty thin. Hope it is strong enough- It's hard to get the light just right to see the dust movement but it does work a lot better than the old hose mount. This was softwood and 80 grit but you get the idea- Safe turning and stay well
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I finally got my laser working. It mounts into the router on my cnc and the cnc controls the laser. I made these to cut out and glue into the mortise on my bowls. I will probably change it and add to it.
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I guess most of us are getting a little more shop time with the current health situations. Please stay home and away from crowds. Wash those hands and TURN OFF THE TV! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald put the finishing touches on the embellished platter he showed us recently- In this post, he describes what he did- @Masonsailor continues his work on his Lazy Susan tulip. Paul has prepared the location for it. Paul tells us about this space as well as showing us a beautiful chandelier he restored/modified- What’s Coming Up- Almost all workshops/symposiums/shows have been cancelled until further notice. For The Newbies- Mike Peace posted a neat little project. A different type of door stop. Mike uses several methods of chucking the piece. Another simple, but useful, turning is from an article in Woodworker's Journal. If you are into espresso, check this out- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/project-classy-espresso-tamper/ Expand Your Horizons- Carl Jacobson put up a video of turning epoxy and aluminum shavings. Carl has done several videos using Alumilite but in this one he tries a different casting material. Check out those Easy Wood Tools ( @Jim from Easy Wood Tools ) negative rake cutters in action!!! Here is a very short video from Lyle Jamieson. Lyle uses a laser pointer help get the most out of a piece turned between centers- New Turning Items- I recently received my latest Woodcraft magazine (Vol. 16/No. 94). There is a super review of the new Easy Wood Tools mini hollowers. The author discovered what we already knew- they are awesome!!! Also in that issue is a Turned Table project. Measured drawings and step by step pictures makes this a project any turner can complete. The folks at Woodturners Wonders have a "new" product- at least from them- Turner's Calipers. At first glance, they appear to be similar to any other but as you check the spec, you'll find these are not your run-of-the-mill pieces. Check them out at- https://woodturnerswonders.com/products/calipers?variant=32660532363395 Everything Else- Woodturning Monthly from Woodworker's Journal is available at- http:// https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/woodturning-monthly/?utm_medium=email I finished up the hollow vessel. Used mineral oil and beeswax as a finish The knot area was way softer than the rest of the wood. There is a little indentation but all in all it's OK. I'm still not happy with my ability to make things look graceful and elegant. Maybe that will come with practice. Safe turning and stay healthy.
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One of my favorite sites is You Tube where I can see everything, whether I like it or not. I see a lot of woodworking and turning videos, etc. Tonight I saw one tititled Laser wood turning. I didn't watch it. NOW anyone can turn beautiful things by pushing a button. I don't like the idea. If you use a programmable machine or laser, Why bother? Go buy it. Skills not needed, art not appreciated. Of course I am old school and always will be. How do you feel about products like that?
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After reading @Steve Krumanaker blog on his laser, it has interested me greatly, but on the cnc router level. But Steve's blog really got me thinking on this. Been looking at CNC Router home made plans and there is a whole community out there for this type of do-it-yourself and they are very supportive of one another, very open source, free plans, open source software, and just a neat community altogether. Thanks Steve for showing me.
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Here we are the weekend before tax deadline. Thankfully mine are done and been done. Hope you aren't spending the weekend with taxes and get to spend some time in the shop. Wow we had temps here yesterday in the upper 80's. Seems like we are going from frost a few weeks ago to summer and skipping over spring. I desperately needed to spend some time with John Deere today but it looked like rain when I got home and didn't jump on. That may be a job for tomorrow afternoon. This week I got the laser hooked up and working on the CNC machine and can now put my logo on my cutting boards and other items without having to use the branding iron. I was pretty amazed at how well this worked and it's only a 2.5 watt laser. I have a 40 watt one, but it is in a cabinet and is so limited by what size you can put in and it will only allow an inch thickness. So having this one on the CNC gives me much more room and height. It did equally well on the end grain boards as it did on the edge grain. Now I have a stack that will need to be done this weekend so they will be ready to go. We are full go right now on cutting boards, cheese boards and Bread boards. We also finished a nice set of custom Cornhole Boards today. They will go out tomorrow. Plans are to shoot in another GSSF match tomorrow and I'm doing the scoring so middle of the day will be taken. So what's your plans for this mid-April weekend? We always love to see the projects you are working on and pictures of the progress. Share your weekend agenda with us. Whatever you do this weekend, be safe and have fun!
