Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
spiral lamp thingy...how?
Luke Herzberg
>Hi guys, I've never ventured into the round side here before, but I was browsing the new shop shots and saw that 4 spiral turned lamp, and I'll be darned if I have a clue as to how that was made. Amazing.
How was it done...or do I have to know the secret lathe handshake? ; )
Thanks,
Luke
Re: spiral lamp thingy...how?
John Lucas
>Luke
There are several ways to do it. One is to buy or build a Sears Router Crafter. This machine does it with the router. They don't make that machine anymore but a commercial one is available for a lot more dollars.
You can also do it with carving tools. I used a hacksaw blade to set the depth and start the spirals and then switched to a cabinet makers rasp to to the final shape.
I've also seen it done on a table saw with a special jig and dado blade. That was impressive.
The spirals I get...
Bob Hackett
>it`s the holes up thru the center of each spiral that`s throwing me.How about it John?
Mainely,Bob
Re: The spirals I get...
John Lucas
>Bob
There's 2 ways to do this that I've tried. one is to simply drill to the center using a forestner style bit. Follow the spiral and drill holes all the way down the spiral. If you do a spiral that has 2 starting points the drill will open up the center. Then you have to spend a lot of time cleaning things up.
Another method is to center drill the turning. As you cut your spiral you cut it deep enough to cut into the hollow center. This requires less clean up than the one above but is difficult to do in large sized because of the size of the hole.
Re: The spirals I get...
John Lucas
>Bob
This is an intersting site. I've seen the Legacy ornamental mill at work. It's expensive but it does a lot of stuff.
Re: spiral lamp thingy...how?
Ric Erkes
>The process is more time consuming than difficult. I use the drill press method.
Turn the candlestick (in this case) and leave a solid cylinder where the spirals will go. The cylinder does not have to have straight sides but will be easier to drill out if it does.
Draw spiral lines around the cylinder to look like a barber pole. I graph the cylinder and
then connect the dots.
Lay the cylinder in a 'V' block and drill along the lines. Clean up and sand the risers.
Are we talking about the same holes?
Bob Hackett
>I got the impression the maker drilled a hole up thru the center of each spiral leg and then ran a wire thru each of these holes to the sockets.In order to do this he would have to use a bit or process that followed the spirals.Either I`m missing something here of this guy`s a magician.
I understand the exterior spiral process,it`s the same as producing barley twists only broken thru to a hollow center.
Mainely,Bob