The "Lathest" News
September 2012                     Issue #31
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In This Issue  

In this issue Brian and I review some new and exciting products that we saw at the AAW Symposium in San Jose this summer.

 

I will review a truly innovative new "Steady Rest" by Carter Products.  I hope you will agree is a great multi-steady that can be used on almost all lathes and for a variety of projects.

 

Brian will review a new laser light used to measure wall thickness on deep vessels. We also saw this new light at the AAW Symposium and thought it to be a great alternative to other laser systems on the market.  This laser is manufactured by Monster Tools.   Brian also reviews tool rests by Robust Tools that he really likes to use.

 

We have also attached a copy of our December 2011 newsletter which lends itself to the use of both the Carter MultiRest and the Monster Tools Laser System.   At the end of this article you will see that we are offering a clearance promotion of our demo boring bars that we use in our classes.  We offer this promotion once a year to clear our almost-new boring bars at a discounted offering.

  

 

Missed one of our old newsletters?

Click on the link below to access our archive home page:  

  

  

 

Monster Lathe Tools New Laser Light System

By Brian McEvoy 

I may have broached the subject in past newsletters regarding the wonderful innovations in woodturning in the past few decades.  You'll have to excuse me if I have because new and improved tools just keep coming along and in my opinion, should be discussed.  When I first picked up a turning tool 25 years ago, with a few exceptions, you basically went with what came with the lathe.  As time went on, advancements like vacuum chucks, variable speed lathes, laser measuring systems and coring tools to stretch your favorite piece of timber came along.  There have been so many improvements that I could write all day and not cover them all.  Some items, such as steady rests, I thought had hit the wall with little or no possibility for improvement but as you'll see with Gord's review later in this newsletter, this wasn't the case and an amazing new steady rest has been designed and is now available for all of us to take advantage of.

 

While attending the AAW Symposium in San Jose this summer I had the good fortune to meet up with Todd and Michelle from Monster Lathe Tools & Accessories ( www.monster-lathe-tools.com) who manufacture a great line of woodturning tools.  The one item in particular that caught my attention was the "laser measuring system".  I was thrilled that they sent one for me to try out with our large boring bar.  

In most cases I turn thin walled vessels using a light to gauge wall thickness but on many occasions I like to deep hollow using non translucent timber and/or thick walled vessels that the light won't penetrate.  I've always found the laser measuring system was the most efficient method to achieve this.  For those of you who may have missed my article on this subject in one of our past newsletters, we'll republish it in this issue. 

 

As I wrote in the last article, I have a number of systems including the one that Fred Lindsay manufactured for me. It is a wonderful tool that was designed for very deep hollowing (up to about 4 feet deep).  It works perfectly on our 6 foot Boring Bar as well as the 9 and 11 footers that I use.  Fred's web-site is www.lindsaylathetools.com with e-mail of [email protected] .                

 

The Laser system that Monster developed was designed for the smaller boring bars on the market but after giving it a go on my six foot x 1 � inch bar that we manufacture, I soon discovered it was a beautiful sleek design that worked perfectly even with the large bar.

The mounting clamp is built tough and is available in different sizes to fit most boring bars.  The vertical bar screws in easily and is interchangeable with any size clamp.

 

 

 

 

 

The stabilizer bar that helps support the horizontal bar adds a considerable amount of stability and even with the upper bar extended fully there is little or no vibration on the laser end.  The laser switch box is mounted in an ideal location and uses two inexpensive AAA batteries.  Adjustments are made using two quality handles that make fine adjustments a breeze. 

 
 
I found the laser light to be precise, sharp and accurate.

 

 

 

All of the components are machined to precise tolerances and I was very impressed with the overall quality of the tool.  For further information and images I encourage you to go to the website www.monster-lathe-tools.com . 

 

 

  

Robust Tool Rests

By Brian McEvoy 

Another tool that caught my eye when I was in San Jose was the ROBUST tool rest.  They've been around for quite some time but unfortunately I didn't own one.  I've always been quite particular with the tool rests that I use and for the most part, a perfect design was hard to come by.  I bought two different sizes of the comfort rest and love them both. 

 

When new tools come on the market, it's always obvious to me if they were designed by experienced woodturners who saw the need for improvement.  As with all of the ROBUST lathes and accessories, Brent and Deb went above and beyond to try to make all of our turning easier and more efficient.  They weren't satisfied with just one or two tool rest designs but thought of most possible needs and manufactured enough to suit very turner.  For a good overview of what's available go to their web site www.turnrobust.com . You'll find the comfort tool rests, the low profile rests, mini rests, curved rests and the "J" style rest as well. 

 

Besides the smooth practical shape, they all come equipped with a � inch hardened steel bar on the top for smooth and nick free operation.  I found this feature to be incredibly helpful when trying to achieve that final finishing pass.

