# Neville9999's Router Lathe



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

This Router Lathe has been on the design board , the one in my head, for a year or two now and over time it has changed but I am now ready to make it. This is a very worthwhile project so I am going to show its fabrication here, on its own thread.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

1, 2.

Due to its stability then I am going to use pre-made finger jointed timber for the lathes body, I am making timber objects on this lathe so I think its extremely cool to make the timber lathe as well, and for it to he polished in the best way I can. The Timber is Merbau, cheap enough for what I want and it will polish very well. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

3.

I am also going to use components from a sewing machine, Sewing Machines are very cool and full of very well machined parts, so these bits will be in the lathe. The motor is only 1/3hp but I can get more of them very easy and the drive line is only going to carry light objects, my guess is that this will spin very well. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I have posted some of these pics on my Work Bench Thread but this deserves its own place. I am using my 50x50 aluminum box bar to keep the beam straight as I glue it up, The bar goes down onto the worktop and is covered with paper then three of the seven lamination's are put together, in an hour the other four will get added. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

You wanted a new project Stick, this is it. N


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I've been looking forward to this particular project for a very long time...............this is gonna be cool!!


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> I've been looking forward to this particular project for a very long time...............this is gonna be cool!!


I am actually making two router lathes, this one needs to be up and going within, say 6weeks, 4/5 would be better so I guess it will be 7 weeks, the other one is just half made and on my wish list to finish as I have to make a whole new router table first, I just don't have the time for it now but I see the parts looking at me with disgust every time I walk past them so I will have to cover them with a blanket or wear a bag over my head. N


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

why the time frame? something specific in mind...You always seem to have several irons in the fire so I guess I'll just patiently wait and watch as this progress's


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

This will be an interesting WIP.


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## aahwhatever2 (Oct 16, 2015)

I can't wait to see the final project!!! 


Neville, you are SOOO mean to show this day by day...LOL I was hoping to see the complete build in one day! Now you are going to make me check this thread every day.


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

old55 said:


> This will be an interesting WIP.


I agree!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> You wanted a new project Stick, this is it. N


no... not for me...
I wanted to watch you at work...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> I've been looking forward to this particular project for a very long time...............this is gonna be cool!!


yup...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

8.

This is the tail stock shaft, bearings and drive pin, the shaft is 10mm stainless steel rod and yes, that a 5/16 Whitworth Tee nut that will be the drive pin at the tail stock, the only machining on this shaft will be that a thread, maybe 5/16 Whitworth and seeing they are the same then maybe it will be 5/16 UNC, anyway this thread will be cut along the shaft 26mm then the lock nut will go all the way on, each work piece will get a Tee Nut inserted in its rear end at the beginning of production and the Tee Nut will stay in for the duration, until its parted off, this way each work piece will go back on the lathe perfectly the same as the way it was on, the whole shaft will spin in the bearings and there will be a 10mm locking ring on this shaft hard on the bearing on the inside, this lock ring will hold the work piece in place. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I have given Router Lathes a lot of thought and I can say that no one Router Lathe will do all the jobs you may want to do on a Router Lathe, I said before that I am making two of them, actually I am making three and they all will do different things, this one only has two tasks, I could do fluting on it but here's one of it's important specs, its 63 inches between the centers, so any object that I wanted to flute would be shorter than that so I won't set this up to do flutes, this is a tapering lathe, it will do long straight and curved tappers up to 63 inches long, that's it's primary function, as the head stock chuck will have an 8 point indexing plate, then this can also do its other function, indexed tapered cuts, straight ones only. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

aahwhatever2 said:


> I can't wait to see the final project!!!
> 
> 
> Neville, you are SOOO mean to show this day by day...LOL I was hoping to see the complete build in one day! Now you are going to make me check this thread every day.


I thought about this problem and I could have kept it all secret until it was done and dusted, I think this is a very cool project and full of fun construction, if I had of just posted it all in one go the some of you would have gone to the last last page and read that first, can't have that happening. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> why the time frame? something specific in mind...You always seem to have several irons in the fire so I guess I'll just patiently wait and watch as this progress's


Bill several yes, I am building a house, building the workbench, on its last steps now thank goodness, building furniture, when I get time I will post some of them, I have started this now as this lathe is the one I want up and running soon and I have to get all the parts to be machined off to my machinist buddy so the big beam parts have to get glued up, this lathe and the one I have bought from the USA, they both will be run on the workbench, it has other functions including keeping all the tools sorted out and the workshop cleaner, still everything has a primary push behind it and this one's is this. As a Cabinetmaker and a keen Cueist then I always wanted to make Billiard and Snooker Cues, the USA Lathe will be a great help but it has limitations, the cues made on that type of lathe are normally 'a two piece cue' made in halves so never one piece of wood and then joined so even though there are some ways around it then the length between the centers on that lathe is not large enough to make a cue as a 'one piece cue 61inches long' now, many Billiards and Snooker Players prefer to use a One Piece Cue, they are normally about 58inches long give or take, so that I can make longer ones then this lathe is 63inches between the Tee Nut and the Clutch Chuck, I don't think I will go over 61 inches that often but who knows what I will want to do so I am making this longer. every cue I make will be originally made as a 'One Piece Cue' in this lathe, then if it is to be 1/2 or 3/4 cut then that will then happen and the cue will then be joined up. This is one project Bill, I am working on my life and there are a few different facets to it but it all one project. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

9, 10, 11.

I have been doing other things today but gluing up the beam was on the list, here it is all together, seven lamination's will be plenty and you can see the spaces I left for the box joins, I will put it through the planner tomorrow and just skim it, then cut it to length as its a few millimeters longer than it's finished size will be, looks very good to me. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

neville9999 said:


> I have given Router Lathes a lot of thought and I can say that no one Router Lathe will do all the jobs you may want to do on a Router Lathe, I said before that I am making two of them, actually I am making three and they all will do different things, this one only has two tasks, I could do fluting on it but here's one of it's important specs, its 63 inches between the centers, so any object that I wanted to flute would be shorter than that so I won't set this up to do flutes, this is a tapering lathe, it will do long straight and curved tappers up to 63 inches long, that's it's primary function, as the head stock chuck will have an 8 point indexing plate, then this can also do its other function, indexed tapered cuts, straight ones only. N


I should have added that the tapered cuts will be done with the workpeice rotating and with the indexed cuts then it will be fixed in one of the indexing positions. N


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## aahwhatever2 (Oct 16, 2015)

I would really like to see one of the cue's that you make. In my day.....several years ago (lol) I won a Minnesota Fats tournament. I haven't played since I have been in the wheelchair, but still think about it a lot.

