# Ornamental Lathe



## Aderhammer (Jan 25, 2008)

Working on building an ornamental lathe to enhance my turnings (especially pens ) Felt like doing a build thread on the project, especially so others can use my ideas to make their own.  The base unit of the lathe is built almost word to word to these planshttp://www.woodturner.org/products/aw/,  but then it's also going to have options for 120 point indexing, and ornamental milling.  First step is to model the original lathe in Inventor 2008 and after that modifications will be made.  Instead of the called for 3/4" mdf for the table of the lathe, 1/2" corian has been substituted


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## R2 (Jan 25, 2008)

Are you sure  Corian will do the same job as MDF or ply? usually these materials are specified because of their properties and suitability for the particular purpose.


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## pssherman (Jan 25, 2008)

Arthur,
I think the corian will be suitable for this. MDF and plywood may be  specified because of cost and ease of working with it. A slab of corian of that size is going to cost a pretty penny. I seem to recall a price of $25 per square foot, which comes to $800 for a 4 x 8 sheet.

Andrew,
Good luck on your project, it is an ambitious one. Keep us posted on your progress.

Paul in AR


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## Glass Scratcher (Jan 26, 2008)

Seems I remember that MDF and plywood can take much more stress than corian. Corian counter-tops are usually glued down to plywood backing-boards, if'n I remember corectly as well.  Maybe someone in a counter-top crew knows more and can answer this one.

Regardless, I would like to see how it goes when you finish the ornamental lathe.


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## DozerMite (Jan 26, 2008)

> _Originally posted by pssherman_
> 
> Arthur,
> A slab of corian of that size is going to cost a pretty penny. I seem to recall a price of $25 per square foot, which comes to $800 for a 4 x 8 sheet.
> ...




I can buy 3/4" solid surface for $12-$15 a sq. ft. I get it direct from the manufacturer. I usually get the 1/4" though.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 26, 2008)

Ok to answer some questions, the corian is not structual and does not take any loads to it.  Grandfather gave us alot of corian last year and there is a good amount lying around the house.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 26, 2008)

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, the only part that is corian is the tan piece, everything else as of right now is 3/4" mdf.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 27, 2008)

Progress report on the design,
Getting ready to add the mods for the over head indexing router,
current mods, longer crank spindle, 120 toothe indexing gear, and the corian top.


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## jwoodwright (Jan 27, 2008)

That is going to be great.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 27, 2008)

^Best part is I have all the corian and mdf I need at home, so that is a cost of zero, so i'll maybe spend another $100 on a x-y drilling vice, dremel and right angle attachment.  My uncle is a supervisor I believe at a machine shop and he is able to make me parts and those will probably be free.  By wednesday I should have the final design completed with overhead router for indexing.  And the 4th will be my birthday so i'll have some money in to start and finish this machine!


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## Aderhammer (Jan 27, 2008)

Oh and for people who think modeling in Inventor is easy, this is my second project in it and so far i have 10+ hours modeling it.


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## karlkuehn (Jan 27, 2008)

heh...kids these days.

We used to have to draft those by hand! 

In the snow. Uphill.     Both ways.


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## jtate (Jan 27, 2008)

Is this what we would call a "rose engine" lathe?


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## Aderhammer (Jan 27, 2008)

The part thus far is a rose engine lathe, the head stock pivots,  there will be a way to lock the headstock at 90 degrees and then there will be an over head router that will be matched to the spindle so it will move in relation to the turning of the spindle to perform actions such as spiraling.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 27, 2008)

> _Originally posted by karlkuehn_
> 
> heh...kids these days.
> 
> ...


Karl truthfully i could have drafted the lathe by hand quicker than modeling in Inventor.


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## low_48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Andrew,
I'm interested in those type of machines as well. Have you seen the AAW chapter site for ornamental turning? They call themselves OTI, ornamental turnering international. Their web site is ornamentalturners.org   There a lot of guys on that site that made the MDF machine.

If you join you can go to their gallery and see a cutter made for a dremel. It uses two small triangular carbide inserts. I am working on my machine that uses a jet mini lathe for the body. It lets me use the standard pen mandrel.

I use the Proxon mini right angle grinder with the two tooth cutting disc for my machine, but it makes a pretty wide cut. I'm getting ready to post some pics of my machine.

I've also started another machine that will mainly have an osilating shaft. The shaft movement is parallel to the shaft. The work is done on the end grain and will cut patterns more closely to the spirograph patterns.

Good luck on your machine.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 28, 2008)

Actuall i just joined OTI.  I did see about the cutter for the dremel and made an inquiry about it.  I was going to use the dremel in a vice and use the right angle attachment to make the horizontal frame.


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## Aderhammer (Jan 29, 2008)

Ok an update.  This is a little bit of a teaser.  Have the bed extended, the ways mounted, the milling table on there and the plate that the router is mounted to.  Stay tuned for further updates!


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## Woodie49 (Feb 20, 2008)

Hows the Lathe coming?


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## Aderhammer (Feb 20, 2008)

Parts have been outsourced, the over head router part is being built totally different but i'm a little too lazy too go back and model it, besides i work better making the solutions on the go.  One of the changes that i made not evident in the screen shots is the fact that i have added a MT2 to the spindle with a knockout hole, hopefully my uncle gets the parts back soon, the only thing he's charging me for is to order in the 1.5" steel for the spindle, so $20 total in parts!


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## follow3 (Feb 21, 2008)

Not to sound stupid here... but, exactly what will this thing do to a pen?

I know what you can do with this for bowls, boxes etc. but not pens.

Please enlighten me....er uh us???

Thanks,
Steve


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## R2 (Feb 21, 2008)

> _Originally posted by Aderhammer_
> 
> Ok an update.  This is a little bit of a teaser.  Have the bed extended, the ways mounted, the milling table on there and the plate that the router is mounted to.  Stay tuned for further updates!


We await your developments with great interest.[:X]


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## jwoodwright (Feb 21, 2008)

Wow!  That's coming right along...


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## Aderhammer (Feb 21, 2008)

> _Originally posted by follow3_
> 
> Not to sound stupid here... but, exactly what will this thing do to a pen?
> 
> ...


I want to use it for closed end pens for doing a cool finish like a finial in the end, and mabye do some neat stuff to makes grips etc. for the pens.  I'll find ways to do pens on it


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