Another way of doing 'feathers'

[skiprat]

I made this pen today and took some pics of how I did the cuts and also made the hole.
The cuts were done on my metal lathe with a slit saw. I used a rotary table to index and a vertical slide to control the depth of cut.
I always use a boring head to make the holes for the tubes when there is lots of segmenting or metal inlays etc. The blank didn't even get warm while making the hole. :biggrin:
You may make out the very thick CA coating I applied, to doubly make sure it held up until the tubes were in.
The slot is 2mm. The red material is in hindsight too soft for this type of inlay. Even with razor sharp tools, it was very difficult to get nice sharp edges / joints.

Cheers:biggrin:

 

[mark james]

Very interesting process! Please don't tease us - post the finished product when done! :tongue:

 

[walshjp17]

See the link in the first sentence

 

[mark james]

See the link in the first sentence

Oh that.... (THANKS!).

 

[Joe S.]

Is that a lathe... Mounted on your lathe?

 

[skiprat]

Is that a lathe... Mounted on your lathe?

Ha ha, not quite......

give me ten minutes or so and I'll take a pic from further back so you can see the entire affair....:biggrin:


Edit in;
Ok, here's some pics.
Essentially it's just a rotary table with a tailstock mounted to a homemade bracket. This assembly is then mounted on the vertical slide, and the whole thing ( which weighs a ton !! ) is then mounted onto the cross slide of the lathe. Easy huh?:biggrin:

 

[ironman123]

Great process Skip. Thanks for show and tell about it.

Ray

 

[Curly]

Any particular reason for using the boring bar in the boring head in the tailstock over using the boring bar in a tool holder and the tool post?

Thanks

 

[skiprat]

Any particular reason for using the boring bar in the boring head in the tailstock over using the boring bar in a tool holder and the tool post?

Thanks

I have both types and I can start with smaller pilot hole with the TS version.
You can also use the tailstock version on wood lathe.
You can also use the tailstock version for taper turning without upsetting the lathe tailstock.
I do use the toolpost type when doing large diameter or heavy work.:biggrin:


Thanks for all the comments. :wink:

 

[Curly]

It occurred to me after posting that once the boring bar is set for a particular size it can be removed from the tailstock and replaced later and still cut the same sized hole. Would that be true?

 

[skiprat]

It occurred to me after posting that once the boring bar is set for a particular size it can be removed from the tailstock and replaced later and still cut the same sized hole. Would that be true?

Yes....an ideal method when doing repeat sizes. Well thunked !! :biggrin: It also free's up the tool post.

I'm sure there are loads more advantages, but even with just the few so far, I reckon it justifies the cost.

Never be without that stupid off size drill bit again!!:tongue:

 

[JohnU]

I think (or hope)you should have kept a piece of that top blank view before drilling for a custom finial. I hope someday I can get half that precise with what I'm doing. Very inspiring!

 

[Bryguy]

Nice pen! Nice shop. Awesome equipment. I burn with envy!