 

On another note and warning; I made the mistake of trying out one of the American Beauty lathes while down south and I'm now very excited to be expecting delivery of my own new Robust American Beauty lathe within a month or so.  I'll be sure to pass on my complete review in a future newsletter.  

  

Carter Products

New MultiRest

Multi Use Work Support System

By Gord Langer & Brian McEvoy

 

While at the AAW Symposium in San Jose this year, Brian and I had the opportunity to meet some truly great people on the trade floor, along with learning about some new and innovative products.  Among these were Lee and his team from  Carter Products. They were friendly and knowledgeable, and showed us their new MultiRest Support System.

 

Brian and I are constantly asked about steady rests that would work with our Deep Vessel Boring System.  When we saw this one, we thought it was a great looking steady and were immediately drawn to its unique features.   For starters, it is compatible with almost any size lathe from minis to large swing lathes with no additional hardware required.  Each roller wheel assembly can be positioned anywhere around the ring to adjust the center position for a wide range of lathe sizes.  It is manufactured in the United States, and comes with a clear, understandable manual to assist in setup and operational use.

   

 

 

A feature I really liked was its 2-piece design.  This allows for easy opening while leaving the rest attached to the lathe bed.

 

This allows for easy mounting of parts or for sanding and shaping.  It also provides ready access to the work piece when required without re-mounting the steady rest. 

 

  

 

With the larger part of the outer ring removed, the steady rest can now also be used as a bowl steady, hence the name MultiRest.  This gives you two tools in one and with it fitting virtually any size lathe, is a tool that can be used again and again even if you upgrade to a larger lathe in the future.

 

It is well made and very rigid and can be  easily and quickly adjusted for many applications. 

  

 

The roller assemblies are easily adjusted to any position.  The unit comes with three roller assemblies but additional wheel assemblies can be purchased (for additional cost) which allow for even more secure turning.  I used the system with the three roller assemblies supplied and thought it worked great, but also thought additional assemblies might be nice when turning very large diameter vessels.

 

The rollers are bearing mounted with non-marking urethane wheels that have a ridged internal ring to prevent sidewall flex, thus giving exceptional support while still being gentle on the workpiece.

  

 

After turning a piece of box elder, shown here, I installed the MultiRest while still having the tail stock in place.  The two piece design allowed the installation without removing the tail stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then installed the large ring and adjusted the rollers to provide the support I needed while turning. 

  

 

Here you see the almost finished piece on the lathe.

 

I found the Carter MultiRest worked extremely well;  it was strong and rigid while being light in weight and easy to take on and off the lathe.

 

All and all a great product that will be a great addtion to any woodturner's tool chest.

 

 

 

The Carter MultiRest is available from Carter Products at: www.carterproducts.com. It costs $359.95 and additional roller assemblies are also available from Carter Products.

  

USING A LASER TO MEASURE WALL THICKNESS

 by Brian McEvoy

 

Though laser measuring systems have been around for years, I still get questioned regularly about how they work and what they are used for.  Chances are, if you haven't attempted to turn a deep vessel, you don't own one and really don't need to buy such a beast.  When I first started turning deep vessels I had a beautiful set of aluminum inside/outside calipers custom built for measuring wall thickness.  They were good for about 18 inches of depth and worked well except for the fact that I had to stop the lathe regularly to take a measurement.  At over three feet long, they were a little cumbersome and also limited the depth I could measure to 18 inches.  For thin walled green wood turning this wasn't an issue as I just added a light to the cutter holder on my boring bar. I could gauge the wall thickness by studying the amount of light penetrating the vessel.  Once I started turning deep maple burl vases with � inch thick walls the light method would not work.  As an alternative I started to use a laser light attachment fastened to my boring bar and found it worked wonderfully.  Though it is probably possible, I don't use the laser for thin walled turning (1/8 of an inch or less).  I find with the vibration, the laser isn't as accurate as using the light method.

 

Just for the fun of it I'll take you through my method of hollowing deep vessels.  This is the identical method I covered in one of our early newsletters using a light to gauge wall thickness.  This vase is 18 inches tall with a wall thickness of 5/8" and turned using semi-dry, almost spalted birch. 

 

I always double check that the boring bar is level and the cutter is exactly at center.  For a project such as this I'll use my 1 � inch by 6 foot bar that weighs 50 lbs.  I wouldn't even attempt to turn 16 or 17 inches deep with a smaller, lighter boring bar, in particular when using semi-dry wood.  

 

 

This bar is good for 24 inches (and maybe a little more) with green timber.  I recommend a steady rest for anything over 20 inches. 

10 x 24 inch partially dry birch log.

