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Spindle production/duplication from 2D profile drawing

B

bkcabot

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I am sure this thread title has eyebrows raising all over the AAW universe - let me briefly explain what I am trying to do:

I want to produce turned spindles from 2D drawings. In other words, picture a silhouette drawing of a chair leg or other turned piece - is there a way to produce a spindle using some sort of tracing device/duplicator which can be used on the 2D drawing? I am picturing something like the CNC machines sold by WoodCraft, etc, which have a tracing tip (blunt, 'feels' the contours of the piece you are looking to duplicate), but obviously those (and other lathe duplicators) use a 3D model to work off.

I have tried searching past threads, but can't seem to find anything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
That's really helpful, thanks. Does anyone have any experience with this, or other similarly priced duplicators?
 
This one is STILL on my bucket list, but it looks great for limited production: http://www.delorie.com/wood/tips/parallax-jig.html

Basically, it's an optical comparator, with which the turner does the actual cutting. This enables smoother cuts, to reduce sanding. Most mechanical duplicators cut by scraping, whether the wood is mounted long-grain or cross-grain, to be followed with final cutting and/or sanding.

It seems to me, you could deliberately introduce "mistakes," to avoid machine precision, and prove you're not a robot.

I've used a very primitive variation, with a larger-scale drawing taped to the lathe bed, just to establish rough diameters, then used profile templates for the finish cuts.

Elsewhere on the 'net, I've come across sleds carrying a Dremel, with a tracer to follow a plywood pattern. IIRC, the workpiece is turned at a very slow speed, probably by hand, and the Dremel cutter does the shaping at its own speed; this could get tedious in a short time.

Joe
 
one thing to think about the duplicator is that you have to take time learn how to use it too. even the automatic ones.
 
bkcabot said:
I am sure this thread title has eyebrows raising all over the AAW universe...
Click to expand...

One of the things that is missing from all the woodturning forums is discussion of architectural woodturning.

I'm certain that a lot of the professional turners do a lot of it to make money.

The focus on forums seems entirely devoted to "art", which is fine but there is other work out there.

Does AAW have anything devoted to architectural turning at its events ? If not it should.
 
Bill
I can't recall seeing anything on architectural turning at any symposium. However I have seen club presentations on it. I've also seen architectural examples at show & tells and mini-instant galleries. A few months ago a club member brought in one, that was his 83rd, of the same style. He said he was getting really tired of them (the order was for 80, and he wanted a couple spares)
 
Bill Travelstead said:
The focus on forums seems entirely devoted to "art", which is fine but there is other work out there.

Does AAW have anything devoted to architectural turning at its events ? If not it should.
Click to expand...

The real focus of the forums is whatever you make it, whoever posts whatever they want to talk or know about. I would say that many of the architectural turners aren't posting or aren't members. I suspect that most of the people who post often are, like I, evening and weekend turners, who aren't trying to make a living off of it and so they focus on more artistic aspects of woodturning (and with that I will leave it alone).

As far as what is at the symposium, you can check here for the rotation grid

http://www.woodturner.org/sym/sym2009/GridPost.pdf
 
Architectural turning

Bill,

Architectural turning is one of the sub specialties we try to include in our symposiums. The POP(Professional Out reach Program) is for all professionals including specialties such as teaching, architecture, furniture, production, craft show artist, and gallery artist.

Consider chairing a Special Interest night session on architectural turning at our Symposium. use it as a way to find others with similar interests.

Architectural turning does get attention in the AAW national event and with an occasional article in the Journal.

Architectural turning got attention in Richmond with Myron Curtis, Dug Campbell and Tom Boley all doing presentations that related to directly to architectural turning. I know Myron and Tom make most of their business through architectural turning.

In Albuquerque there are demonstrations on split turnings, spindles, crisping details and others .... that relate to architectural turning. However, I'm not aware that any of our Albuquerque demonstrators make a significant part of the business with architectural pieces like Tom and Myron.


Happy Turning
Al
 
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Architectual Woodturner and 2d templates

May I answer two of the questions. First about the 2D template question. I have a Hapfo 5000 which is a copy lathe. It uses exactly what I think you are talking about. In my case I use a Cadd program to do my design work. I then print out the drawing full size on my inkjet printer. It is then a matter of gluing the pattern to a piece of plastic and cutting it out. It then requires filing to perfect template to the drawing. From that it clamps in the lathe and and a feeler follows the template that directs a cutter to the wood. Someone commented about tracers using a scraper, on the Hapfo the cutter makes a shearing cut.

The Hapfo is on the high end of the market-$30,000 to $150,000. If you want to get your feet wet a lot cheaper look at the Vega, or MiniMax lathe. Have used both they are quite fussy and not built for long production runs.

As to the Architectural Wood turners I have been one for many years. I do mostly custom newels and balusters. It has been a good business for me but have to say lately it has dropped off at the same velocity of our drooping 401ks. Would like to hear from more "between the center" guys. I love to turn bowls but my money is made "between the centers ".
 
For what it's worth (probably not much), one of my first spindle projects was a set of chain idler pulleys, to guide counterweight chains for a small (but heavy) overhead door into my basement (crawl space). I hadn't yet made an Oland tool, so I formed the grooves with a Dremel clamped in a cross-slide vise, clamped the vise to the lathe bench, and turned the lathe by hand. The vise mount was adjustable for different angles of attack, and I advanced the cutter incrementally. Essentially, it was a CNC machine, but without the C or the N. IIRC, the cutter was a 1/4" round-nose bit. Layout was directly on the workpiece, though - no template per se.

There doesn't seem to be much of a market for large-scale architectural turned work. The most recent I've seen were some column shells for a bank expansion about a mile south of me; they appeared to be stave construction, with fluted faces. Modern Architecture doesn't have much room for Greek revival, of course. One of the moderators on another forum plies his trade in Melbourne Australia.

Another variation is pattern-making for foundries. And there's precious little of that, too.
 
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