Router Lathe WIP

[davem62]

Nice to watch Colin your a clever man, I presume the next part wil be when the router arrives that you've been waiting for
Regards David

 

[Walney Col]

I've already made a trimmer router mount Daving so I'll be trying that first, but yes, the new router was bought in anticipation of a trimmer router not being quite beefy enough.

Col.

 

[Walney Col]

The latest video in the router lathe build is now on youtube and documents installing the carriage assembly. A couple of minor jobs still remain to be done but basically it's now ready for use and I hope to upload a video showing it's fist cuts within a few days.

[youtube]eunwHvSPiDg[/youtube]
Col.

 

[Walney Col]

I did the very first planing cuts on my router lathe this aft.

Lots of lessons to be learned from it, not least of which is if you're going to make something round out of rectangular stock for heaven's sake save yourself a whole load of time and knock the corners off on the bansaw before you start. Another lesson I learned as I began to turn the feed rate up a bit is I really (REALLY) need to make some sort of guard in an attempt to keep at least some of the chips off me. ;-)

Having said that it went pretty well. It was only 4 degrees above freezing in the shed today so I didn't fancy staying out for long but in a little over 20 minutes I'd set the machine up for planing and made 4 progressively faster 3mm deep cuts with a 1" flat bottomed cutter with the photo showing it approaching the end of the last one. Tomorrow (all things being equal) I hope to finish rounding it and make a start on some sort of spiral cuts. I only have a limited number of cove cutters (1/2 inch and 1 inch) and the 1" cutter only has a 1/4" shank so I'm not sure how it'll cope but I plan on giving it a go.

A short video of one of the cuts...
[youtube]Ezz7pvrlI3k[/youtube]

Col.

 

[timber]

I did the very first planing cuts on my router lathe this aft.

Lots of lessons to be learned from it, not least of which is if you're going to make something round out of rectangular stock for heaven's sake save yourself a whole load of time and knock the corners off on the bansaw before you start. Another lesson I learned as I began to turn the feed rate up a bit is I really (REALLY) need to make some sort of guard in an attempt to keep at least some of the chips off me. ;-)

Having said that it went pretty well. It was only 4 degrees above freezing in the shed today so I didn't fancy staying out for long but in a little over 20 minutes I'd set the machine up for planing and made 4 progressively faster 3mm deep cuts with a 1" flat bottomed cutter with the photo showing it approaching the end of the last one. Tomorrow (all things being equal) I hope to finish rounding it and make a start on some sort of spiral cuts. I only have a limited number of cove cutters (1/2 inch and 1 inch) and the 1" cutter only has a 1/4" shank so I'm not sure how it'll cope but I plan on giving it a go.

There's a short video of the last cut here https://youtu.be/Ezz7pvrlI3k

Col.

Very well done indeed
Sawdust and chip with and on everything, also, with my Legacy router lathe. I keep trying to make guards guards The latest is using the bristles out of a large paint/emulsion brush
Regards
Timber

 

[sploo]

Looking good. A perspex cabinet to enclose the whole thing would be the dust control solution for visibility, or a CNC machine type dust foot around the router (plus extraction) would help too - at the expense of losing visibility. I made one by removing the clumps of bristles from a large broom (long bristles are a must).

 

[Walney Col]

Thanks lads. I already have some perspex for a chip guard and the plans also show a dust shoe but in the interest of having an unhindered view of the action till I get used to how it behaves I haven't got round to making either yet.

 

[Walney Col]

First spiral cuts...

It all went off quite well. No big surprises and the machine worked exactly as expected withe the minor exception of having a bit more play in the vertical carriage than I'd have liked. It has a carriage lock which prevents it's crew from turning (so that vibration can't gradually increase it's depth of cut) but with hindsight I should have come up with a lock for the slide rather than the screw because the small amout of play that exists in the slide gets amplified the longer the router bit you use and as you can see in the photo it's leaving telltale chatter markes in the spirals. Not a big deal to fix, thankfully, and the video should be uploaded by tomorrow morning.

Col.

 

[Lons]

Just found this thread Col. Love it but far too clever for me.

How did you manage to get your other half to let you into the house with that never mind help you. I'd be out on my ear!

Bob

 

[Walney Col]

Cheers Bob, it's taken a while but it's been a really enjoyable process.

As for the other comment, *looks round nervously* dont tell her I said this but it's taken 43 years of training. ;-)

Col.

 

[Lons]

Cheers Bob, it's taken a while but it's been a really enjoyable process.

As for the other comment, *looks round nervously* dont tell her I said this but it's taken 43 years of training. ;-)

Col.

Mine's gone to bed so I'm safe but 45 years for us in March and I'm still where I started. #-o

 

[Walney Col]

That doesn't sound very promising Bob. If I accidentally did something right with mine I've no idea what it was but Im thankfull all the same.

 

[Walney Col]

Yesterday's spiral cutting video is up.
[youtube]y5DOQWiexOQ[/youtube]

Col.

 

[andys wood shed]

Looking good you will soon be trying hollow spirals

 

[Walney Col]

I don't have a very wide range of router bits to choose from at the mo Andy but hollow flutes and spirals is definitely something I'd like to try.

Col.

 

[Walney Col]

I cut 4 opposing spirals in my test piece today. I used mole grips to clamp the vertical carriage and I'm happy to say it got rid of most of the chatter so that's going to be an easy fix.

The missus like it so much she wants me to use it for something and I suggested as the central leg of a small table so there might well be a video of that in the not too distant future.

[youtube]tAm4AygzWpY[/youtube]

Col.

 

[n0legs]

Absolutely brilliant Col =D>

 

[Walney Col]

Thanks nolegs. It'll do quite a lot more than I've shown so far but the wife's away till the weekend so I'm going to take a bit of a break for a few days then glue another couple 2x4s together to try a bit of profile cutting.

Col..

 

[murphy]

Brilliant job Col, I love what you have done so far, I was tempted to make one myself or rather copy yours, but I still have an old Trend routerlathe that I used for Grandfather clocks some years ago, and I have not used it since, it has a limited length of cut but did what I wanted at the time, I don't think I would use it very much but I enjoy making machines

 

[Walney Col]

Thanks Murphy, and that's a georgous clock I'd be over the moon if I'd made it. My router lathe can handle anything up to approx 32" long and 6" diameter but there's no way I can afford multiple pieces of good quality hardwood with those sort of dimensions but I'm happy enough just to plod along using spruce or pine glue-ups for the time being and save any posh work for when there's less chance of me cocking it up.
Col.