What you think about duplicator?

[Luff]

Hi

I think about buying the psi duplicator lately and I'd like to know your opinion about this product.

Does some people think it's cheating?
Can you advertise it as handmade?
Do you get less credit for it?

I plan to use it with slimline template and I'd like to make other type of pen once with my chisel and make template to copy my own work.

Let me know what you think

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[Super Dave]

I've never used a duplicator , so I can't speak on that. What I will say is once you are experienced and have turned a lot of pens, your speed and quality will improve. I don't know that you can save that much time. How difficult is it to set up, sharpen, quality of cut?? Sorry, more questions than answers. How long does it take to turn a slim line pen ?

Dave

 

[dogcatcher]

The PSI duplicator is a knock off of the Ankar duplicator. The Ankar was marketed mostly for people that made doll houses and doll house furniture. Think of having to make 50 spindles for a stair rail in miniature size. I got hold of the Ankar brand when I purchased a dollhouse makers stuff, it came with a wood lathe that was created out of part of a Taig lathe system.

As to the duplicator, I have played with it, being old and disabled, gave me the free time to experiment. My opinion, I can do it faster and better without the Ankar. The name Ankar fits the system, it is an "anchor". I still have it, not to use, but to play with, it is one of those things, that fascinates me, I keep thinking I am missing something that it should be more efficient, but I have yet to find out how to make it more efficient.

A man by the name of Tom Walden marketed the miniature lathe with the Ankar added to it. If you are into miniatures for doll houses, look at this link. Tom Walden's Miniature Furniture | Custom Made Quality Miniatures

 

[Charlie_W]

Don't most of these duplicators use a small cutter in a scraping mode? My guess is that they will take longer to turn the pen and have a rougher finished cut requiring much more sanding.
You just can't beat a planing cut with a Skew.

 

[jttheclockman]

You are or want to be a pen maker then learn to turn a pen blank more efficiently and you will save time and effort over one of those. They will only get you in the ballpark and not finish anything. Nothing saved. I bet you tire of slimlines too.

Hand made??? What is handmade?? Not picking on you because you obviously are a beginner but if you want to do this I suggest practice your craft and develop your own style and maybe get into making your own blanks too. Become an artisan.

Duplicators are nice for spindle work that needs to be exactly the same every time. A pen does not at all that is what makes hand made hand made.

 

[Luff]

Those are some of the work I made. The blank are all casted by me.

These casting in the picture is a laminated using different material.

Sorry I didn't take time to take good picture yet

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[jttheclockman]

See you are on your way. Everyone of those pens had a different shape. You will soon learn too with slimlines the material is way too thin on the ends to use cast blanks like that. Need to step up to some beefier kits. Even cigar kits will be better for your blanks. That is why in pen turning a duplicator is useless. be your own creator. Like I said not picking on you.

 

[randyrls]

Luff; I don't think a duplicator will save you a lot of time. A sharp skew and practice will let you go from square blank to round in about 2 minutes and a ready to sand blank in 5 minutes or less. Take a look at some of the turning videos posted by Ed of Exoticblanks.com

Those are some nice pens.... Good Work!

 

[gtriever]

First, those are very nice pens. Keep up the good work! Second, thank you for posting this question. I'm sure that several of us newer folks have wondered about Duplicators at one time or another.

 

[Gunnarkouper]

Duplicaror

I have a duplicator that I would like to sell. I bought a Jet lathe and a bunch of stuff from a guy who was getting out of the business and have never used it. The guy I bought from used it all the time and only made Slimline series pens.Looks very nice. If you would be interested in it PM me and maybe we could work a deal. There are also many templates with it.
Dan

 

[takayuki_sz]

I am using a Vega Duplicator.
Do a very good job,
Adjustment and setting takes tremendous effort.
It took half a day to set up and a day to create the first template.
If you make more than that, you will find it useful.
It seems that you should prepare a lathe for Duplicator.