Chatter Tool [homemade]

**Gil Jones** · 2nd March 2009, 04:03 PM

Hi y'all,
One of the members of my turning club wanted to see a demo of a chatter tool that one could make from bits found around the shop. Since I did not have a chatter tool to do the demo with, I made one from things I found in various bins in my shop.
It is 24.765cm [9.75"] long (w/o the blade), the ferrel is a brass compression fitting nut that is screwed on and turned smooth, the handle is turned from a scrap piece of Mulberry wood and decorated with a few friction burns from a wire, the shaft is a piece of steel rod from an ink-jet printer that the ink trolley rides on, the blade holder is a bushing (mated to the shaft with a roll-pin), and the chatter blades are just jigsaw blades, ground to shape and bent a little. It works best with the rear screw in place and the front one removed.
It seems to work quite well at around 1000 rpm, on end-grain hardwood.
The price was right in that all the pieces were already in the shop, and not being used for anything else.
Cheers,

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 2nd March 2009, 04:38 PM

Nicely done. You gonna do a Hughie and run off a batch ?

For mine I simply cut a slot in the end of the bar with a thin cut-off wheel and tapped for a single grub-screw near the back of the slot. The slot's too wide for a single hacksaw blade so I used a shorter length as a packer and I've found that by changing how much of the packer protrudes under the cutting blade changes the RPM it works best at.

I'm gonna have to pinch the idea of the bush, as if I roll mine over too far the blade slips sideways.

**wheelinround** · 2nd March 2009, 05:51 PM

TY Gill another project to make

**Gil Jones** · 2nd March 2009, 05:54 PM

Thanks, Vern, and Wheelin
I actually made 4 of them (but only one handle so far).
Your idea is a good one, and if the chatter blade does slip sideways, you could just find a bushing with an ID the same as your slotted shaft's OD [Pre-drill a hole to access the grub-screw], slide (or press) it it on, and roll-pin it at the rear. I may change my hex-head screws to set-screws (grub-screws) just long enough not to stick up in the way as the screws do now.

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 2nd March 2009, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by Gil Jones

Your idea is a good one, and if the chatter blade does slip sideways, you could just find a bushing with an ID the same as your slotted shaft's OD [Pre-drill a hole to access the grub-screw], slide (or press) it it on, and roll-pin it at the rear.

That's what I was thinking. Just a case of pulling my finger out and getting a round tuit.

**joe greiner** · 2nd March 2009, 11:43 PM

Neat. Thanks, Gil.

Cheers,
Joe

**Ed Reiss** · 3rd March 2009, 02:57 AM

**Gil Jones** · 3rd March 2009, 03:35 PM

Thanks for the kind comments, y'all.
These things are easy to make and use, so goforit.
Vern, you will have to yank out your own finger, but here is a TUIT.
And a front view. The lower support is just a piece of thin steel sitting under the jigsaw blade.

**artme** · 3rd March 2009, 03:58 PM

I love Heath Robinson type tools! A beauty!

**Gil Jones** · 4th March 2009, 04:18 AM

Who is Heath Robinson??

**masoth** · 4th March 2009, 06:44 AM

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea4.htm my guess.

soth

**Manuka Jock** · 4th March 2009, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by Gil Jones

Who is Heath Robinson??

http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl...h+Images&gbv=2

**Ed Reiss** · 4th March 2009, 01:06 PM

...oh, you mean Rube Goldberg

**Gil Jones** · 4th March 2009, 04:51 PM

Oh.

**badgaz** · 5th March 2009, 08:23 PM

[quote=Gil Jones;907036]Hi y'all,
the ferrel is a brass compression fitting nut that is screwed on and turned smooth, quote]

Gil

Do you have a particular technique for reducing the brass nut to round. I've made a couple of ferrules out of brass nuts pretty much like you (screwed on and turned smooth) but bouncing an old file over the nut on the lathe for an eternity until it's round is a tad tedious. I think next time I'll take a little more off the corners before I turn...unless you have a better way.

Cheers
Gazza

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