My Jig

[Alzey]

so I'm down to hand saws, my cheap miter box, a belt/disk sander, a dremel, and my general hulk smashness.

Not sure about where you are. When I was in the military (15 years ago) we had wood hobby shops on base that had all the gear you could use for a low rate. Might be an option.

 

[jyreene]

None here unfortunately. I'm not worried about it. I can do a lot of it by hand I think. Plus I'm pretty sure I will be able to convince my wife to let me get a new band saw after my next deployment.

And they've been closing a lot of them down.

 

[jtj]

Hmm, so you want to incorporate veneers

What I'd really like to do is to be able to make a cut as thin as a veneer. Not sure if or how that might be possible.

You can get end mills starting at 0.005" and going up from there. The depth of cut is 3X the diameter so you would have to have your blank basically turned to size before you inlaid the veneer. The shank diameter is 1/8" on them so they would fit a Dremel or you can get after market collets for routers that will hold 1/8" bits. I don't know how well they will work I just know you can buy them:
Carbide Micro End Mill, Carbide Micro End Mills, Micro EndMill

You might have better luck with doing a segmented stave if you want to incorporate veneer, as the thickness get measured in mils at times, but opps there goes another vortex. :bananen_smilies051:

JT

 

[EBorraga]

John, you mentioned there is much that can be done. Looking forward to hearing more, when ever you have the time.

You need to mount the dremel vertical and use a v-bit. You also need to offset the blank in the chuck to produce the v cut, or point technique. All pool cues are made this way, just like the rings you've already made. One thing you will need is an indexing head stock, so you can make it symetrical. There's a cuemaker close to you that would probably be helpful in this. Sherman, or Shermcue, is in Cincinatti. I'm sure you probably frequent AZ, you can also find tons of info there.

I cheat on the ones I make, as I use a hightower deluxe. Hope this helps a little.

 

[jyreene]

I am amazed. I'm pretty much responding to put it in my archive so I can try and figure out how to do this without the router (don't own one and don't really want one yet unless I can't do this without it or can't figure it out).

Do what is my question to you??? Not sure what you want to do. If it is to put layers together you can do with a tablesaw or even a bandsaw. There was a person here that showed us basically the same patterns using stave cuts on his tablesaw. Do a google seach for that and he shows that system.

Other than that please state what you are looking to do and maybe more help can come your way.

Thank you for the offer of help. Okay so I've looked at what I can do and I'm completely stumped. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck waiting until I have a few more tools (well I know of at least one and I'll get to that) to do this.

I have a dremel (plug in thankfully) so I'm sure I can buy a few bits that would make this work but that is pretty much where it ends for me (other than a nice delta lathe and drill press that my wife let me get a while ago as a nice present). As I said I have no table saw and unless I can fix my band saw I'm down to just the cheap plastic miter box for now.

Questions, for mounting the dremel to the lathe...I'm pretty much at a loss as to how. I understand what it means and that's pretty much that. No idea how to do it or if there's some special jig. I'm believe I would have to buy and indexing tool but I think I could use calipers and measuring dozens of times to get the cuts even (is that true?).

I had more questions but I'm pretty tired. New baby didn't sleep well last night. I'll post more when/if I remember them.

 

[airborne_r6]

I am amazed. I'm pretty much responding to put it in my archive so I can try and figure out how to do this without the router (don't own one and don't really want one yet unless I can't do this without it or can't figure it out).

Do what is my question to you??? Not sure what you want to do. If it is to put layers together you can do with a tablesaw or even a bandsaw. There was a person here that showed us basically the same patterns using stave cuts on his tablesaw. Do a google seach for that and he shows that system.

Other than that please state what you are looking to do and maybe more help can come your way.

Thank you for the offer of help. Okay so I've looked at what I can do and I'm completely stumped. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck waiting until I have a few more tools (well I know of at least one and I'll get to that) to do this.

I have a dremel (plug in thankfully) so I'm sure I can buy a few bits that would make this work but that is pretty much where it ends for me (other than a nice delta lathe and drill press that my wife let me get a while ago as a nice present). As I said I have no table saw and unless I can fix my band saw I'm down to just the cheap plastic miter box for now.

