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Spindle Dancer jig

Jamie Straw

Jamie Straw

Joined
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Bainbridge Island, WA
In a thread that later went far afield (which is OK), @Adrian Wilson quickly identified the "mystery thing" I saw in this video. It was obviously a short-cut to using calipers to make identical copies of an item. After Adrian's post I was able to find a video of a shop-made Spindle Dancer Jig. Perhaps too much trouble for a casual duplication, but great for quickly making several multiples!!
www.lumberjocks.com

Spindle Dancer Jig - Alternative to a Duplicating Lathe

www.lumberjocks.com www.lumberjocks.com


Screenshot 2025-01-10 065930.png
 
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That is a pretty clever jig, and doesn't look too difficult to cobble together. The fingers could be make from dowel rod, and thumb screws rather than slotted screws would make for fast setting and adjustment.
 
A 1948 Delta publication showed a jig of this type they offered, they called it a semaphore jig.

They also called segment turning "built up turnings".

Back in the day Delta was pretty much the high end of home shop machines, more expensive than Sears power tools that were more common.

Delta had a series of books, "Getting the Most Out of Your Lathe" was one of the titles. Others were table saw, shaper, jointer, drill press, etc. Lots of useful info in the books. Used book sellers frequently have them.

Abebooks.com has a number of copies of the lathe book. Amazon has copies too.
 
Ah, the golden age of powered woodworking machines. American-made Delta and Powermatic, and General in Canada. No more for any of them, not like they were, anyway. I wish I would have had the funds to buy a few good pieces before they went away. But, I've survived and moved on. Heck, I've got no space now for a Unisaw!
 
Steve Tiedman said:
Ah, the golden age of powered woodworking machines. American-made Delta and Powermatic, and General in Canada.
Click to expand...
Yeah, way back after we moved from an apartment to our house I scrounged a lot equipment. Whenever you saw an ad for an estate sale with Delta equipment you knew it'd be quality.

I haven't followed what happened to Delta, but what is now labeled Delta has no resemblance to the real stuff from years ago.
 
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