Is it me..... or are Rutlands going to be selling Easy Tools

[paulm]

It's a very sensible question Elaine ! Just waiting till the cutters arrive so I can check the screw hole size and see if they will work with the Rolly Munro, or whether they need a different screw size and bar to suit. Might take a while to get here from the USA though but will let you know !

Cheers, Paul

 

[Elaine]

Cheers Paul. Fingers crossed then. Don't feel so daft after all :lol:

 

[Philip Streeting]

Before anyone who is going to make the tools with round bar has an accident, read the Easy Tool instructions and look at the videos on the site. The square and triangular cutters need to be presented to the wood dead square on at the centreline. Any other angle will provide you with a big catch, especially the square cutter versions. That's the reason for the square bar, to keep the cutter parallel to the centreline. It is possible to shear cut with the round cutter and you could use round bar for this but again the best cuts are produced when the cutter is parallel to the centreline. The screw won't fit the Munro shaft without some form of modification.

Also consider the cutters from the Sorby Turnmaster range, most of which are HSS and can be sharpened. Their range of scrapers might prove useful for finishing.

I have the EasyTool shaftsand a modified Turnmaster shaft which I use on my Monster rig. I have also made several home made versions. There are differences between the cutters on Ebay and the Easy originals, (square and round) and the triangular cutter is a completely different design.

Philip

 

[Philip Streeting]

I should have added that in my experience the carbide cutters are brilliant roughing tools but not so good at producing a fine finishing cut - on bowls for example I resort to the gouge to get a good finish after initial shaping. Others here with more experience with the easy style cutters might be able to offer different advice.

The Turnmaster shaft, round, has a flat back to maintain the parallel cut. The head has the facility to adjust to a 45 degree angle for shear cuts, The disadvantage is the long overhangs needed because the knurled shaft retaining nut gets in the way. I have removed this with my modified version.

 

[paulm]

Some good advice Philip, thanks very much.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Elaine]

As always good advice Phillip.

 

[nicguthrie]

@ Philip
I have a Turnmaster that I bought for easy roughing when I found it on a deal. I've noticed the same about the nut getting in the way and needing a big overhang because of it. As a tool it's great though, so I'd love to know what the modification is that you've done to avoid this? Does it require extensive metalworking know-how? Or is it a simple MacGyver job that I can do with duct tape and a paper-clip?

Nic

 

[xraymtb]

For those asking, I measured my spares and the 15mm cutter (from AZ) has a 4.4mm hole. The radiused 'square' cutter has a 6.25mm hole. I countersunk the mounting hole on my bar and it takes the square with the same M4 screw as the round.

 

[xraymtb]

Also note, I've never used the Easy tools so can't compare but am happy with the AZ cutters. The finish on face grain is good, lots of tearout on end grain though.

 

[paulm]

Thanks Mike, appreciate the info'.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Philip Streeting]

Couple of pics that will explain what I did to the Turnmaster.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74042013@N02/10387626176/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74042013@N02/10387637985/

 

[duncanh]

now I am starting with an embarrassed face as I think that's where my question will lead me...can the carbide cutters on eBay be screwed on to the roly Munro hollower?? I know nothing about making your own tools so please be gentle with your replies.

Cheers
Elaine :roll:

I have the original sized Munro tool and these cutters do not fit into that head. I made a short extension that will fit onto the end of the Munro tool and has a small threaded hole on the other end to take one of these cutter. I think it was m3 or m4. When the cutters arrived the holes were slightly too small but I managed to enlarge them using a carbide bit intended for drilling tiles

 

[nicguthrie]

Thanks for the tips Philip. I'll give that adaptation a shot, if I can be sure I'll not get lynched for messing up a £75 tool

Great idea - looks to me like it fixes almost everything wrong with the Turnmaster.

Nic.

 

[paulm]

Just ordered some of the carbide cutters, cheapest I found them was here http://stores.ebay.co.uk/AZ-Carbide-Ins ... ood?_rdc=1

I'll wait till they arrive and then decide how best to use them, would prefer to use round section mild or silver steel as then I can use in my Rolly Munro or Simon Hope sleeve type handles, but might go square section bar and dedicated handles, not decided yet.

My existing multi purpose shafts are drilled and tapped to 6mm and 5mm, whereas I think these cutters are mounted using 4mm screws which would be a nuisance otherwise I could use the existing shafts !

Cheers, Paul

Picked up a 12mm square, 300mm long piece of "key steel" from Cromwells this morning for £6.10, it's basically a decent quality piece of mild steel, following advice from Mike and Philip in the thread about using square stock rather than round given the cutter configurations.

Going back tomorrow morning to collect two more bits of the same that they were having delivered from head office overnight as I had the last one in the branch this morning.

By happy coincidence a wee padded envelope from the US arrived at lunchtime with my cutters and screws Only took a few days which was a pleasant surprise.

I chamfered the corners of the bar slightly for about a two inch length, to allow the bar to fit into the Rolly Munro and my other similar handle.

I then drilled and tapped a hole for the 4mm screws, mounted the round cutter and scribed around the base of it at the front top surface of the bar. Then set the Sorby Pro-edge table to 80 degrees to give a bit of relief under the cutter and rounded off the front end down to the scribed line so that the round cutter cutting edge overhangs very slightly but the bottom surface is well supported.

Then decided to grind away a little of the top surface of the bar to help with the location of the squarish cutters, so roughed that out on the grinding wheel and tidied up with a file. Took the recess about a mil' or so further back than intended but it's not really important.

Countersunk the top of the threaded hole slightly to allow the screwhead to sit low enough to hold the cutter in place.

