Ajcoholic
12-06-2014, 02:32 PM
Although I have had my CNC router for close to three years now, and am using it for more and more things in the shop than I would have ever thought - I am still finding practical uses for it that save me time.
Some of you know I have an 80's era hydraulic single-point copy lathe. It follows a template/pattern to produce turnings quickly.
Previously I would have hand drawn, and then band sawed the template and then finished up by hand sanding and so forth. On some jobs, I might have to produce several patterns to produce sample turnings to show the prospective customers.
Recently I had realized that I can cut these on the CNC. Duh!!
So, for a new railing job I have, I drew up 3 new spindles and cut out the patterns on the router, from 3/4" Baltic birch. Drawing them on CAD is much faster now for me than doing it with pencil and paper. And, with the vacuum hold down I can throw on a pc of material, and cut out my template in a few minutes. And, using a 1/4" end mill, the inside corners are just the right shape to allow the lathe's stylus to follow the template smoothly.
All I do after is drill two holes in the ends to mount bewteen centres in the lathe and go turning!
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/th_IMG_2505_zpswq82emlt.mp4 (http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2505_zpswq82emlt.mp4)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2506_zps2ef6b0a1.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_2506_zps2ef6b0a1.jpg.html)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2508_zpscee3243f.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_2508_zpscee3243f.jpg.html)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_0013_zpsa50525e4.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_0013_zpsa50525e4.jpg.html)
Some of you know I have an 80's era hydraulic single-point copy lathe. It follows a template/pattern to produce turnings quickly.
Previously I would have hand drawn, and then band sawed the template and then finished up by hand sanding and so forth. On some jobs, I might have to produce several patterns to produce sample turnings to show the prospective customers.
Recently I had realized that I can cut these on the CNC. Duh!!
So, for a new railing job I have, I drew up 3 new spindles and cut out the patterns on the router, from 3/4" Baltic birch. Drawing them on CAD is much faster now for me than doing it with pencil and paper. And, with the vacuum hold down I can throw on a pc of material, and cut out my template in a few minutes. And, using a 1/4" end mill, the inside corners are just the right shape to allow the lathe's stylus to follow the template smoothly.
All I do after is drill two holes in the ends to mount bewteen centres in the lathe and go turning!
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/th_IMG_2505_zpswq82emlt.mp4 (http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2505_zpswq82emlt.mp4)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2506_zps2ef6b0a1.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_2506_zps2ef6b0a1.jpg.html)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_2508_zpscee3243f.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_2508_zpscee3243f.jpg.html)
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_0013_zpsa50525e4.jpg (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/ajcoholic/media/IMG_0013_zpsa50525e4.jpg.html)