Questions, for mounting the dremel to the lathe...I'm pretty much at a loss as to how. I understand what it means and that's pretty much that. No idea how to do it or if there's some special jig. I'm believe I would have to buy and indexing tool but I think I could use calipers and measuring dozens of times to get the cuts even (is that true?).

I had more questions but I'm pretty tired. New baby didn't sleep well last night. I'll post more when/if I remember them.

I mounted my Dremel to the lathe last week and will post pictures later today. What I did could easily be done with the tools you have.

 

[jttheclockman]

John, you mentioned there is much that can be done. Looking forward to hearing more, when ever you have the time.

You need to mount the dremel vertical and use a v-bit. You also need to offset the blank in the chuck to produce the v cut, or point technique. All pool cues are made this way, just like the rings you've already made. One thing you will need is an indexing head stock, so you can make it symetrical. There's a cuemaker close to you that would probably be helpful in this. Sherman, or Shermcue, is in Cincinatti. I'm sure you probably frequent AZ, you can also find tons of info there.

I cheat on the ones I make, as I use a hightower deluxe. Hope this helps a little.

You do not have to mount the dremel vertical. You can very easily use my jig to make points. Your way is just one way. Like I said there are so many ways to accomplish the same things in woodworking and sometimes it takes a bit of imagination. I just went back to work again and i will be at this job for about 3 to 4 months so my shop time is once again limited. If and when I make a cue pen with points I will be sure to take photos of the process and you would be amazed how easy it can be done.

As far as using a router or a dremel tool the jig I shown is the same. I mentioned the important parts at the very beginning of this. Making a holder for the dremel is the biggest key after you made the platform.

I sure hope others give this system a try. It has so much potential in blank maing I can not begin to describe. Just needs imagination. Hopefully I can get a few pens done within the next couple weeks. I need things to settle down into a normal rythem again. Starting a new job and getting men situated takes some planning and time. Will see what happens. Good luck to all.

 

[mpex]

You need to mount the dremel vertical and use a v-bit. You also need to offset the blank in the chuck to produce the v cut, or point technique. All pool cues are made this way, just like the rings you've already made. One thing you will need is an indexing head stock, so you can make it symetrical. There's a cuemaker close to you that would probably be helpful in this. Sherman, or Shermcue, is in Cincinatti. I'm sure you probably frequent AZ, you can also find tons of info there.

I cheat on the ones I make, as I use a hightower deluxe. Hope this helps a little.

Yes, I frequent AZ. I'm an avid pool player, cue collector (small cheap collection,) and am starting to make Joint Protectors as well.

I'm sure John is right. I will be trying this the next time around but I believe you can do it with the JT jig. There is also no need to have a tailstock that will offset as you can just offset the jig.

How do you like the Hightower deluxe? I have been looking for a metal lathe to start doing some cue work. Should I be looking at the Hightower?

 

[airborne_r6]

jyreene

Here is some pictures I took of the jig that holds my Dremel. Please be aware that this jig was not intended for this use it was the very first of several steps in developing a different jig.





I attempted a couple cuts in a piece of walnut to see how it would work. The first cut I had the bit set too deep and couldn't control it.



I tried it again taking passes of about 1/32". This worked pretty good but on the third pass it rode up and widened the hole. The only bit I have that would work is the ball end one which you see in the pictures. A square end one may have worked better.



If you really want to do this type of segmenting I would buy a router. The Dremel will probably work but with the limited experience I had with it today it would take along time to make the cuts and you would probably ruin more blanks than not. You can get decent routers for $100 and you can probably get a used one cheaper if you watch ebay and craigslist. If you do want to attempt it let me know and I will tell you how I would redesign the jig to make it more successful.

 

[jttheclockman]

I just looked at something just awhile ago as I read the last post about the dremel setup. It was the amount of views this topic has gotten. Closing in on 8000. Not sure what other topic on this forum has gotten this many hits Someone has been following this and for that I hope it has been helpful. Only one person has come forward to telling us they have used this jig setup and even has shown some of his work. I would hope if there are others using this setup that you would maybe give us a headsup or a photo or 2. If you have made any further revisions I would be very interested in them. If you want to stay annominous that is OK too. Just looking for some chatter.