Maybe one of your cue's could get me back in the game????


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

aahwhatever2 said:


> I would really like to see one of the cue's that you make. In my day.....several years ago (lol) I won a Minnesota Fats tournament. I haven't played since I have been in the wheelchair, but still think about it a lot.
> 
> Maybe one of your cue's could get me back in the game????


When I have some cues that come off this lathe then posting the pics will happen, after all showing the product will be the final thing for this router lathe's fabrication. N


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> When I have some cues that come off this lathe then posting the pics will happen, after all showing the product will be the final thing for this router lathe's fabrication. N


What! You aren't done yet? What's taking you so long N.? Stick and I are getting impatient. I think you spoiled us with the bench and now you have a standard to uphold.

Get busy!:wink:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

schnewj said:


> What! You aren't done yet? What's taking you so long N.? Stick and I are getting impatient. I think you spoiled us with the bench and now you have a standard to uphold.
> 
> Get busy!:wink:


*YEAH* Neville...
get busy....


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> *YEAH* Neville...
> get busy....


Its 6am in the morning In Australia, sun shinning, Birds singing,more gluing up in front of me today. N


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

I had not heard of a router lathe. I did some google searching, looks interesting. It it mainly used as a duplicating tool ?


Gary


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

Quote:
Originally Posted by neville9999
*Its 6am in the morning In Australia, sun shinning, Birds singing,more gluing up in front of me today. N
*

Very good job and explanation neville! Congrats in advance!!!!
Sid.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Its 6am in the morning In Australia, sun shinning, Birds singing,more gluing up in front of me today. N


at 06:00 it was 5°, snowing, blustery and all is good w/ mother nature...

and yur a day ahead of us...
what we got done tomorrow you should already be done with yesterday...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

gjackson52 said:


> I had not heard of a router lathe. I did some google searching, looks interesting. It it mainly used as a duplicating tool ?
> 
> 
> Gary


Actually Gary you can design and make a Router Lathe to do anything you want to make, look at my old thread, " A different Router Lathe or a Router Standardizer" I am making three of them and over time they all will be here on the site. I came back on to load the photo of the 'Rose Engine' Rose Engines are also 'Router Lathes' just very very cool ones, this one is one of the best I have ever seen N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> at 06:00 it was 5°, snowing, blustery and all is good w/ mother nature...
> 
> and yur a day ahead of us...
> what we got done tomorrow you should already be done with yesterday...


Stop it Stick you are making me weep. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Anyway I have to be out now all day but I needed to get these two parts, actually there are four of them but they are just being glued up as two parts as they both need to be long enough to get between the rollers on my planer, so I need them glued up today so I can get on with it tomorrow. The main part here is the two end plates, joined at the ends so they will go through my planer and get trimmed down until the tenon width, fits the slot on the beam, they will get cut to length later but the end will stick up about 180mm from the beam, maybe as low as 150 so I will decide that tomorrow, the only two things with this glue up that is important are, that the inside recessed ends are all square and the tenons stick out more than the thickness that the beam will get dressed down to, so all that's good. After these two get glued into place then there will be one more lamination on each side, down to the bottom of the beam, as this tenon does not go into a slot and as this lamination will not go all the way to the top of wherever I cut the end plates, then I will leave my options open and glue them on later. The other glue up here is, I am making two feet for the lathe so they will get cut out of this piece. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Stop it Stick you are making me weep. N


sorry...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Anyway I have to be out now all day but I needed to get these two parts, actually there are four of them but they are just being glued up as two parts as they both need to be long enough to get between the rollers on my planer, so I need them glued up today so I can get on with it tomorrow. The main part here is the two end plates, joined at the ends so they will go through my planer and get trimmed down until the tenon width, fits the slot on the beam, they will get cut to length later but the end will stick up about 180mm from the beam, maybe as low as 150 so I will decide that tomorrow, the only two things with this glue up that is important are, that the inside recessed ends are all square and the tenons stick out more than the thickness that the beam will get dressed down to, so all that's good. After these two get glued into place then there will be one more lamination on each side, down to the bottom of the beam, as this tenon does not go into a slot and as this lamination will not go all the way to the top of wherever I cut the end plates, then I will leave my options open and glue them on later. The other glue up here is, I am making two feet for the lathe so they will get cut out of this piece. N


if you kerf about a ½'' in from each edge...
apply your glue between the kerfs.. (and less of it)...
you'll get almost no squeeze out...

FWIW... too much glue can cause hydraulic pressure that will work against you...


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## mikelley (Aug 2, 2012)

Waiting....................patiently............. Really you make it easy to follow your endeavor (ty).


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

16, 17, 18.

The beam dressed down very well, for anyone who wants to make a lamination of their own then the trick is to clamp it against any object that is the shape you want for yours to be when the glue is dry, as I wanted it straight then I clamped it against the 50mm square box bar but this could also have been curved, to get that then I would have had to make a curved caul and if you did that then the lamination's would have to be thinner so they could bend, that would be the exact way you would make curved rocker bars for a rocking chair and I wish I had the time to do that build, either way this works and did again here, the idea to build into the construction the mortises and tenons also worked out fine, that saved a lot of time. I have a few technical issue to work out now so it will be a few days before I can show more of the lathes construction. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

19, 20, 21.

This is a problem that I don't normally think about, you set the table on your drill press to the zero mark and you assume that the table is square to the chuck. A Drill press is not a milling machine so that zero is not that accurate. Here's a simple test, put some wire in the chuck and bend it so it touches the table on one side then turn the chuck 180degs, 19 shows the set point and 20 shows how far my table was out of square and it was more than I thought it would be, It was adjusted and as the wire was turned by hand then it was making small noises as it went around so its now a square as I can make it so 21 shows it set square. I have some bearing to fit. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

22.

