Thread: tool rest

Very good. Added to my list of clones-to-be. It'd be especially good for shorter tool rests vs cutting off a store-bought. And most of the space below a tool rest is air anyway.

Joe

G'day, Shorty, I can't open the pics, due to some glitch in the forum, but what I see looks nice.
How's the timber holdin' up? Seems like it might really be good to absorb some shock.
I guess the 10mm steel is square... did you round the edges of it any?
I'm waitin' an order for some drill rod to glue on the top edge of my rests, and wonderin' about how it's gonna do the job???... and wonderin' why they didn't use good steel to make 'em in the first place.

I had a nice, long-winded post written here, but when the forum went toes'-up...

Anyway, the gist of it was along the lines of "how are you using it? It looks ideal for scraping work, but I can't see anyone using a skew safely with it. Too much width on the top, so the support point would be too far back giving excessive tool overhang."

Perhaps another one for "handle down" work with a larger bevel, that starts just behind the steel edge?

Gotta agree with you about the stock rest though. I think 'tis made of plasticine.

Originally Posted by OGYT

I'm waitin' an order for some drill rod to glue on the top edge of my rests, and wonderin' about how it's gonna do the job???... and wonderin' why they didn't use good steel to make 'em in the first place.

Hi Al. Your reference to "drill rod" made me perk up my ears. I bought some 1" rod for my chainsaw mill project at what appears to be a good price ($20 for 25') and I have some leftover. The toolrest for my new lathe also has a 1" shaft. Would you care to expand on how you are going to use it/ ideas for further use? Thanks
Frank

And, Skew, I had a couple of posts in other threads disappearing too. I was worried that the system went b...toes up because it could not cope with my whipping sarcasm...

Looks like no toolrest I've ever seen! Absolutely useless unlesss you did nothing but scrape and not much use even for that..... With that huge thickness by the time your cutting edge got to the work the overhang would be extreme and bordering on downright dangerous.
I am sorry to be negative but I suggest you
A; Read a good book on turning.
B; Get some lessons from an accomplished turner (NOT a scraper)
C; Join a club.
D; all of the above...
Good luck with it and I am sorry to rain on your parade.

have you rounded over the bottom edge of your scrapers and skew . dont forget they are made of tool steel or carbon steel hardened so they will be ripping a cast iorn rest too pieces . and yes i did it in the beginning too .just radius the bottom edges so they dont scrape the rest away .wet and dry paper 180 to 320 will do it and draw file your rest so it's flat again .all the best .

I guess it would work, but I just cut up some 1" thick steel rod and weld it up, if you don't want to do that, any decent welding shop should not charge you much to make ups some.

I'd also be worried about it cracking or breaking under pressure?

Still, you are moving in the right direction, innovating and inventing to get past the short comings in your lathe (there are no "Perfect" lathes, they can ALL do with some tweaking!).

Good job, keep it up!

Quote Frank: Would you care to expand on how you are going to use it/ ideas for further use? Thanks

Frank, I used 1/4" Drill rod. It's HSS, so it won't chip very easily.

First, I used my belt sander (80grit) and sanded a flat area on the blade (top edge) of my 12" toolrest.
Then, I used my Dremel with a small grindstone on it to make that flat area just slightly concave... just enough so the drill rod would sit atop it without rolling off. And I also roughed the bottom of the drill rod so the epoxy would have some "tooth".
Next, I used NP7 (sort of like JBWeld) Epoxy, to stick the drillrod on top of the rest.
After cleaning up a little bit of 'shaky-hand-mess', it works perfectly.
I'm doing the shorter 6" rest right now. Got it stuck together, but the NP7 hasn't set up yet. I'll see if I can get some pics posted this afternoon.

Originally Posted by OGYT

After cleaning up a little bit of 'shaky-hand-mess', it works perfectly.
I'm doing the shorter 6" rest right now. Got it stuck together, but the NP7 hasn't set up yet. I'll see if I can get some pics posted this afternoon.

Here are some pics, Frank.
Pic 1 - the 12" toolrest with the 1/4" drill rod in place. Works better than the original way. Looks bent, or something, but it's not. Cheap camera.
Pic 2 - Closer shot of the middle portion of the long rest.
Pic 3 - The 6" toolrest epoxied and setting up. I named the stuff wrong, earlier... I said it was NP7... but you can see here, it's PC7. I just marked a spot on some wax paper where I wanted it, put a narrow roll of the mixed epoxy down, sat the toolrest in it, then pushed the rod into place. The wax paper will peel off when it sets. You use lacquer thinner on your finger to smooth it out, according to the directions.
You can also see the mess my shaky hands make. But it cleans up well with 320 and 400 grit paper, then buff with black ebony rouge, and yer done. Slicker than snot on a brass doorknob.

Thank you for taking the time to explain in such detail, Al, much appreciated. Now that you have mentioned that the rod is 1/4" it makes sense, the support point is only 1/8" from the external edge. To do the same with 1" rod would add 1/2" to the minimum distance from the wood, is this still an acceptable trade-off?

Cheers
Frank

Originally Posted by OGYT

....... Works better than the original way. ........... Slicker than snot on a brass doorknob.

Love the idea Al but I just don't know if I'd trust the epoxy - is it really that good?????? I think I'd feel more comfortable with silver solder or something if it would work with those metals.

It's held very well all day today, although I did nick it a little bit using an old too short parting tool that the edges weren't rounded. Drat!
I'm going to try tempering the other piece before I put it on the other rest. I don't worry about the PC7, I used it to put a rod on my Old Griz, and it's still working fine. No cracks or problems.

Originally Posted by Christopha

Looks like no toolrest I've ever seen! Absolutely useless unlesss you did nothing but scrape and not much use even for that..... With that huge thickness by the time your cutting edge got to the work the overhang would be extreme and bordering on downright dangerous.
I am sorry to be negative but I suggest you
A; Read a good book on turning.
B; Get some lessons from an accomplished turner (NOT a scraper)
C; Join a club.
D; all of the above...
Good luck with it and I am sorry to rain on your parade.

I thought the idea of this forum was to for people to help each other and give constructive criticism ; not be downright bloody rude. :I made this toolrest for a particular purpose for which it works perfectly and if you think I need lessons I will send som pics of turning that may make you eat your words.


Cheers
Shorty