Pen Wizard and Rope Bit

[Marco]

I recently bought the Pen Wizard (new model, last year for my X-Mas) and a couple of bits, including a rope bit, all from the Beall Tool Co.

After looking at the DVD that came with the Pen Wizard and the Tip and Tricks movies on Ed's (Yoyospin) site, I can make decent spiral cuts etc.

One thing however I have tried was making a rope twist with the rope bit, but I'm not sure I'm doing things right. I thought it would be better to get some advice first, before breaking anything.

I have searched the IAP forum, the Internet, but I still can't get the information I need.
For making a successful rope twist J.R Beall advices to use a certain gear train setup, which I did.
But how many passes (on what I found on the IAP forum it briefly states 4) are needed and to what depth does the bit need to go in order to make a fine rope, with the Beall Tool Co rope bit.
After the rope has been milled does one need to sand by hand in order to get the correct shape.

I'm asking allot of question but I hope you can help me out.
Best regards, Marc.

 

[leestoresund]

Marc
While it is good to ask questions mostly this business is trial and error.
What works for someone else most likely won't work for you, especially with the PW.
For example, I'm left handed and had to turn the machine around and I think it actually works better this way.
The difference between a good blank and a passable blank is often just a little bit of difference in the depth of the cut.
In pen turning, IMO, the best instructor is the mistakes you make.

Good luck.
Lee

 

[BKelley]

Marc,

Lee is correct, trial and error is the best teacher. My suggestion would be to work with cheap blanks or scraps. Do this until you feel comfortable with the process. In using the Wizard and it took more than a few tries before I had good results. My next step is grinding my own cutters to make some sprial cuts that are a shade different. Get busy and let us see some of your work.

Ben

 

[Hexhead]

If you go to the pen wizard forum, I made a little note how to do it differently and it works perfectly every time. If you don't want to go there, just set it up with a bit like you were cutting a polygon but instead, cut a rope pattern from the side instead of the top.

 

[fred holsclaw]

there are 24 index points on the whell of the pen wizzard
devied it by 3 and you should get a good twist and cut from the side