I have cut my end blocks to size, the length does not matter, all that matters is that they are the same. My two center points are 63inches apart and my beam is wood, even though I have made it a good as I can get it then there will still be distortion over the whole length so the bearings are important but even if I were a genius there would still be some variation between the two sets of bearings, all I can do is try to make them as accurate as I can. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

23.

I have cut this block of 45mm ply so that it is the exact size of the end blocks not including the tenons, I have also marked it with face and edge marks as well as RH and LH sides. I cannot tunnel bore these holes for the bearings, even the point of the Forstner bit can wander, my plan is to drill a hole all the way through the ply and then clamp it to the end blocks, as the Forstner Bit is then trapped in the hole in the ply, then the center cannot wander, by keeping the attitude of this block with the LH and the RH sides in alignment as they get clamped on, then this is all I can do to get the holes correct. The black square you see is where my workpiece will sit at its highest point. I will keep this block as I may need to make a central steady point/rest and having it may help. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

24, 25.

With the hole drilled in the ply and the ply clamped onto the end piece, and with the drill press table as square as I can get it then the bearing holes can get drilled. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

26, 27, 28.

Ok the bearings are in and the 10mm shaft rod is also through both bearings, on each side of the end plate, they line up OK, and they are 63inches apart so with the variation down the length that I cannot do anything about, 28 shows the same rod through all 4 bearings in both end blocks, I think this will be fine. Progress anyway. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I don't want to get distracted with Rose Engine's, I get inspiration from them, This is anouther one and its just Brilliant, far more impressive than anything I have ever made. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

29, 30, 31.

I don't know how much information you guys like to see but I will show the interesting things, I have to have a front and rear bar that will go between the two posts and as the router will sit up on top of it then I want it straight and square so I am joining two thinner piece in an 'L' shape box to be these two bars. You all will know how much I talk about groove and tenon joins, its the backbone of all the small joinery I do and I am doing it again here, I have said before that you can use this join to join anything. Here I have the groove down a bit due to the radius on the edge of the board, later I will plane that small amount up, off. So I ran the groove a bit lower than I would if the edge was square. The cutter I used is the same on I used to do these grooves in the drawers of my workbench, it was still in the trimmer so I just moved the fence to get the groove the distance away that I wanted it, due to the method I used then I don't really care how far away the groove is from the edge, close enough is OK, I also ran the groove in the rear bar and it is the thickness of the material lower than the one at the front. I also ran the groove in three passes, these small cutters spin very fast and they get hot so I never overload them, heat kills the cutters. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

32, 33, 34.

Ok, so as the groove is run then I got the rebate cutter in the other trimmer, even though I did move the fence on the grooving trimmer I did not change the height of the cutter as that cuts the groove depth and this suits the bearing on the rebate cutter and gives me the groove depth to suit the tenon length, the height of the cutter is set to suit the space left by the bearing on the rebate cutter, as I said it does not matter where the groove is as I set one rebate to get the insert at the height to suit the groove, then I ran both top rebates, then I turned them and adjusted the rebate height setting to give me a tight tenon and yes this also means that the tenon is not exactly in the middle of the insert, who cares as that does not matter and it takes time to get that correct when this method is just as good and exactly the same joint strength wise, you can see in one photo where I checked that the tenon thickness was OK. You can also see in the last photo that the groove is down far enough so the radius on the materiel is clear, that protrusion will get planed off. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

35, 36.

As I want these bars straight and square then I have also clamped them to the box bar, today all I can do is make these two bars and get them glued up, it does not really matter that much if these two bars are not exactly straight as the cutter will hang down and cut from the side so if the are not totally flat due to not being straight then all that would happen would be that the cutter would go up and down a bit as it went down the workpiece, the cutter will pass through my 30mm pilot guide so what is then really very important is that the part/fence that the pilot guide will run against, that must be straight, that part will sit on the rear bar and to make room for it, then the rear insert is the thickness of the material lower than the one at the front. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

37, 38.

So I don't mind confessing that I have just changed things a little, I have made a new face for the rear bar, it does have to be lower than the front bar to allow the fence to sit on it and the router to then be flat on both of the bars but I made the new face with the groove the same amount down as the groove is with the front bar, I will just mount it lower, this new rear bar will be stronger, I have also taken the front bar off the clamps as its dry enough for me to glue up the rear bar. The thing is that I am sure that the overall concept of this lathe will work however there a few areas that I am still thinking about, the design of the frame is all good so I am pressing on with that/ N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

information is always a good thing...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@neville9999

with enough information we can blackmail most anybody...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

39.

I have said that I have a good picture in my head about how the lathe will work and I do, there really isn't any plans for it and I am also very sure that if I made anouther lathe like this then it could be more compact but this first and likely last cue lathe I will make (I still have two other Router Lathes in mind, one is half made so I do want to get back to that and I have the photos of the work so far so that one will also get posted here when it closer to being finished) anyway this first one is getting some 'over design features' as I don't want it wrong, I had dimensions between the centers, height, some other things but no real drawing, so I will change a few things as I go along, I was looking at the end posts with the long bars and I could see that I would need more space around the workpiece, there is a 2.5hp router that will sit up there and I will also need to get my hands in there as well. I was going to laminate anouther layer onto the sides that went down to the bottom of the main beam but I changed that, I have now laminated two lamination's more on each that don't go all the way down so this is what both end posts look like now and I will plane off the small overhang by hand later today or when I get back to it tomorrow, the two extra ones will be enough I think, I will also fit the rear bar so that I can have a bigger top plate that goes past it and overhangs a small amount as the rear bar is lower and it is designed to have a plate on top of it so this plate will hang over the back a bit more, I did not set this out and check it but these two things will give me a bigger platform as well as space around the workpiece. My mother is 83 and she lives with me, this week then a long lost grand niece of hers is in Sydney, came in Yesterday on a Giant Cruise Liner and she is here for the week, My mother has not seen this girl since she was three and today she 66 so I am going to spend whatever time I have to so they can catch up and this will meant the lathe work will slow down. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

40.