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Got these done. On to boxes.
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OK, gang, the Bassett family needs to have a super Christmas this year. We are barely over half way to our goal for providing them with a Christmas to remember. Our site has pledged $1500 for the family so let's not make @John Morris have to give up all of his lunch money to make up the difference. Please see this post for more information- Our Patriot Turners- Member @DuckSoup gave us a heads up on a lathe chuck recall from PSI. Here is a link to the information about the recall- https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/Penn-State-Industries-Recalls-Woodworking-Jaw-Chuck-Systems-Due-to-Laceration-Hazard Big thanks for the information! @hawkeye10 posted a question on how to hold a piece while turning. To me, this is a very frustrating part of lathe work. Some pieces seem to defy a good way to securely and safely hold the work. Please check out his post and offer up any suggestions you might have- In last week's "Wednesday's...", member @DAB posted a couple of fantastic segmented bowls he had turned- The color combinations really go nicely with the counter top! What’s Coming Up- Oregon Woodturning Symposium Linn County Expo Center 3700 Knox Butte Rd E Albany, Oregon 97322 United States 3/15/2019 to 3/17/2019 More information can be found at their website- http://oregonwoodturningsymposium.com/ For The Newbies- New turners usually start turning "spindle" type object. It is a great way to learn to use the tools and the techniques of turning. When you want to explore other types of turnings, many try their hand at turning a bowl. Tim Yoder has a nice video on creating the basic bowl. Tim's videos are always interesting and informative. Expand Your Horizons- Carl Jacobson creates a beautiful hollow "natural edge" christmas ornament. Notice his use of the Easy Wood Tools hollowing tools ( @Jim from Easy Wood Tools )! New Turning Items- A couple of weeks ago, we featured a new hollowing system/tool from Tim Yoder. Tim has added a laser guide for that tool. More information is available at- http://wtwtim.com/elbotoolaccessories.htm Everything Else- Rick Turns posted his summary of woodturning videos for November- If you check out Rick's list, please leave a note thanking him for his hard work. The Woodturning OnLine newsletter came this past week. A timely project was turning a snowman. The tutorial can be downloaded at- http://www.dmwoodturners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/snowman_plans.pdf The entire newsletter is at- https://www.woodturningonline.com/ Life here has resembled a fusion of the Marx Brothers' movie "Monkey Business" and the W.C. Fields movie "It's a Gift". The only shop time I had was to replace the lathe drive belt- Old: New: I have a pen to turn for a Christmas present and I have yet to try the new Wonder Weave sandpaper. Maybe this coming week. Safe turning
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This is a piece for the project that lead to me first considering if I could build something like this to begin with. A rough guess would put this at probably 3 or 4 years from idea to this point. The rings will be for a project I've wanted to do for a long time but just didn't like any of the available options for the lettering. My hand wood burning skills are not up to the task for sure. Anyway, my plan is to make several of the project for Grand kid Christmas presents this year, each one will take six identical rings. That means I'll need close to 50 of these rings made. The one in the machine is a test/setup piece. The little laser is doing exactly what I envisioned. You may notice the "A" looks blurry, that's because I re targeted the laser to center the script. Now, I have a benchmark and subsequent rings will be right. The rings are about 2 1/2" in diameter and the burn area is 1/2" wide. Has everyone figured out what is the project? Steve
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Last week, I received my order of a little GearBest 1.6 w. Laser engraver. Friday, my son and I....actually my son and 12 Y.O. grandson...assembled it. I watched. My son is a robot tech and assembly was easy for him. I would still be arranging the parts. I left it at his house in Tucson and he's going to going to get it up and running. He's somewhat of an Arduino freak and wants to play around with getting the laser to interface with a Raspberry Pi instead of a computer. All, way above my pay grade. So, I guess I've stuck my toe .... barely... into the CNC world. My son is a busy guy so, it may be a while before we'll have an operational machine. But, I've got plenty of other toys to keep me out of trouble.