I am going to try to get into the shop and finish up a couple pens that I have used this jig on so as to maybe give some more ideas as to its use. Happy turning everyone.

 

[EBorraga]

This is the only pic I have on my computer. Exact same setup, except use a v-bit.

 

[Hexhead]

MPEX, By the looks of the cut it appears to mean that you have some movement in your indexing system. This has to be rock solid with no play. The torque from the router and bit wants to turn the blank, even the slightest play in your index can cause the line not to be straight. Just my two cents.

 

[nx95240]

This is the only pic I have on my computer. Exact same setup, except use a v-bit.

Would like to hear more about the sit up with servo motors. Can you tell us?

 

[jyreene]

Wayne - thanks that's a big help. Now I wish the rest if my woodworking skills were anywhere near that. "Precision" and my skills are not in the same wood shop yet. But I hope they will be. Eventually I hope to have to time to find some woodworking classes.

John- I promise to post my attempts once I do them. I honestly think I might just try to freehand carve it, either by dremel or actual carving tools. I will look back through this post (on my phone so I can't do that at the same time) to see if this is already mentioned but what are the white inlay and black inlay portions made of?

 

[DaveTTC]

Ok. So I'm having a pretty hard time with this setup now. Getting pretty frustrated.

First I wanted to show 1 of 2 mods I made to the setup. This doesn't have anything to do with the problem, just showing it for ideas if anyone else is building one. This is the sliding foot under the lathe rail.

So my problem is that my cuts are pretty horrible as you can see from the photos below. They are sometimes jagged, sometimes they are 'stepped.' Don't know how else to phrase it. What I mean is on a second depth cut, they cut into a different spot. I'm trying my best to stay online,

I'm wondering if the problem has anything to do with what appears to me to be a lot of 'play' in the Colt Router riser. When I am using the thumb wheel to wind it back down to Zero, it has a lot of trouble, most of the time it seems like it skips the thread all together. I have to switch it to unlock and push it down. But even in the lock position, there seems to be too much movement.

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks as always!

I have not read all the posts yet and this may have been resolved

My first guess is you were using the router left to right.

Going right to left the bit will pull 'down' on the blank and so long as your router is firm on a solid bed as you slide it along and the indexing is firmly locked. Doing it that way you should get a straight line.

 

[jyreene]

Ebony holly and aluminum. Just found those in the posts. Now to figure out how to make a jig for a hand saw and how to mark a jig that actually is functional unlike my last ones.

 

[DaveTTC]

jyreene

Here is some pictures I took of the jig that holds my Dremel. Please be aware that this jig was not intended for this use it was the very first of several steps in developing a different jig.

I attempted a couple cuts in a piece of walnut to see how it would work. The first cut I had the bit set too deep and couldn't control it.

I tried it again taking passes of about 1/32". This worked pretty good but on the third pass it rode up and widened the hole. The only bit I have that would work is the ball end one which you see in the pictures. A square end one may have worked better.

If you really want to do this type of segmenting I would buy a router. The Dremel will probably work but with the limited experience I had with it today it would take along time to make the cuts and you would probably ruin more blanks than not. You can get decent routers for $100 and you can probably get a used one cheaper if you watch ebay and craigslist. If you do want to attempt it let me know and I will tell you how I would redesign the jig to make it more successful.

While a router may a better option I still think the Dremel should work. In this case as you mention I think it is simply the jig. Support at the ends rather than centre will provide a better cut. That and my preceding post.

Hope I'm not travelling ground all ready trodden. There are a number of pages here.

 

[airborne_r6]

Ebony holly and aluminum. Just found those in the posts. Now to figure out how to make a jig for a hand saw and how to mark a jig that actually is functional unlike my last ones.

If you post up some rough drawings of what you are trying to do and tell us what tools you have available someone can probably help you out. Running your plans past everyone else first may save you some frustration.

Also, if you need I some jig pieces that we can't figure out a way for to do I would be happy to make some parts and send them to you.

 

[mpex]

Carbide Micro End Mill, Carbide Micro End Mills, Micro EndMill

Thanks! Definitely going to look into that.