This morning I don't have much time but I did plane down one of the ends flush and glue it to the beam. So the tail stock end is on, when the glue is dry then the tails will get trimmed flush N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Yesterday a meeting that took 63 years to organize did happen, where else would you do that but Sydney's World famous Taronga Park, Harbourside Zoo, There is actually anouther Elephant in that photo, its under the one seen and I swear that the top one was trying to drown it. Come to Sydney and go to the Zoo. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I had a plan to get the metal machining done but that did not work out so late in the construction with all the parts ready then I have had to find a new machinist to do the work, he thinks that the lathe is very neat but he has work to do, he has said that if I can bring all the parts over today then he will try to do it before Christmas, I still have work to do that can be done so I will be back doing that however I will have to wait for this machining to be done, with everything I know how to do and all the tools at hand, I cannot weld anything let alone stainless steel, no metal lathe here that I can thread s/s rod with, there are just a hand full of tasks to machine but I will have to wait for them, I will post a photo of all the machined parts in a pile as soon as I get them, using the parts salvaged from the sewing machine has mad all this easier but it was never going to happen that I could just bolt them on with nothing else to be done. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

41.

I am working on it, making parts, The head stock end post went into those pre-made mortises OK, it would have been easier if I had of thought to sand the tenons a little bit thinner before I glued the end posts together as they were tight and I did have to shave them down. This lathe is just one of the two lathe I will be using, the other one is sitting in a holding room and waiting for the delivery to me so I am happy to know it is here in Sydney and it has cleared customs OK. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

42.

The tenons trimmed very well, I used a Router to trim off most of it then planed the rest by hand. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

43.
Under the main beam there are two sets of feet, this is what they look like. I will add that you can see some gaps in the lamination's of the main beam, the timber I got had a 3mm radius on all edges and I did plane it down so the top was not showing any gaps, I could not see the point in making the main beam thinner just to get rid of that from the lower under side. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

44, 45.

It's upside down, a few more pics. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

46, 47.

The Feet are glued on, later I will put in some brass screws, and rubber feet. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

interesting build Neville...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

48.

My American Cue Lathe is finally here, this was lathe made by Custom Cue Lathes and it and the Router Lathe being made here on this thread will together be able to do a 62+inch Cues Construction, I feel confident that with my trade skills and these two lathes, then the cues will be spectacular. This type of Aluminum Lathe is not made in Australia and not imported by anyone other than persons like myself, there is just not a big enough market for them and this one may well be only the fourth that I know of that has been brought in, it is certainly the only one of its type, there is no one here with my trade skills that is making Billiards Cues, there are some self taught makers who do make hand made cues so we will see how well I can compete with them, there has been a bit of drama with getting it here and it does have to be repaired before I can run it, but I am still pleased to see it sitting safely on the bed of the VL175, soon it will be fixed and in its permanent home, sitting on this tool box workbench. The motor is made for the USA and is 110volts so you can see the blue step-down transformer sitting on the lathe, I won't run it until its repaired, that will take a bit of time but the manufacturer is set to make and ship the replacement parts, we will see how soon DHL accept that they have damaged it, I will not forget that they have. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> interesting build Neville...


Stick I don't mind saying that I am having a bunch of fun making it, there are a few parts of the design that I may not show photos of, its so damn clever that I think I will keep some of that to myself, this lathe is unique and nothing like it has been made before, not that I have ever seen that is. I originally came to the forum to look at Dick in IA's Router lathe, Router Lathe's have been on my mind for a long time, this one is the first of three and the culmination of quite a few years research, I am very sure it will work as per the design concept. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

49, 50.

Looks good on it feet, the front bar is just sitting on its place. not fixed yet as I am looking at clearances. Things are still a mess here so I can't wait now the get the drawer fronts made and the work bench finished, I am just having too damn good of a time with the lathe, both of them. As you can see in these pics then I was so keen to get the posts on that I forgot to trim the end of the main beam, it would have been so easy to just cut 2mm off with my compound saw but harder now to trim it, now I will have to do it with a router. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

51.

This is the clearance issue and why I added the extra two layers on the outside of the posts, the router cutter has to clear the inside of the cue blank when its still square, the center arrow is the central line of the shafts, the pencil arrow on either side of the middle one is the extremity of the square blank at its widest, the X square is the 1/2 inch cutter and the dark texta lines is the 30mm pilot guide, as you see the router cutter is still directly over 1/2 of the cue blanks outside edge, I could start the spin and lower the cutter into it and run it down to get it round as this cut is not that heavy, I wont do that and I am going to trim the router rest at this end 5 or 6mm so the cutter has a bit more space at the start at the left as the pilot guide would hit the inside of the top bar at this end, obviously after one trim cut of about 5mm then there would be space, there is a rectangle at the top and to the right of the cutters RH edge, the rectangle only goes down 10mm and this is the finished size of the thickest part of a cue so the cutter is all the way to the right at the finished position, I am very happy with the extra two layers as I would not have had the room were they not there, I could see that so I added them, so far this is all good as I did suspect that I wold still have to trim 5mm of the inside of this fixed front top bar, the one at the back will be far more tricky to get correct. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

52, 53.
So with the trim done then I have glued the front top rail in place, this rail did not have to be straight, it is, but it does have to be strong as its a long span and the router will sit on top of this as its front support so to beefed it up as I added anouther rail underneath the inside edge and I set it back a little just in case I want to trim a bit more off the inside edge. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

54.

If you look at photo 51 then on that you see that the left hand side of the pilot guide is above the right hand side of the front rail, the pilot guide could not go further to the left as it would hit the inside edge and stop, here then with photo 54 you can see that as the front rail has been trimmed then the left hand edge of the pilot guide is now clear of the right hand inside edge of the front top rail so it can now go 5/6mm further left before it hits it, I thing is that the cutter will still hit 3 or 4mm of the edge of the cue blank when it is still square if it were sitting in a diagonal position, I suspect the if the cue blank was turned so that it was flat at the top and vertical at the sides then the cutter would not hit it if it was not rotating, the plan will be to start the rotation and then lower the plunge router down and cut off that 4mm first and the 4mm cut will still not be deep enough to get the blank fully round, the pilot guide does not run on the inside edge of the front rail, it will run on the inside edge of the rear rail and these two rails will make a flat top to the lathe that the router will sit safely on, but the 30mm pilot guide will run against the inside edge of the rear rail and the front rail will be there to contain it and support that side of the router so with the pilot guide trapped between the two rails only controlled cut can be done, the gap between the two rails will be about 50mm or 2 inches, the rear rail will be adjustable front to back so I can wind it back and then get a deeper cut, the rear rail will be set up so that it cannot wind back any further than the correct size, so far this is working out the way I expected it to be. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

55, 56.