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Finally got the walnut hollow form off the lathe, actually, it's been "off" the lathe several times over the past couple of weeks. Gerald had mentioned in another thread I might have problems with my laser and he was right, it was too heavy and wanted to move all over the place. Had to address that. Had some other issues and some other projects got in the way. This is my second attempt at hollowing something deep and it was probably a little too ambitious for me. Have to keep telling myself, this is a learning process and that was the main purpose for this piece. Next one will probably be smaller. Anyway, here's a pic, it's about 16" tall and about 14" major diameter. It will go in a sack to dry and then get remounted for turning off the tenon and sanding. Close to 1/4" through out, a little thicker here, a little thinner there. Still learning you see. Steve
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The laser on my Ron Brown rig has stopped working bright enough to see. Looking for a replacement pen (about 0.4 inch) or a good laser diode. I looked on Amazon and found lots of diodes which I now have narrowed to 3 possible. 1.Question is what do you have? 2.Where can I get it? 3.Would you recommend it?
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I've mentioned that to take advantage of the potential of one of these little laser engravers there are some software programs to know. One of these is an open source program called "inkscape". To someone who has never used it, inkscape can be intimidating as there are so many menus, options, controls, etc. etc. With a little effort it all starts to make sense and a person begins to understand what is going on. This is a little step-by-step to create a name tag file that can be used with a cnc laser or cnc engraver. Once the main template is created it's a simple matter to change the name to rout or engrave several different tags. The picture above is the main screen from inkscape. As you can see there are menus and tool bars all over the place. The only one that concerns us just now is the one on the right of that picture and the close up just to the right of this text. This dialogue defines the size of the document we're creating. One of nice things about inkscape is the ability to create a working page whatever size is needed. For a name tag that's about 3.5"X 2.4". The laser software is written in millimeters so the document will be created in millimeters. In this case, 90X58 millimeters. Inkscape will work in mm, inches, feet, or even pixels. The document page is outlined in the above picture. After creating the page three items were added to it. First, a rectangle slightly smaller than the document. This defines the actual size of the name tag as the laser will engrave this box and provide a guide for cutting out the tag. These small lasers aren't powerful enough for actually cutting wood, not even thin veneer. By engraving the rectangle I don't have to measure to cut but can just follow the line inscribed by the laser. Then, two decorative ovals were drawn. There are menu boxes to size, position, and manipulate the ovals or any other object. A person can even determine how thick the drawing line is. At this point the file is saved in inkscape as an SVG file. That is the inkscape default format. SVG stands for scale-able vector graphic. That type of graphic can be made larger or smaller without losing detail or resolution. This is now my master template, From now on the only design changes will be different names as required. When a name is added it probably won't be exactly where you want it. For this example I'm going to center it on the page which is also the center point of the ovals. Incidentally, the rectangle and the ovals were centered on the page using the same method. Notice in the example the "name" is selected. It can be moved around, rotated, enlarged, or made smaller. Centering an object on a page couldn't be easier with inkscape. Simply open the "alignment menu and choose what you want to do. Again, only because the program is so powerful there are many options. Looking at the menu to the right you can see I've chosen to align my name relative to the page. The two symbols I've pointed out represent vertical centering and horizontal centering. Simply clicking on those center the name perfectly on the page. A person can also choose to center items relative to each other or a dozen other options. At this point it does get a little tricky. Its important to keep in mind a laser engraver is basically a plotter and not a printer. A printer moves the print head back and forth. As the paper advances the printer makes a dot in the right place, connect the dots and you get a picture or text. A plotter actually follows a path, much like writing in cursive. So, a path must be created that the plotter can follow. Two more steps and the file will be ready to send to the laser. First, all four objects, the rectangle, the two ovals, and the name must be selected. You can see a selection box around all four objects and I've chosen the option "group" in the drop down menu. That will make all of the objects one entity as far as inkscape is concerned. If I enlarge one, they will all be enlarged the same amount. After grouping them the selection boxes morph into one box as there is now only one object. At this point there is one more operation before the file can be saved and that is to add the object to the "path" After, the file is saved in "DXF" format which is a "desktop cutting plotter" file. This may seem a lot of steps but in reality it takes about five minutes to do this start to finish. Once the master template is created the name can edited in about a minute. This is a very simple example of creating a file that a laser or cnc engraver can read. The next step is to open the laser software and load the dxf file for engraving.
