Thread: Lasers

Saw yer posting on the woodturners general site as well. I'm wondering if you are refering to laser cutter or laser guide?

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"Always cutting corners...!"

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply. The laser I'm talking
about is used to determine wall thickness and
the position of your cutting tool in turning
a deep hollow form. It is attached to a boring bar such as the Jamieson rig or the
Kel McNaughton hollowing rig. I'm wondering
how and how well these lasers work.

My attitude is that this is a bit of smoke and mirrors sales pitch. There are likely a lot of tools out there that you could buy with the same money that would be of use, and this one would be nice to have but I don't see it as essential. I do feel the abilty to develop a feel for smooth curves and attention so the sound of the woodcut are more essential. If you can afford wood that has perfect grain and the laser with no concern, go for it. What I mean is, the good ole backlighting technique works very well for determining thickness PLUS it shows the grain character. I am not anti-tech by any means, but I have a hard time seeing this tool as a significant improvement on good technique, but hey, it is cool looking and could generate sales through image! If you are using the coring system to cut blanks so thin you have to worry about thickness I question if you are able to use many of them after they stabilize, but maybe you do have that perfect wood thing going!

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"Always cutting corners...!"

They work by pointing the laser down the shaft of the tool, at a defined distance from the cutting tip. If the wall is thicker than desired, there will be a red spot on the outside of the workpiece. As the wall thins, this spot becomes more tangential, and eventually disappears. The idea is to make the beam just graze the wall all the way down. I guess it would get somewhat more tricky if the curve of the piece is anything other than convex.
HTH,

Tristan

Sorry it took nearly 2 years to reply, no wonder I feel a lot older every day!

I,ve been designing and experimenting with a laser pointer to attach via an arm which sits well above the work, naturally its firmly attched to the tool as well. Next bit is to make a suitable gate for the tool. So, all the laser does is replace any bits of wire or articulated arms with all their limitations cost of the laser ponter was only A$30..

Jeff, I think you're being a bit harsh on technology. Over here in Australia we aren't so frightened except of course when one of your presidents decided to point his Weapon of Mass Destruction in our direction (Reagan Star Wars - Clinton well we won't go into that)

regards
Geoff
One day I might finish this bloody hollwing thing.