The front top rail did plane down square and flat at the top where the router will sit, as each area is finished OK then I have been painting some sealer on it, the lathe will be an oiled finish so the dust does not matter, when it is dry then I will steel wool it with more oil, even though it looks messy in the dust I am very happy with how it is going, I am out tomorrow but I will get the rear rail on now as soon as I can, then it can be fully sealed and cut back with steel wool. this is all wood and I don't want it to be sitting unsealed for much longer. at this moment then I don't know if the metal parts will get done before Christmas. if they do get here then the lathe can be finished. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I am very sure that this will work, to do the cutting I want then the cue blank will have to spin in a very controlled space and that is why the beam and ends are so strong, the cutter has to be trapped in a groove, as both cannot wander then the cut will be very true, I will be cutting from the side and there is a small chance that the cutter could push the cue sideways, this will not matter with the hog cuts, the rpm will be slow as the cutter is doing the work and I will just push the router along the top bed, the final cuts will be very thin and with a razor sharp cutter so I doubt that it could also push the wood away, its the final cut that really matters not the waste cuts, the lathe can also lock the shaft in 8 different positions so that other cuts can be made without the cue spinning, I did originally think that I may have needed two lathes with a completely different one to do these indexed cuts, so I am very happy that the design lets all the cuts get done in one lathe. N


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

If there's a concern about the workpiece deflecting, could you incorporate a steadyrest to follow the router?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

tomp913 said:


> If there's a concern about the workpiece deflecting, could you incorporate a steadyrest to follow the router?


and add sex bolts to the joints in triangle or X pattern...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

tomp913 said:


> If there's a concern about the workpiece deflecting, could you incorporate a steadyrest to follow the router?


I have been thinking about that, the machinist who is doing the metal parts also suggest this could/would be a problem and he thought that a bearing could be set up to follow the router after the cut, that is the bearing would rest on the cut surface and steady it, as this lathe works with the router fully free of the lathe, that is it will sit on top of the lathe and only the 30mm pilot guide will be trapped in the groove then I consider myself connecting that type of support to the router could be technically very difficult and it would require a sled to be used, one that had the router attached to it and the bearing would also be part of the sled but under it and on the other side of the cue so not easy to do at all, l what is very clear to me is that the finishing cut, the last cut, that is the very important one, all the previous cuts don't seem that important as the surface left will get cut away by the next cut, all I think now is that the last few cuts will have to be very light trim cuts so that the cutter is not pushing on the cue that much and I think that the rotation will need to be slow and the router will need to move slowly, so don't forget that I am using the motor from a sewing machine and that is fully speed controlled, I also think this, the stock end half of the cue is 32mm so all that half down to 19mm or there about, there is no way that bends, its the tip end that may be an issue, from where the cue shaft gets thinner than 5/8ths of an inch, see I am from the old school and I mix my millimeters with my 8ths of inches, anyway the last cuts at the tip end are the cuts that matter, I do know this, The USA Cue Lathe I have just received could be set up to do router tappering, it does have big brothers in the USA that do automatic and lead screw controlled router tapering on tip end cue shafts that are 800mm long so that's about the length I am talking about for the top part that may flex, I have seen videos of these lathe working and no such support for the shaft is used, Many Snooker and Billiards players prefer a one piece cue, the worlds top player do not play with joined cues, so the real reason that cues get joined is to make it easy to carry them in a car, top players do not care about that inconvenience of a long case as do many next level players as well as good social players. Had there been a USA cue lathe that could have made a Snooker cue in one piece at 62inches then we may not have been here as this lathe may not have been made. Just kidding, there is no way I was not making this, the thing is that my plan the whole time is to make all the cues as 'one piece cues' and hence the need for this lathe to be made as I could not see that any cue lathe made to make and join halves would be as good as making them from one piece of wood and as one piece right from the start, the USA lathe is here solely to do joining on one piece cues that are to be cut in half, actually snooker cues are normally cut at the 3/4 position so the main shaft above the splicing itself does not have a joiner, I also know this, there are literally millions of cues being made around the world where they are turned and not planed down in the other old method, that is planed round with a long hand plane, these cues are turned with router cutters, this tells me that it can be done, all I think is that they like me, have to do the final cuts lightly. Time will tell what happens. There is of course a far simpler solution than a sled with an attached bearing, that is too set out of the groove an obstruction, so that a small hump or slightly high spot is cut at about the 3/4 length or in the middle of the thinnest part of the cue, I could in fact just attach a small strip of laminate to the side of the groove that the pilot guide rests against, and the 30mm pilot guide would hop over it the first time, this slightly thicker part would only get left when the cut was close to being finished, then not cut again bu the next cut, under the top plate I could then make a two bearing steady that could rest on the high point and steady the thin part for the final cut. then take the bearing away and the laminate out, then that part could get finally slowly done, or it could be left there to finish by hand, doing that would be far simpler to do than any sled, that would be very hard as the cue is tapered and that means that the size between the cutter on one side and the finished cue on the other side, that size varies all down the cue so a sled with a following bearing would be very hard to do whereas the middle steady bearing rest would be far easier if that had to be done. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> and add sex bolts to the joints in triangle or X pattern...


Stick I an all in favor of 'sex bolts' can you send me pictures of them being used. Yesterday I bought a new Router that will be exclusively tasked for this lathe, Its a Makita PR2301FC 2100watts and plenty of power as well as a sweet plunge system, this router will be making some cues soon. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

no pictures...
picture a triangle or an X and a sex bolt at each point...
there are bazillion sizes and strengths...

.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

57, 58.

I did leave some lengths longer than I needed them so now that I can put the rear top rail on then I have cut it to size and trimmed the inside, as it also had this problem with the round edge on the material then it too was put together with the round up and to be planed off later, as the rear rail is lower than the end post then I put it onto the front rail and planed it down before it was glued on with the new Lie-Nielsen 5 1/2 Jack Plane, this plane is nice. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

59, 60, 61.

