router roughing

[Twinnie]

g'day all

does any one know any thing about using a router mounted on the banjo (or using a powered cutter at all) to rough out a blank (turned by hand) before high speed tuning? i'm interisted in doing some bigger pieces but i suspect it would be safer and faster to use a powered cutter like a router to round the blank first.

i don't have a band saw or the room to put one.

i can't remember the name of them but there is a type of lathe with a cam disk that moves the work onto and off a router like cutter too, rose somthing i think (i'm thinking out loud here).

Matt

[Slow6]

rose engine? I think they're more for fiddly decorative work... buuut dont quote me:o

I dont see why what you propose wouldn't work. I use a small trimmer in a shop made sled that slides around on a flat piece of steel that sits on the bed. a magnet in the sled helps hold it seady. I dont do a lot with it.. handy for routing a groove along an odd shape.

for roughing down a blank I reckon a cheapy router stripped bare and fitted with a bar (somehow) to suit your banjo would work just fine.

infact.. consider the idea stolen:) wish I'd thought of it myself.

[China]

There is no reason why it would not work, although with enough practice it would be faster and less setting up to use a roughing gouge when completly competent with a gouge you can remove an amazing amount of material in a very short time

[TTIT]

Sounds like cheating but it would save some grief on out-of-balance blanks if your lathe isn't bolted down (like mine - portable! :o). I know what it's like to operate without a bandsaw and see where you're coming from - could be worth a shot!

[SawDustSniffer]

could you mount your face plate on the blank and make a gig that a 25mm turned up peg fits in the threaded part of the face plate and use your router gide as a compass , setting the blade deeper every revoulution , then place the blank on the lathe ?

[joe greiner]

On one of Nawm Abrams' "New Yankee Workshop" shows, he visited a shop making huuuuge bowls - on the order of about 1m + diameter. They used a router mounted on some sort of swinging contraption to follow the inside curve of the bowl. I don't think they showed how they did the outside, but I guess it was a similar process. It was a short visit, and didn't show any follow-on turning by usual means.

Another stunt is to mount the router on something like a bookend, with the flat bottom of the bookend riding on a flat surface bolted to the lathe bed. On one such device, they had a tracer on the bookend to follow a template attached to the flat surface. In effect, the lathe itself functions as sort of a rotating router table. This could in fact serve for the final cut.

Such cutting with a router will be somewhat slow going. I've considered mounting a Lancelot cutter with right-angle grinder by a similar support system, for very rough shaping, but haven't even gotten to the paper-and-pencil stage yet.

Joe

[rsser]

Yeah, like Joe I think it would be slow. And it's easier to sharpen a big gouge than a router bit which would need doing often.

I have heard of guys roughing out with an Arbortech carver. Tried it once and found it slow too.

[joez]

Tom Plamann does something similar, but using a shaper head!

http://www.plamann.com/sys-tmpl/lathe/




joez71

[robatman]

I dont have a bandsaw so after roughing out (ie cutting the log in half or whatever!) with a bush saw (i mostly use green wood- its free!) I use an electric plane to get the major wobbles out. Works well and saves chasing the lathe around.

Its the only time i use this plane, i prefer using handplanes on boards etc. Cant go past the LV LA Jack.

Robert

[Twinnie]

Tom Plamann does something similar, but using a shaper head!

http://www.plamann.com/sys-tmpl/lathe/




joez71

this is just what i was thinking of all though i do agree that a roughing gouge would be quicker it would alow out of balence pieces to be turned with less fear of them flying off, or preforming the dance of the lathes :D

i'll look into geting a simple plate made to fit in my banjo that will take a cheapy router it should be cheap as chips and i'll post pics when i start playing with it.

Matt

[keith53]

Never had this situation, yet. I'd be inclined to use a motor plane if I didn't have a bandsaw.

[hughie]

http://www.plamann.com/sys-tmpl/lathe/




Toms gawn ??? :(

[tashammer]

http://www.plamann.com/sys-tmpl/lathe/




Toms gawn ??? :(
no, i just got on his site with no problems