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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

OT - A traitor among us

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OT - A traitor among us

#1

OT - A traitor among us

Fred in NC

>Last September I passed that birthday that qualifies me for retirement and social security. My plans were to retire at the end of 2004, but my employer is keeping me until a couple of projects are completed. That will take a few months. A few of you know that I am a computer programmer or "Senior Software Engineer" with the senior part of the title being quite obvious.

Before my retirement plans changed, I decided to go back to college. Not that I need it, first because I already have a degree, and second because I am retiring. I just wanted to have something to do, in addition to my woodturning addiction, and take some fun courses. I enrolled at a nearby community college.

Now what makes me a traitor, at least in the purists opinion, is that one of my courses is CNC. That also happens to be a metal shop class.

My first lathe was a miniature metalworking one. Soon I bought my first woodworking lathe, and I was immediately hooked. I found however that I was able to do some tooling and make woodworking accessories with the metal working equipment. Very useful indeed!

I want to assure everybody that I will continue to turn wood the conventional way. If I ever make a CNC turning, I will not tell..... I promise!

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#2

Re: OT - A traitor among us

Paul Porter in Phoenix, AZ

>Sounds like fun to me, Fred. Enjoy it.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#3

Re: OT - A traitor among us

john Lucas

>Fred

I think you could do some really fun Ornamental turning with a CNC lathe or mill. I won't tell if you do.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#4

John Lucas ...

Fred in NC

>Actually I am very interested in ornamental turning. Being able to make parts is one reason for my interest in machine shop.

A well made Rose Engine is one of the projects I plan for the future. With CNC I can make extras on demand.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#5

Re: John Lucas ...

John Lucas

>Fred

I've been fascinated with ornamental turning for years but it's one of those things that is way above my wallet. I have been looking at the Smithy lathe/mill. I'll bet with that I could make a lot of the pieces and parts for an ornamental lathe. John

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#6

Re: OT - A traitor among us

Ron in Drums PA

>I was watching a show on TV. The host was the guy who played the mailman on "Cheers". This guy drives around USA and interviews different companies.

The show I watched was an episode about a company that turns clarinets. They where turning ebony on a CNC lathe.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#7

CNC Turning wood

Fred in NC

>Ron, did you notice if the clarinet blank was on a mandrel?

To make the hole concentric to the outside of the clarinet, it is easier to drill a hole lengthwise, and then mount the piece on a mandrel.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#8

Re: CNC Turning wood *LINK*

Ron in Drums PA

>Sorry, they where bagpipes, Now how the heck I got clarinets is beyond me.

Anyway here is a link so you can see for yourself.


Gibson Pipes

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#9

Re: CNC Turning wood

Doug Leite

>Ron,

On this website, I noted that all of the lathes were manual machine lathes, then down towards the bottom is a statement that CNC lathes are not suitable to their bagpipe production. It is a good and interesting link anyway. Thanks

Doug

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#10

Re: CNC Turning wood

Ron in Drums PA

>I must be in the middle of my first senior moment. Either that or I'm getting two shows mixed up.

Sorry!

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#11

Re: CNC Turning wood

Fred in NC

>Ron, bagpipes or any other wind instrument with a hole in the middle, it does not matter.

I question the statement that a CNC machine is not able to produce these parts. Maybe they said that because a certain CNC lathe was unable to produce the part. Also, maybe they have not updated the web site for a while.

CNC lathes, and more especially, CNC TURNING CENTERS are extremely sophisticated machines. Some of them have multiple tool heads, with tools able to work from the front and back at the same time. They also have tool turrets. Roughing out can be done with one tool, and other tools used for different phases of the process. The similarity with a lathe duplicator is very small.

Seen a Queen Anne leg lately? if it was recently made you are probably looking at a CNC made part.

In my own personal opinion, anything produced mechanically is not any more art than a bowl from the chain stores. But CNC fills a need for production environments.

My own views, and I will respect others' opinions.

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#12

Re: CNC Turning wood

Doug Leite

>Fred,

I agree with you completely. Back around 1970, I worked with NC machines, which preceded CNC and were not as sophisticated. I just pointed out what was said on the web site and I also wonder why they said that. NC or CNC machines can move the centering of the part to avoid flaws in the wood,etc. which is the reason that they gave. It is not just a "hit it and let it run deal", although it can be. I drool and dream of a CNC router and lathe, someday. I have given much thought to adding an computer controlled XY table to a wood lathe. To me the major problem is that you still need to sand it, and I don't see any CNC help for that.

Aloha,

Doug

Re: OT - A traitor among us

#13

Re: CNC Turning wood

Fred in NC

>Of course, the aim is to produce a part that does not need sanding. In a metal CNC machine the finish cut can be so fine that the part will look like it has already been polished. The cut has to be very small, and the feed rate slow.

For a lathe upgrade to CNC it is much wiser to start with a metal lathe. It has the crossfeed table and leadscrew already in. It will need the mounts for the stepper or servo motors, the motors, and a controller box.

Skipping defects in the workpiece is also possible to some extent. The starting point for the program can be changed easily.