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Thought hard about this segment and came up with all sorts of reasons and justifications for even wanting a laser engraver. The honest truth is, I've just always liked gadgets. Never mind I intend to use it for embellishing some of my turnings if and when I figure out how to use it. There are some youtube videos with turners using small machines to make “signature disks” they let into the bottoms of their bowls or vessels. The machines cost about $90.00 and do a surprisingly good job. The down side is they will only do an area about 3” square and are limited in height. I thought if I ever got one I would like more capacity and flexibility so I spent a little more and bought a machine that will etch an area about 11”X14” There are several vendors that sell these machines, banggood.com, gearbest.com, aliexpress.com, to name a few. I suspect they are all made in the same factory. At any rate I bought this machine from banggood.com. One thing I will say, if, and when a person may decide to purchase one of these, be patient and watch for price fluctuations. The price will change almost daily and move as much as a hundred dollars one way or the other. So, what do you get for, in my case, about $200.00? Basically, a box of parts. I have to to admit, the parts were packaged very nicely. Everything was organized and easy to get to. All of the necessary hardware and tool are included in a little plastic compartmentalized plastic case. One thing to note about these kits, they don't come with printed instructions. I imagine that's to save expense as they are shipped all over the world. There is a video of a machine being assembled on the banggood website and there are "assembly" pictures as well. When you get right down to it, there really isn't a lot to one of these machines. The little box at the top right contains the power supply and the laser. Next to it is a pile of plexiglass parts that are machined to hold the motors and for the aluminum extrusions to fasten to. Four corner brackets to assemble the frame, a "gift" pack of small wood test pieces. 5 pieces of aluminum extrusion and the controller board next to that. And, of course, the little box of hardware and tools. The three stepper motors and various cables are not in this picture. That's about it. So, I watched the video several times and looked at the assembly illustrations. For some reason Banggood.com has made the video and pictures so a person can't save them to a computer. Seems crazy to me, but whatever. My shop is about 90 feet from our house and surprisingly, I can access our home network in the shop, if, and only if, my computer is next to the wall closest to the house. My workbench is near the opposite end of the shop and trust me, it's no small feat to change that. So, I would go to one end of my shop, watch a little of the video and run back to my bench to assemble the part I could remember. Being in my 60's that wasn't a lot. Back and forth and back and forth. The assembly starts with putting together the frame which is aluminum channel fastened together with corner brackets. I did that on my router table surface so everything would be nice and flat. The extrusions that make up the frame are two 1" X 1" and two 1" X 2" channels. I don't know if they are real 8020 or a knockoff but those aluminum channels have changed how we do so many things. The next step is to assemble the motors and bearings to the machined plexiglass components. Fortunately, this is all pretty straightforward stuff as the online "instructions", if they can be called that are not the best. I knew that before hand though so I can't complain. The bearings ride in the groove in the aluminum channel and it's actually quite smooth. I should probably note that this is not meant to be a "how-to" as far assembly goes. There are a few third party videos on youtube which are better than a series of pictures showing how it all goes together. Once a person gets into the project a little it all starts to make sense. After the motors and the bearings are attached the gantry supports are put on the channel and the feet are attached. I would guess by this point I'm about two or three hours into it. A good part of that time is watching video to make sure it's put together correctly. As wood workers, we joke about our toys when we get a new tool for the shop. Most of us know that these "toys" can hurt a person. Something like this may seem a little less risky. The opposite is true. A person doesn't even have to be near one of these to suffer eye damage as just the reflected light from one of them can be harmful. The most important safety rule with one of these is; "Don't look into the laser with your remaining eye." After the feet are attached the laser is installed and the gantry assembly is mounted. After that, the wiring begins and its all plug in connectors so that's not a big deal. After several hours of studying video, restudying video, hard work, and paying close attention to detail I'm done except for putting on some wire wraps to tidy everything up. Once I get the software loaded I'll be ready to do some laser engraving........... on the ceiling, doh, mounted the laser upside down. Thankfully it's a simple of flipping the gantry channel over as it will mount either way. Now, on to loading the software and doing some world class etching!
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