You might have better luck with doing a segmented stave if you want to incorporate veneer, as the thickness get measured in mils at times, but opps there goes another vortex. :bananen_smilies051:JT

Thanks. This is yet another vort...err... thing to think about!

MPEX, By the looks of the cut it appears to mean that you have some movement in your indexing system...

This problem was solved a few weeks ago. It was actually that I was attempting to change the depth of my cuts using the depth gauge (not sure what it is actually called) on my router, rather than doing it by hand. No problems now. Perfect cut every time!
_____________________________________
Now on to new business:

Just finished 2 more. Took the whole week to complete, which is about 20 hours here and there. I'm doing 2-3 at a time for 2 reasons. One, it's more efficient. Don't have to reset things as many times. Two, in case one blows up, I am not completely heart broken and have another to work on. But what is a guy to do when they both blow up?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

One blank of each pen blew up on the pen mill. Just about cried. Then I picked up the pieces, glued them back together, taped them up and then tried again. This time I used a belt sander (disc would have been better) to get this almost to the brass and then used the carbide pen mill for the last little bit. Going forward, I don't think a pen mill is the way to go on these thin wall segments. Esp. when it's ebony. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

So, I finished both. Won't have final photos until next week. But here are a few after the blank was built with my plans. I'm thinking about incorporating the sketches into the final photo. I just think there is a certain beauty to the planning process itself.

Ebony/Maple Skyscraper Jr. Gent II. After I got to this point, I realized that I didn't need this jig to make this one happen. Going forward, I probably still use the jig as I think it saves a day of gluing over splitting a square blank.

Bacote/Ebony Cigar. My first cigar pen. My wife pointed out it looks like a 35mm film reel with sprokets once it was done. Not crazy about the cigar kit. The Jr.Gents are so far the only kit I've found that I like and even that one I have some major problems with (separate post.) One of the end segments cracked when I assembled it. Freaking sucks when something like that happens at the last minute. Not sure how or if I can repair. Will post photos of that later as well. Need my macro lens.

Last photo is the one I am currently working on. You can probably see it just by looking at the segments and the sketch. Won't be able to work on this any more until next week.

Ebony/Maple/Spalted Tamarind Jr. Gent II

 

[DaveTTC]

One blank of each pen blew up on the pen mill. Just about cried. Then I picked up the pieces, glued them back together, taped them up and then tried again. This time I used a belt sander (disc would have been better) to get this almost to the brass and then used the carbide pen mill for the last little bit. Going forward, I don't think a pen mill is the way to go on these thin wall segments. Esp. when it's ebony. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

Carbide cutters are not as sharp as HSS. I have had a few particularly fragile timbers that when turned thin have just exploded. After wrecking about 4 blanks I decided to try with a scraper. It worked. Obviously want as sharp as possible.

 

[mpex]

One blank of each pen blew up on the pen mill. Just about cried. Then I picked up the pieces, glued them back together, taped them up and then tried again. This time I used a belt sander (disc would have been better) to get this almost to the brass and then used the carbide pen mill for the last little bit. Going forward, I don't think a pen mill is the way to go on these thin wall segments. Esp. when it's ebony. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

Carbide cutters are not as sharp as HSS. I have had a few particularly fragile timbers that when turned thin have just exploded. After wrecking about 4 blanks I decided to try with a scraper. It worked. Obviously want as sharp as possible.

The problem I've had with the non-carbide is that after using for 20-30 pens I think they get dull. It takes a lot more pressure to make the cut and it ends up burning the ends in the process. I tried using the diamond card to sharpen but it didn't do anything.

 

[DaveTTC]

The problem I've had with the non-carbide is that after using for 20-30 pens I think they get dull. It takes a lot more pressure to make the cut and it ends up burning the ends in the process. I tried using the diamond card to sharpen but it didn't do anything.

you would definitely benefit from a sharpening system. you made this jig you can make some sharpening jigs. Google captain Eddie sharpening jig. I don't have the link but Captain Eddie has a channel on YouTube an done of his videos he shows how to make a sharpening jig for $2

He has a heap of videos, he even gives pics email and offer to send details via email how to do some of the things he demonstrates. Well worth the time