Thread: Been busy lately...

The next few pics are of how I hold the ally and the rough turning of the plate and bowls. The ally is 156mm in diameter. It took about half an hour to cut through by hand. The lathe is spinning as I cut it (slowly I might add). Not much to say really just make sure you have a good grip on the ally and have it held well at the tail stock end when it's something that big. Slow speed is the way to go here. At least half the speed you'd turn wood at.

By the way that piece of ally was $240. Not alot of room for error...

You can see by the pics that you have to suit up a bit. It was hot to wear but there is no other way. A hot shaving on the back of the neck or on the hands and arms tends to be a bit distracting. The sock overs are very essential also when it comes to extremely sharp shards getting lodged in boots. Not the place to be walking around in barefeet or flip flops. I have a pic attached to show the tool rest I use. It's a metal spinners tool rest that I made a few years back. Makes turning ally very easy becuase I leverage agains the movable posts. It's surprising how much of a cut I can take with that rest. The max is about a 3mm deep cut without much work. You really have to keep the cutter sharp here or it turns to pretty hard work.

Salaam, A thousand greetings, Effendi.

Not many Bedouins turning ali these days


Abu Ali Bin Turnin

Originally Posted by hughie

Salaam, A thousand greetings, Effendi.

Not many Bedouins turning ali these days


Abu Ali Bin Turnin

One of the best features of aussies - their sense of humour

Did I mention... I think the legs on the bowls look like crap

Originally Posted by Toolin Around

Did I mention... I think the legs on the bowls look like crap

No argument from me. Perhaps coved rings would've looked better?

But that's some interesting work you're doing there... very intriguing. Love the way you've done the inlays. I'll be keeping an eye out to see how your concept progresses!

Originally Posted by Toolin Around

Did I mention... I think the legs on the bowls look like crap

If you moved them out a little so that the "base" nearly touched the table would probably look better.

G'day T. A,
Wot said. Also , perhaps if the legs were a simple cone shape, with the base rounded off @ around 1/16" radius on the foot ( especially on the ally feet ) to prevent the table / sideboard surface from being marked.
The plates and bowls look beaut though, it is a very good concept - sorta like an Alkaseltzer fizzing away in the bottom of a glass of water & watching the bubbles rise.
What type of glue have you you used to secure the redgum dowells into the aluminium & vice versa?
Regards,
Barry.

One of the best features of aussies - their sense of humour

Dunno you Canucks have got your share as well.


Just could not help myself.......

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

G'day T. A,
Wot said. Also , perhaps if the legs were a simple cone shape, with the base rounded off @ around 1/16" radius on the foot ( especially on the ally feet ) to prevent the table / sideboard surface from being marked.
The plates and bowls look beaut though, it is a very good concept - sorta like an Alkaseltzer fizzing away in the bottom of a glass of water & watching the bubbles rise.
What type of glue have you you used to secure the redgum dowells into the aluminium & vice versa?
Regards,
Barry.

No glue just compressed the redgum dowel and banged it in. Then added water to make it swell back up. I suspect the danish oil I added after will have some adhesive effect.

I tried using solid rod but that failed miserably when it came to trimming it flush and sanding back to the wood surface. By the time I had them flush too many were loose or had completely fallen out. So I gound up a bunch into power and mixed it with epoxy. Don't really like the look but at this time I have no alternative. Unless there's someone out there that knows where I can get 2 and 3mm ally rod.

Very good lesson to anyone reading. Don't be in a hurry with what you're doing. As I was turning the legs I knew in the back of my mind they were at best mediocre (and that's being generous) but I really wanted to see the finished results and I compromised my standards and ultimately the project is a failure. What I should have done is turned them. But because I was unsure of their style I should have dry fitted the project and then taken a bit of time to let what I had done sink in. Maybe a couple days of just holding the piece in my hands examining it carefully. But the legs have been glued in so now there will be a bit of work to get them out. The wood ones will be easy but the ally ones could be a problem. They're turned with ridges on the spigot so they lock in when they were driven in. Repositioning them will be impossible, plugging the holes is not an option. Again until I was absolutely sure of the leg location hot melting on three mock up legs and then taking time to examine the position and over all affect would have been a better idea. I've been doing this for 25 years - you'd think I would know better by now

Very interesting concept. I agree the legs don't quite fit. Imho they should be simply tapered to a rounded end. A friend has been exploring metal spinning, getting to a similar end but using thin plate copper.
Jim

G'Day TA

Love the bowls, the legs ,well, for what its worth couldn't you forget about legs, cut them flush and let the stumps fill the holes? And then turn a small base for each to sit on, as if it was turned as part of the bowl? Just an idea!

Cheers
Bernie

cool project mate i like the idea!