Next one's I do I think the better sequence at the front end might be to grind the recess first, then locate the cutter and mark the centre, then drill and tap, then relieve the front edge as necessary, that ought to help with getting the back edge of the cutter lined up with the edge of the recess, but it's only a detail and not vital.

Had a very quick play with them before coming in for a cuppa, on a short cylinder of maple, used them on the outside as a spindle, and then hollowing into the end grain. Extremely impressed with the ease of use and how effectively and quickly it hollowed the end grain, effortless and no chattering or blocked cutter tips etc, just worked, fast and easy.

The finish looked decent too when I took lighter cuts with a delicate approach, some minor tearout on a tricky grain area, but nothing drastic at all on this piece of timber in any event.

Very, very impressed, and for the few quid involved an absolute bargain whether you buy from Peter's place in the UK or cheaper still (but a few days slower) from the US.

Some pics of the bits an pieces:-



















Give it a go, easy, cheap and very, very effective

Cheers, Paul

 

[xraymtb]

Looks good, very similar to how I did mine, the only difference being I recessed the cutter deeper in the bar (for no reason other than I removed the waste with a hacksaw and a shallow recess would have been tricky).

 

[joethedrummer]

Just ordered some of the carbide cutters, cheapest I found them was here http://stores.ebay.co.uk/AZ-Carbide-Ins ... ood?_rdc=1

I'll wait till they arrive and then decide how best to use them, would prefer to use round section mild or silver steel as then I can use in my Rolly Munro or Simon Hope sleeve type handles, but might go square section bar and dedicated handles, not decided yet.

My existing multi purpose shafts are drilled and tapped to 6mm and 5mm, whereas I think these cutters are mounted using 4mm screws which would be a nuisance otherwise I could use the existing shafts !

Cheers, Paul

Picked up a 12mm square, 300mm long piece of "key steel" from Cromwells this morning for £6.10, it's basically a decent quality piece of mild steel, following advice from Mike and Philip in the thread about using square stock rather than round given the cutter configurations.

Going back tomorrow morning to collect two more bits of the same that they were having delivered from head office overnight as I had the last one in the branch this morning.

By happy coincidence a wee padded envelope from the US arrived at lunchtime with my cutters and screws Only took a few days which was a pleasant surprise.

I chamfered the corners of the bar slightly for about a two inch length, to allow the bar to fit into the Rolly Munro and my other similar handle.

I then drilled and tapped a hole for the 4mm screws, mounted the round cutter and scribed around the base of it at the front top surface of the bar. Then set the Sorby Pro-edge table to 80 degrees to give a bit of relief under the cutter and rounded off the front end down to the scribed line so that the round cutter cutting edge overhangs very slightly but the bottom surface is well supported.

Then decided to grind away a little of the top surface of the bar to help with the location of the squarish cutters, so roughed that out on the grinding wheel and tidied up with a file. Took the recess about a mil' or so further back than intended but it's not really important.

Countersunk the top of the threaded hole slightly to allow the screwhead to sit low enough to hold the cutter in place.

Next one's I do I think the better sequence at the front end might be to grind the recess first, then locate the cutter and mark the centre, then drill and tap, then relieve the front edge as necessary, that ought to help with getting the back edge of the cutter lined up with the edge of the recess, but it's only a detail and not vital.

Had a very quick play with them before coming in for a cuppa, on a short cylinder of maple, used them on the outside as a spindle, and then hollowing into the end grain. Extremely impressed with the ease of use and how effectively and quickly it hollowed the end grain, effortless and no chattering or blocked cutter tips etc, just worked, fast and easy.

The finish looked decent too when I took lighter cuts with a delicate approach, some minor tearout on a tricky grain area, but nothing drastic at all on this piece of timber in any event.

Very, very impressed, and for the few quid involved an absolute bargain whether you buy from Peter's place in the UK or cheaper still (but a few days slower) from the US.

Some pics of the bits an pieces:-



















Give it a go, easy, cheap and very, very effective

Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul,,,,,,
That looks like a good result,,,,,,well done,,,,thinks I will be sourcing some square stock and placing an order with AZ,,,,

best regards,,joe,

 

[paulm]

Had a productive morning

Picked up the two additional bars of steel and set about completing those, so that each cutter has it's own bar, probably overkill but saves fiddling with screws and messing about when you just want to crack on with creating your wooden masterpiece (hammer)

Decided to leave the circular cutter on the original bar, and try and get the back edge of the recess on the new ones tighter to the back of the cutters, not essential but helps register the cutter squarely when tightening up the retaining screw.

Worked well this time following the new sequence in my last post, very pleased with the results. Took care with the depth of recess to ensure it wasn't as deep as the cutter depths, as I didn't want the sharp cutting edge to be damaged on the edge of the recess when tightening, so the recesses are about a mil' or so less than the cutter depths.

Also took the time to run the chamfers on the edges of the shafts further along the length of the shaft, to within an inch or so of the cutters, so I can have as much or as little of the shaft protruding from the handles as needed, should help with rigidity and also ease of use as the handles are quite long in themselves.

A drop of oil in the threaded holes and a rub of all the shafts with ren' wax, and the jobs done, all for the princely sum of about £17 for cutters and p&p (the round one was more expensive at around £7, and the square ones less than £4 each if I remember correctly), and £6 for a metal shaft.

Just need to put them to some serious use next







Cheers, Paul

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Does anyone have any theories as to why these cutters have to be presented 'flat' and on the centre line to avoid getting a catch? After all they are just being used as scrapers.

Normal scrapers are not this critical and I can present my Sorby RS200KT fitted with a straight or curved edge in the shear mode without getting a catch.

Regards Mick