Crown Revolution

Re: Crown Revolution

John C Lucas

Are you hollowing the entire vessel. I often did my hollow segmented forms as 2.bowls and cleaned the inside with a bowl gouge. So the only thing i had to clean up was the lip of the vessel and the joint. Been a long time since i e done one of those. So glad your gettig back into turning. Your finishes are top notch and the newer turners ca learn a lot.

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

Good to hear from a turner of your experience and caliber, John. Yes, I have done half and half forms, and probably will in the future, but I find that no matter how good you are, it is tough to build two halves with thin walls and get them to match up really well with segment alignment, etc (talking 3/8" walls or maybe less). I have always preferred to build the forms up (full or half and half) with about 3/4 of an inch thick walls, then do final shaping (sometimes the shape evolves differently than the original plan), and then work on that final wall thickness. Even with a 3/4" wall, on a 12"plu high piece, there is not alot of strength or stability, and you have to use some sort of Carter-type multi-rest.

I have yet to haul out my old Jamieson Captured Hollowing System, and that may be the way I end up.

Mark

Re: Crown Revolution

John C Lucas

Mark. I just got a book by Helga Becker and she swaers by that tool. I watched a demo one time on using a similar tool and he made it look un catch able. I thik the only complaints ive hears is clogging but that will be less of a problem with dry wood. Hopefully you will hear from actual users.

Re: Crown Revolution

Keith tompkins

Welcome back Mark!!

Welcome back, and I've often wondered.....

JamieDonaldson

.....what you've been up to, maybe some serious shooting? There have been many new hollowing tools hit the market during your absence.

Re: Crown Revolution

Peter Hyde

The Rolly Munro system is far superior. I have both and the Crown just doesn't come close in my opinion.

I've got carbide cutters for the Munro from Packard and also have the older mini version.

It's got to the point where I use the Munro even on bowls especially when running into crazy grain situations.

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

Hi Keith, glad to see you are still at it.

Mark

Re: Welcome back, and I've often wondered.....

mkauder

Hi Jamie,

Yeah, I am still hot and heavy in the shooting stuff, too. So dividing my no-so-free time with it and turning. Turning is the more creative side.

Yes, I first saw some German made ring tool with a limiter, that the Crown seems to be a near copy of.

I first bought a Pro-Form, but while I have not fully explored it, I am not that thrilled with it.

I got anxious yesterday, and went ahead and ordered the Crown, and will see for myself...............ordered from Amazon so it will be easy to return, but even if I do not like the ring cutter, it come with some scrapers and the articulated head that may be useful in and of itself. I have piece on the lathe now with a small opening and cannot quite get to the spot I want to for some final finishing at a spot you can just feel if you stick your finger in.......that none of my other tools can get too.

Mark

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

Darn it, Peter, now one more tool to wonder and obsess about..........

Mark

Re: Crown Revolution

Peter Hyde

Both the Crown and the Munro have the same drawback and that is the articulation. The screws just don't hold the links firmly enough. I went to the local hardware store and bought lots of replacement screws because I kept stripping the heads whilst tightening. The new Rolly Munro addresses that problem by having small serrations on the mating surfaces so a lot more resistance to sideways forces.

Also the heavier shafts and links are definitely superior to the Crown system.

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

What I am afraid of is that I will find out that what works best is the Pro-form cutter on the New Munro shaft in the Crown handle.............. LOL But you have to buy the whole system from each to get the part you need.

I'm going to do a test this weekend *LINK*

john lucas

Mark I am going out to the shop and look shortly. I have a new tool from Mike Hunter called the Clewes 1st mate and 2nd mate. Although they were designed for use similar to a scraper they cut much cleaner. However I think they can be used with the cutter facing the wall of the vessel where they cut like a shear scraper and leave a very nice finish. I do that already with a #5 straight tool and #5 full swan neck. These tools work fantastic but the shank is relatively short so wouldn't be good for larger vessels. Well the Swan neck tool would because you would be using that mostly for under the lip. Using the #5 straight tool for my boxes I hardly have to sand the inside, usually just touch up with 320 or 400 grit.

Anyway I want to take the Mate tools and see if they can be used this way. Then shank is longer and larger and should reach the bottom of taller vessels. I'll try to do that sometime today and see what I think. If you want to see how the Hunter tools work, and they are fantastic, go to youtube and check out some of my videos. I'll post one here, I have several on the different tools and how they are used.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfp2kvhH6Mo

Re: I'm going to do a test this weekend

John C Lucas

I tried it. The mate tools.can be tilted to the left with the cutter down and facing the work ut they wint go as deep as the #5 ad the hadle has to be swung out a wYs whi h would make it hard to get through a small opening.

Re: I'm going to do a test this weekend

John C Lucas

I built a.tool years ago that would work for much of the vessel. It was similar.to the #4 hunter but on a 3/4" bar ad was 15" long. I gave that one away. I still hae one i built that i call the monster Osprey. It has a steeper front angle and a larger bar.

Re: I'm going to do a test this weekend

Bill Blasic

Unless they have changed since reviewed them in More Woodturning Magazine they have a rectangular body with pretty sharp corners which I would not try using on a hollow form with a small hole. They work great for boxes. vases and even bowls. They are somewhat self limiting as far as depth of cut and used flat on the tool rest they leave a very good finish.

The Osprey is round, the Hercules is rectangular

john lucas

I have a design in mind that I'm going to play with, although I may not get to build it until next weekend. I'll use the large Hunter cutter and mount it so that it will face the wall of a vessel. I'm going to try and make a wooden mock up today with swiveling joints so that I can play with the angle of the cutter to get a shear scrape on as much of the inside of a hollow vessel as I can reach with one tool. These cutters leave a very smooth finish when used as shear scrapers and I think If I can find the right angle this will be a very good tool for final cleaning up of hollow forms.

right now I'm still playing with the #1 mounted in a lyle Jamieson swiveling head. If your really careful you can get a really good finish. The problem is the cutter cuts so easily it takes a lot of skill to get a smooth finish with no dips where the cutter takes too big of a bite. Probably if I did a lot more hollow forms I would learn to use this tool. I'm hoping my design with the larger cutter and a shear angle will give a clean cut without the little dips.

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

So as I said above, I got antsy and went ahead an bought a Crown Revolution (from Amazon, figuring if it was totally unsuitable, it is easy to return). Got it yesterday, and did a little of the work I specifically described needing it for, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Unlike some of the other Hook or Rink tools, it cuts in a very controlled manor without the catching and grabbing I experienced with the Pro-Form tool. The adjustable depth limiter/chip breaker, really works to keep you from getting bad catches - once the tool rotates to a certain degree down - it kicks the cutter away from the wood. It very, safely, controllable in delicate areas. Thus far, I will say the will remain in my arsenal regular tools..........Though, now you guys got me thinking about the Munro tool too............ So many tools, so little time and money.

Re: Crown Revolution

Bill Blasic

I use the Pro-Forme Flexi Hollower and I have not had any catches and it is not grabby. I was amazed that the very small amount of cutter exposed under the limiter removed an enormous amount of wood. I can barely feel the cutting edge yet it just peels the wood. How much of the cutter is exposed on your setup as I think that I have just a few thousands exposed.

Re: Crown Revolution

mkauder

I think the Pro-Form will work out great, eventually It is just that I was at some very delicate points in the turning, and could not afford a catch, and did not have something I could experiment with much on the adjustment.

The Quality of the tool is great and holds promise.

Mark