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Oval turning

J

Jim Holcombe

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Easley, SC
Had this show up while perusing Pinterest. It’s from a German woodturning magazine “Dreschler”. Appears to be a fairly simple chuck system. Does anyone know much about it?
 

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Jim Kent said:
where did you find that magazine?
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I did a search on

Ovaldrehen​

and this was part of what I saw. As it was German and I don't speak or read it I just picked one at random.

This is the translation thanks to google translate.

Oval turning – old technology rediscovered Instructions by Holger Graf Edition 42 bowls | vesselstechniques Oval turning is a very old art form of turning and was performed at European courts as early as the 16th century. The principle of an oval work was already developed by Leonardo da Vinci and has changed only slightly in the following centuries. As a pioneer of modern times, Johannes Volmer († July 8, 2015) was devoted to oval turning and, as a professor for gear technology, developed new oval turning devices from 1980 onwards. Based on Volmer's principle, Jan Hovens has now created an oval movement that is much more reduced and thus enables an easy introduction to this old technique. Instructions The HOVO oval movement is held by an MK2 cone on the spindle and secured through the shaft by a threaded rod with a turning knob. An anti-rotation plate prevents the device from rotating by simply locking it to the bench bed. Basically, the HOVO oval mechanism is already mounted on the lathe and can be used on machines of various sizes and manufacturers. However, the machine type should be specified when ordering, since the rotary plate and the threaded rod are matched to it. The HOVO oval movement is mounted on the spindle via the MK2 cone and the anti-rotation device is locked with the gray anti-rotation plate on the bench bed. A threaded rod with a turning knob secures the oval work through the hollow spindle of the lathe. Moving the blue plate adjusts the length to width ratio of the elliptical shape. The smaller the workpiece, the closer the lengths of the x and y axes must be to each other. By experimenting, however, you will quickly find the right shape. After the device has been set up, the multiplex base plate included in the scope of delivery is screwed onto the face plate of the HOVO oval mechanism. An additional carrier plate is then attached to the base plate with wood screws, to which the blanks are later also attached by means of paper gluing. Since the carrier plate has to be removed from the device several times depending on the workpiece, a mark should be made on the edge of the two plates so that the exact positioning can be found later. Experience with the oval movement shows that e.g. B. with a removable printer label (format DIN A4), which is attached to the carrier plate, can significantly simplify the subsequent settings and the transfer of the form to the blank. Would you like to read more? The full step-by-step instructions can be found in issue 42 of the DrechslerMagazine. Split
 
Oval turning... a gallery 60 miles north of Seattle represents Dale Larson's turnings, mostly salad bowls.

His round bowls are near perfection. To the feel there're no noticeable inconsistencies in the contours, perfect as if they were done on a CNC machine.

But, the one oval bowl of his I had a chance to handle was not so perfect. Obvious lumps in the contour, that was a surprise to me. He has a Vicmark oval turning attachment, apparently they aren't so easy to use. At the near $5K price shipped to this country the Vicmark seems kind of disappointing.
 
A oval chuck lathe came up on Craigslist a few years ago. It had been used for fancy oval picture frames and oval windows back in Victorian times in a factory up in Massachusetts or some place in New England. The guy said it had a huge swing IIRC, just under 40 inches. The picture looked like the lathe was as big as a small car. Also looked like it might have weighed a thousand or more pounds. There were a couple of videos on-line about the same time. One showed the German made chuck for oval turning. which looked pretty complicated to me, the other was a home made thing a guy made, that was really unbalanced and flipped up and down violently as it turned about 200 rpm.
 
Ich spreche kein Deutsch.

I have a 1948 reprint of a 1940 book by Fritz Spannagel, “Das Dreschsler Werk” which contains a section on oval turning, and “Das Guillochieren”
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Oval bowls could be made by turning oval shaped hollow forms and cutting the in half lengthwise.

If you really want to get seriously into ovals buy a small CNC router and be making them tomorrow. Plus, the CNC router will allow you unlimited creativity in embellishing your hand turnings. The CNC will also make you world class in ornamental turning.
 
I enjoy oval work. The ellipse is such an elegant shape. Several of my pieces are posted in the Gallery.

Another historical source of oval work was the Schwamb mill, discoverable here:
oldschwambmill.org

Old Schwamb Mill

The Old Schwamb Mill is the oldest continuously operating mill site in the United States.
oldschwambmill.org oldschwambmill.org

FWW magazine featured the mill in an article many years ago when I was a kid, sparking my interest in elliptical devices and work.

Tim
 
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@Paul Rohrbacher built his own oval chick for a couple hundred bucks. Here is a fairly recent thread:

Build your own Oval Chuck

Up to now, the only Oval Chuck available is Vicmarc VOD chucks at a killer price tag. I have a working design of an Oval Chuck that uses Cogs and Chain to generate the Oval shape. The chuck is balanced and has simplified methods to tighten both chains one and two. Picture from left to right...
www.aawforum.org www.aawforum.org
 
David Springett published plans and instructions for building an elliptical chuck primarily from wood in his book Adventures in Woodturning and produced a DVD He also published it as "Elliptical Turning on a Shop-made Chuck," American Woodturner 30.6:28–35. That includes a link to a a video
 
Doug Rasmussen said:
Oval turning... a gallery 60 miles north of Seattle represents Dale Larson's turnings, mostly salad bowls.

His round bowls are near perfection. To the feel there're no noticeable inconsistencies in the contours, perfect as if they were done on a CNC machine.

But, the one oval bowl of his I had a chance to handle was not so perfect. Obvious lumps in the contour, that was a surprise to me. He has a Vicmark oval turning attachment, apparently they aren't so easy to use. At the near $5K price shipped to this country the Vicmark seems kind of disappointing.
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Doug, I have the VOD 300 and while yes it's expensive it is an extremely well made piece of machinery. It does have a steep learning curve as you can only cut on one straight level plane. I use traditional bowl gouge and can get a reasonable clean cut but its very difficult due to both the low rpm and the way the ends get tighter as you get any depth. My experience is these bowls take far more finishing and attention to get perfection and if you felt any irregularities in the bowl you handled then the maker either didn't notice or didn't bother to remove them. just my 2 cents
 
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