  

 

 

 

Mark the center of both sides and determine which will be the top and bottom.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to use the Elio Safe Drive for driving large heavy pieces; in this case I've chosen the 3 � inch Elio Safe Drive.  The 2 � inch would work fine as this log probably only weighs 40 or so lbs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

At this point I'll remove the bark by hand and then will true up the log.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Now true up the bottom to receive the faceplate.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't be stingy with the screws; you're going to have a lot of weight which translates into leverage hanging off the mandrel.  In this case I've used 12 - #14 three inch screws. 

 

 

 

True the piece to the diameter you desire.  Unless the form you're after is larger in diameter on the bottom than the top, don't turn the finished outside form yet.  I usually turn the form in about 4 inch increments, as I want to keep as much mass as possible to provide extra stability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a 3 inch saw tooth high speed drillbit (available through Lee Valley Tools www.leevalley.com ) drill out to within 1 inch of your finished depth.

 

 

 

In this case I've had to use a 6 inch drill extension to reach the desired depth.  I've drilled 16 inches with an intended 17 inch depth interior. 

 

 

Set up your boring bar onto the floor stand as well as the secondary tool rest.  You'll see the advantage to the secondary tool rest as we progress.  There are a number of clear advantages to using a floor stand as your back tool rest rather than one that fastens to the lathe bed.  The two main advantages are: #1 -  you don't need nearly the bed length to finish deeper pieces, and #2 - you can adjust your angle of attack on the pieces where the diameter is large and the opening small.  Sometimes I'll have the floor stand two feet off to the side of the lathe.  In this manner I can turn a 10 inch diameter piece with a 2 inch opening.  If you get a chance view my DVD on Mastering the Large Captive Boring Bar this might make more sense.

 

 

I just hog out most of the bulk for the first 4 or 5 inches.

 

 

The laser light assembly is essentially made up of three components: an upright that attaches to the boring bar, a long arm that extends from the upright, parallel with the boring bar to reach down as far as the cutter and of course the laser light.  The upright should be high enough so that it will allow the arm to clear a steady rest just in case you want to attach one.  The parallel arm should be long enough to reach the longest depth capacity of your boring bar.  The laser light itself can be a simple diode available through Radio Shack, or most laser pointers that are available at office supply stores work reasonably well.  This laser light is mounted on the end of the parallel arm directly over the cutter.  

  

 

 

 

With the laser attached and the cutter set at the spot where you'll be making the rough cuts, adjust the light to the distance from the cutter that you want the thickness of the vessel to be.  I usually add 1/8 of an inch to allow for the cleaning pass using the longer side of the cutter, remembering that a little thick is better than thin.

  

It's a simple case of removing wood until you've reached the thickness you desire.  Remember not to remove too much depth of the interior  as you only have the correct form for the top five or six inches on the outside.  As I mentioned earlier you want to leave bulk for stability.  

  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the light on the edge of the vase has become long rather than just a spot on the exterior of the piece.  This is because I'm getting close to my desired thickness. When I remove a little more material the light will disappear from the edge of the vase.  I usually stop removing material at this point because I'll still make a cleaning pass that would give me the thickness I'm after.  This method is incredibly accurate as long as you keep vigilant on the distance between the light and the cutter.  It is possible with the vibration that the top arm could have moved slightly giving you an inaccurate reading, so be aware of this and check your measurement periodically. 

  

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I'll stop working on the inside and carry on with turning the correct form on the outside.  I'll turn another six or so inches down the outside matching up with the previous outside form but I won't turn down to the bottom; remember you want the mass for stability.

  

This is good time to point out the advantages of a secondary tool rest.  If you are working with just one tool rest, every time you have to make the transition from the inside to the outside, you'd have to remove the 50 lb. boring bar, adjust the tool rest over to the side then and then do it all again in reverse.  This procedure can be repeated six or more times.  Our secondary tool rests also have stops welded on the ends to prevent the boring bar from slipping off the tool rest.  Another important issue is that you want to maintain a consistent height of the tool rest to ensure that your cutter is at center. 

  

  

 

I like to attach the light that I use for thin wall turning up near the cutter so I can take a glance and see what's happening on the inside.  This is the same light setup we have available with our captive boring bar systems.  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep working your way down both the inside and out, forming the shape as you go, until you reach the bottom.

  

 

 

 

 

Note the laser light is just about ready to fall off the edge of the piece indicating that my wall thickness near the bottom of the vase is similar to where it was on the top.  

  

  

 

Now I clean up the inside bottom and turn it down to the depth that I want.  In this case the 17 inches will give me an 18 inch tall vessel.  Though this was pretty dry timber, by using the 1 � inch bar even at 17 inches, there was virtually no vibration.  Considering the bar was hanging over the tool rest 18 inches, this is pretty impressive.

  

  

 

 

 

Sand both the inside and out before you part the piece off. DO NOT attempt to sand the bottom of the vessel with the lathe running.  Only sand the interior side walls, avoiding the bottom.