The rear rail is glued on lower than the end post by the thickness of the material and as it is then I have had to glue into the rear of it an extender to make the top of the rear rail level at the back of the end post I will plane that down later when the glue is dry, this glue up is the final one of the main Lathe Frame so it is now all together, only one glue up to go and I can now do that as over the last few days I have solved the final problem, all that is to do with how the rear fence will get moved. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

62.

I am happy to see it all together.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

63, 64.

This is the new Router that will be exclusively tasked to the Router Lathe. A Makita RP2301FC, plenty of power, I also will use this router with my Leigh DR4 as when I bought the Leigh template guide shown, then I also bought the 3 Leigh guides needed for the DR4, I have never been able to find any template plate adapter for my 2200watt Festool Router as Festool in Australia don't keep the parts for older Routers, so I have never used the DR4, but to be honest I did not have work for it but now I can use it, I found that by chance and bought it along with 28 CMT dovetail cutters, The guy who had it did not use it that much but got sick of his mates bringing drawers around to be done, he thought he would be happier and have less knocks on the door if it were gone, me, I paid less than half the new price for the 24inch DR4 and all the cutters, he must really have hated those door knockers. This is why I have said over and over, do not buy tools for fun, only buy tools that you have a definite use for or you will finish up selling them for half price and that ad will say 'hardly used at all'. I got the router that way. near new and never used, $200.00au less than the present price. For all you eagle eyes who see that the template guide is not straight, its just there loose for the photo. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

65, 66.

I know its Christmas Day but for me at the moment then playing with the lathe is like opening Christmas presents, nothing like a sharp plane blade to trim unwanted material. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

67, 68.

These are only glued joins, fact is that the laminated beam is also only glued joins however these joins get some brass screws, If I can find some brass slotted screws then I will swap them over as I like to line up the slots with the grain. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

69.

Letting some more of the unsealed lathe soak up some sealer. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

do it over..
screws aren't dressed right dressed and covered down....


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> do it over..
> screws aren't dressed right dressed and covered down....


When I find some Brass Slotted Screws then I will, Merry Christmas Stick. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> When I find some Brass Slotted Screws then I will, Merry Christmas Stick. N


you got a need more frustration wish???


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> you got a need more frustration wish???


The Screws are only brass plated, and Philips head, I mean how can you line up the slots in Phillips Head Screws? As soon as I find some slotted Brass screws they are history. N


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> The Screws are only brass plated, and Philips head,* I mean how can you line up the slots in Phillips Head *Screws? As soon as I find some slotted Brass screws they are history. N


horizontally/vertically or diagonally???


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> horizontally/vertically or diagonally???


With Slotted Screws then it is always 'With the Grain'. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

70, 71.

Today is a Public Holiday in Australia, the day after Christmas Day is 'Boxing Day' and this public Holiday comes from old England, after all we started out here as an English Penal Colony, where all of England's scum got dumped after you from the USA had the war of independence, still that's no way for me to talk about my ancestors as my family tree is full of convicts, must be where I got my bad attitude from. England wanted to colonize Australia so convicts were sent first and many were tradesmen who did little wrong. William was dead lucky as the Judge told him that had his case been heard a week earlier then he would have hanged, had that happened then I would not be here making this lathe, the oldest pair from my family were Elanor Hall who was transported for selling stolen pillow cases and other linen, the man she met here and married, William Armstrong, was transported for 'larceny of plate' pinching silver, William was a 'Bootmaker Complete' he could make shoes and boots from raw leather, Eleanor was a young woman so as many were needed then many were sent. Anyway in the local Parishes of England then the gifts given to the Church for the poor were kept in Boxes and these Boxes were opened and distributed to the poor on the day after Christmas and forever hence the day has been called 'Boxing Day'. How am I celebrating Boxing Day? I am working on my Lathe. I am doing the final glue ups, making the two rear fences, I need two and as it is easier to do all the machine work, if you do them together and even though they will be slightly different, but look the same, so together they get made as the top plate for them both is exactly the same. I have to join two piece's of my material together in a widening joint, so I put all four pieces through the planer together and they each held the other up square, I had to get rid of that pesky round edge, then I clamped them all together to make a block that is more stable than just one on its own and I run a slightly off center groove down two of them, yes it's groove and tenon joining, again, well tongue and groove anyway, I run one groove on each of two of the pieces, then turn them around 180degs and run the groove again from the other side, doing this will get the groove exactly in the center, easy as pie. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

72, 73.

Then I run rebates from both sides on one edge of the other two pieces, the trimmer with the rebate cutter is still set up from when I did the rebates for the drawers and all I had to do was adjust the height of the cutter to give me the tenon thickness I needed to get the tenon central, then glue them up, Two glued together will make a wide rear platform for the router to sit on and it does also sit on the front top rail. When the widening joints are dry then there is still more gluing to do. This is the reason why the rear top rail was fixed on one thickness of the material lower then the front top rail, to make a space for this plate to sit and be flat with the front top rail, this Lathe is moving along now. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

74.

Looking at the cutter where it hangs down then I am happy to see it is long enough, the template guide is clear of the blank, maybe when its still square then it might be very close to the underside of the template guide when it first spins, once the square profile is 'roundish' then it will be well clear. I have a few clean up jobs to do on the Lathe including doing its final finishing/oiling, some trimming, the problem I see today is that I really need the shafts now, I can't see the point in doing some work if the shafts and the clutch chuck are not fitted, I also don't see what I save by guessing some things, fact is that the next thing I do should be to fit up the shafts and the motor and as those parts are not here then I have to put the lathe aside until they are, there are a few small jobs to do so I will do them but after I do the little things that can be done then I will have to put it aside. Even so I am happy with how it looks. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

75, 76.

Looks good with the rear plate just sitting where it will go, finally the top of the Lathe is flat enough for the router to sit on so now you can see the slot that will trap the 30mm template guide. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

77, 78.

I did think about the lathe a lot and one thing I thought was that the top face of the rear lower rail should not stick out all the distance it could, if you look at photo 76 then the plate does overhang what it sits on by a long way, you can also see in photo 69 how far the wood is from the bearing so the top fence was totally unsupported due to that being so far back, once the top fence plate was sitting there then I could see that it would be better for it to be supported as far out as it could be so I extended it 30mm, I also forgot to square off one end of the beam so I have trimmed half of it with a router cutter and I will trim the rest when the glue is dry and I can turn it over. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

79.

I have ordered some hardware for the rear fence, without the head and tail shafts then it is going to have to sit here for now. N


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Stick486 said:


> no pictures...
> picture a triangle or an X and a sex bolt at each point...
> there are bazillion sizes and strengths...
> 
> .


Holy cow!!! They do exist. I have never heard about them with that name


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

papasombre said:


> Holy cow!!! They do exist. I have never heard about them with that name


surprise...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> surprise...


Stick I think that I see the broad picture of what you are saying about a steady, I think I have this issue under control as there are things that I can do later if a steady is needed, I will think about it some more. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

80, 81.

Seeing I am sitting around waiting for parts. well I am never sitting around and for a long time now my Vicmark VL175 has been sitting on two rolling platforms waiting for me to do this, and this lathe will also be used as a Router Lathe so it's kinda part of the Router Lathe Cue Making Story, here I am drilling holes and threading the frame of the VL175.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

82, 83, 84, 85.

I hate the idea of me spending much of my Lathe time crawling under and behind the VL175 to clean up waste shavings, I also want to use the shelf under the Lathe and the space under that to store things, space here is at a premium so I can't waste any of it, the lathe frame will also get doors once this is done, anyway I am fixing battens and ply to the back to close it in and square off the back which will be against the wall. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

86, 87.

More shots of the fabrication of the back of the Lathe. "Cricket" you see there sitting on the lower shelf, the first tool I ever bought, my Plumb Claw Hammer, I use it all the time and I still have it after all these years. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

88, 89.

With the back on then all the lower shelf area of the Lathe is closed in, no shavings can now get in and as they will all get trapped at the rear between the rear top shelf extension and the back panel then they can be pushed along and off the LH end into a bag, some will get on the floor in front of the Lathe but when the doors are on then none of that will get under the Lathe. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

90.

Seen through the front then the lower shelf extension and back panel shows that there is now much more shelf space and as it is closed in at the rear then nothing can fall off the back and land on the floor behind the Lathe, no shavings can get into the shelf area, also there is no ground floor shelf, just the floor where I will put piles of stuff, the ground floor area also cannot get shavings in there. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

91. 

The VL175 is actually a VL175SH, the SH is for 'swivel head' here the motor is around 90degs from normal and it all clears the ply very well, when this valley is full then the shavings can be dragged off past here and straight into a bag. This Lathe will have a few Router attachments and as I can now finally, well in the next few days, drop the Lathe off the Rolling Platforms and have it sit on the floor, then finally I can run it, there are cue making things that will get done on this Lathe, also segmented things I have been wanting to have a go at, it would have been insane to run the lathe that much with it up on the Rolling Platforms, soon it will be on the floor so no excuses after that happens. I am pushing on with this as I can't do other work, I also am on a big tidy up and there are things that will be far better for me when they are under the VL175 Lathe and not under my feet. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

92.

As this construction is made out of the same ply as parts of the WorkBench then I am finishing it the same as well, its the same stain and the same oil finish, there's no other way as the lathe and the workbench sit side by side, anyway this is what the RH end of the VL175 looks like today. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

93.

This may not seem it to you all who have followed my two threads, but it feels a serious step forward to me, the VL175 is down and in place and sitting on rubber pads, the rear box section worked out very well so all the shavings will get trapped in the valley at the back of the lathe and not get under or behind it, I still have to build the doors, I was going to do it at the same time as the Workbench Drawer Fronts but I held off, I think the doors need to be a lot stronger than the drawer fronts that get screwed to drawer boxes, I will make the doors later. I had an old screen door that was laying around so I remade it into the security screen you see on the large window, I have always been unhappy about that big glass area and how easy it would be to kick in so the old door will now live a new life, to help me sleep better at night, I have a second door that will go inside the other window. Everyone who has followed my threads and posts will know that I have had some health problems for a long while, a few different issues but the main problem has been blood pressure that was sitting at 200+/120+ and it would not shift, there has never been any reason found as to why it was so high and it being so high has provoked other problems still after years and years then I had given up on seeing it any lower. Australia is a First World Country and we have some of the finest Hospital's in the world, no test was not tried as well as many different medications and still it sat there. Three years ago I was tried on a new program, I was the 20th person in NSW to have 'Renal Arterial Denervation' Here is a link that says what does happen. 

Blood pressure 'holy grail' lacks funding

It was suggested that it may take three years for me to get the full benefit, yesterday, 2 years and 10months after In was in the Cath Lab at Sydney's Westmead Hospital, then yesterday I was 121/71 so we are reducing my medication, I hope to be less tired than I have been, we shall see. I am not a Doctor but I feel sure that 121/71 is better than 220/140, so today then there have been a few steps forward. N


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

It would appear that you are making marked progress on several fronts Neville....a very good thing indeed!!


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

94, 95.

If you go back to page one and photo 3 then you can see what the sewing machine parts did look like, yes, the machining is done so I can press on. These are the tail shafts, I have two, a short one and Yes, the other one is a long one, its for when the short one is not long enough. At the beginning of each cue's build, then each cue will get a Tee Nut in its bottom so when I thread the shaft in and lock it with the nut, the shaft will go back each time into the same place it was last time. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

96, 97.

The head stock end has a face plate with indexing holes and it has the hand wheel from the sewing machine, the hand wheel has the drive gear for the belt on it, the sewing machine was a great idea as it cost so little and has many features that will help the lathe run including the hand wheel, the drive pulley, the variable speed motor. I did have to annoy a nice machinist to do this work and he kindly agreed, I am very happy with his work, this will all be good. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

98, 99.