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a parting tool, start parting off the vase at your desired height.  In this case it's 18 inches.

  

  

 

For safety reasons with the heavier thick wall pieces I use my rechucking spigot mounted in the tailstock to insure the vase won't break free prematurely when I'm parting down towards the center.  I'll part down to about an inch, stop the lathe and use a pull saw to complete the cut.

  

  

 

 

 

 

The 18 inch tall vessel turned with a pretty consistent 5/8 inch wall thickness.

  

  

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount the spigot chuck on to the headstock, then position the vase at center and secure using the tailstock.  

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the lathe running very slowly, gently turn out the bottom.  I use a � inch bowl gouge.  Remember I've left 1 inch thickness on the bottom so I'll turn out approximately 3/8 ".  I'll end up with a small nub in the bottom that I remove using a power chisel.

  

  

 

 

 

In many cases I like to remount my piece using a four jaw chuck so using a dovetail scraper I always turn a dovetailed recess in the bottom. This bottom recess will have to be sanded by hand.  I use the wave sanding disks mounted in a drill and normally it will only take a few minutes.

 

 Finished bottom.

  

  

 

Turning thicker deep vessels using a laser can give you some interesting design options.  Here you see a piece that I have carved and textured and a piece that has been carved to produce the spiraled look.  Two beautiful vessels that were turned using the techniques described above.

 

I hope you give it a try.

  

  

 

There are a number of laser measuring systems on the market (many of which I own) but most are designed for the small boring bars.  With a minor modification on the clamping mechanism on the upright arm any of them would be suitable for the 1 � inch bar.  Until now I've been using a great system that a friend Elio Menis (the inventor of the Elio Safe Drive) built for me.

   

Recently another friend, Fred Lindsay of Hendersonville, NC (www.lindsaylathetools.com) built me the finest laser measuring system I've ever seen.  For lack of a better description it's built like a brick outhouse with solid aluminum upright, clamp and parallel arm.  It's designed to reach over most any steady rest and could measure a good three feet deep.  Because of its weight and mass it's virtually vibration free.

 

A quick note here for my thanks to Gord for his patience while photographing this project. 

 

Many tools and accessories can seem quite complicated to those of us who aren't familiar with them and I remember the laser measuring system was one of those with me.  The simplicity and reliability of these systems can be quite rewarding and open up many more doors in the world of wood turning.

 

dvb

 

 

For those of you that would like to learn more regarding deep hollowing whether thin or thick, with the laser or the light to gauge wall thickness you can't go wrong with my instructional DVD.  It's called Brian McEvoy's Secrets to Mastering the Large Captive Boring Bar.  Hosted by Gord Langer it has over 90 minutes of detail taking you through the process from raw log to finished sanded piece.

 

Available at:

 

www.onegoodturn.ca

or

www.langercraftworks.com

 

  

   

 

  

 

 

These DVDs are available on our websites and make  great Christmas Gifts!

www.onegoodturn.ca

www.langercraftworks.com

 

TWO IN ONE SAFE DRIVE AND FACEPLATE

See a live demo on YouTube:

 

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQI_Zr7bC8


 

Now available in three sizes and are black zinc coated.

 

 
Available for immediate shipping at:
or
 

This is the ultimate tool kit for piercing your work. These pneumatic piercing systems are comfortable to use, the lightweight design and the 400,000 r.p.m. speed are ideal to embellish your work. The handpiece design allows for unwavering control of your cut. The carbide dental burs seem to last forever but when the need arises, take only seconds to replace.
 

The kit includes the handpiece kit, ball valve assembly, regulator, filter, hoses, aerosol oil, male and female quick connects, two burs. 

 

 
Available for immediate shipping at:
or
 

Two Piece Hollow Form DVD
 
2pc

Over 70 minutes of instructional footage.

 

Amateurs and professionals alike will learn Brian McEvoy's secrets to producing beautiful works of art using only basic woodturning tools.  Once you have mastered the two piece hollow form, you can let your imagination run wild and use this simple technique to turn out museum quality work.
 
Our Price: $29.99 + Shipping
Embellish your work


 
This 2 DVD set has over

4 hours of instruction and covers 4 projects from start to finish. 

 

The techniques covered in these 2 DVDs include: Woodburning, Piercing, Airbrushing & Texturing, a great value.

 
Our Price: $44.99 + Shipping
Preview our DVDs
 You can preview our DVDs on YouTube or at:

 

Deep Vessel Boring DVD

dvb

Over 90 minutes of instructional footage plus 20 minutes of bonus features.

 

Join master woodturner Brian McEvoy who will show the process from raw wood to sanded piece in easy to follow steps.  Create amazing pieces quickly with these never-before-seen secrets from a master woodturner.

 

Our Price: $29.99 + Shipping