The machined parts are perfect, there was some messing around to get the hand wheel onto the 10mm stainless steel rod that is the main shaft head stock, make a small sleeve to be an adapter, drill all these neat indexing holes. As you can see the lathe got wet, I took it over so the machinist could see that I am not crazy, this will all work. I have Bronchitis and sinusitis and hay fever so I am sneezing away, whenever the weather turns then I start sneezing and coughing. This is all great as I can now press on. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Some of you may well be wondering why I am going to so much trouble with the lathe build. as well as the Workbench Build for that matter, my mother is 83 and has a lot of health issues, I am surprised that she survived one of them, very happy, but it was a very big deal that she went through, open heart surgery with pulmonary valve replacement and bypasses at 80, it was very hard for her and was the reason I was off the forum for some time, that and also that I have a few issues myself, I saw two years ago that she had recovered from a major ordeal and was happy to also see that she was going to be around now for many more years and would get to enjoy her garden and sport for a good while yet, no one is more fanatical about the Cricket than she is, Australia has been beating up India for a few weeks now and India is lucky my mum has not been on the field as she would sort them out, Anyway the workshop renovation, the Workbench and all the lathes, the bandsaw, all this is a serious attempt at a home workshop business that can create a steady income stream so I have a way to work and also stay close, this router lathe is a key part, that it will work as per concept, well I am very sure it will do 90% of that, mostly sure it will do 95%, confident that the final 5% can also be done, if not I do have the Lie-Nielen Planes and I know how to get those blades razor sharp, I also now have a Tormek T7 to use and that is the real deal in regard to sharpening tools, water cooled slow wheel with all the gouge jigs, I could make a whole new thread on the Tormek T7 and I have the long work area, so the reason for all the hard work, other than I always want what I do correct anyway, the reason is that this is a commercial project and not just a brain snap by me, I mean anouther brain snap that is. This Lathe and the workshop renovation is a commercial project, I have shown all of the images of how the lathe has been made, there are some things that I am reluctant to show and they are only to do with cue making, not lathe making so for now then the method that is being used to do the indexed cuts is on the secret list, all the rest will get posted. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I did post this on the Router Turning Thread posted by Dick, I do know that there are persons who are on this thread because of my Router Lathe who also do not know about Dicks work so I wanted to recommend to you all, you who may be interested in Router Lathe and Router Turning to go to Dicks Threads and read them in awe. N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cherryville Chuck

Larry click on Dick`s uploads down below his user name. It seems to me I saw the working model among them. Dick has unfortunately passed from this worldly sphere as a result of cancer.


Charles I am so sorry to hear that, several times I have thanked him for the great knowledge I got from his Router Lathe thread, I have said many times that Dick's Lathe is why I joined the Forum and that I did learn a lot about router lathes from him and his work, His threads will be part of the Forum for as long as it is on line so there is some immortality in that, I don't know what my Router Lathe would look like other than for me being here and seeing what Dick did as I did get inspiration and saw ways forward on his threads, There are issues with the gears, keeping them clean, nothing that a blow down would not fix, I still have other router lathes to do and they will be be Dicks Grandchildren or he their Grandfather, as there will be a lot of him in them. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

100.

The shafts get held in place by locking rings, this is the head stock shaft so these rings won't get undone that much, the rings on the tail stock shaft, well they do as undoing the ring and sliding the shaft out will be how the workpiece's get put in and taken out. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

101, 102, 103.

The head stock shaft has indexing functions, 8 stations and this leg and pin will hold the shaft fixed at whichever one I want to use and the pin does fit tight but there will be vibration when the cut is done so the simple fix to stop the pin coming loose is to jamb a wedge between the bolt and the headstock post, this was always something I thought would have to happen and a wedge would go in and out on a second so not a big deal. I will likely take the leg away when the lathe spins as even though I don't think it could ever get into a hole I still don't want it to rub on the inside of the headstock plate. It does not really matter where the first cut gets done, well it does but I have a fix for that, I will rotate the workpiece in the chuck so that it is set correctly for the first cut, but once the shaft is in the clutch chuck correctly for the first cut at the zero point, then each other cut will get done correctly in regard to each other, that is controlled by the perfectly spaced index holes. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

104.

The Motor mount is perfect, I have run the motor and belt holding it against the bracket by hand and that all lines up, it is faster than I thought it would be, unloaded, however at slow speed then the rotation is perfect for router cutting. Only one problem as the damn thing sounds like a sewing machine so that's annoying. I have a few things to do now, finish the oil polishing, I was holding off doing other things and waiting to make the motor bracket to get made and as that's done then all the wood work can be finished, soon I will mount the motor and belt and video the head stock running so you can see that soon, I also have to make the clutch chuck, I have that worked out, I also have to mount the rear fence, I could not do that until the head stock shaft and the clutch chuck are fitted, there are things to do but I fully expect to be able to run some cue blanks down to 60% size soon, they have to sit and rest at that size for a good while so the sooner I do that the better, as time is passing and the blanks can rest as it does, I have other things to do while that resting takes place. I have to get ready to do indexing cuts. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

105, 106.

So its been sanded with 150grit, lightly, and cut back after that with steel wool and oil, this mix is about 50/50 turps and linseed oil so never put any hardener into final oil mixes, it may not look it but this feels like real progress to me, I will steel wool it again with oil later today and then I can start to fit it up. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

107, 108.
So its been oiled again and I had these foot pads so they are on. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

109, 110.

I made this simple jig to get the motor holes where I wanted them, the drill can't wander trapped in the jig, I did the same thing when I drilled the holes for the bearings, trapping a drill in a jig is always worth doing. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

111, 112.

I never did know how long the headstock shaft should be as I was not sure where the motor would finally be mounted so I left it long, so it had to be cut off later, the sleeve you see on the shaft was part of the sewing machine as it fits the handwheel, that it where it came from so one of the things the machinist did was make anouther sleeve to fit inside this and also fit onto the 10mm s/s shaft. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

113, 114.

Cut to length with and without the handwheel, I have to drill this fitting right through it and the shaft and put in a pin, I wont do that yet as I have to make the clutch chuck so the chuck will get turned on my VL175 with the 10mm s/s shaft going into the head of the lathe, that way the chuck will spin perfect in regard to the shaft, Making the chuck will take a day or two so I won't fit the pin until the chuck is ready still it does run as it is, it just that the handwheel is not fixed to the shaft, yet. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

The video is on my facebook page, I can't see how I can load it here but its only 27meg so not a big file, I would be happy to post it here if it can be done. N

https://www.facebook.com/neville.moore.71


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

115, 116, 117.

So chuck making is something I have never done, like the Lathe itself then I have a mental picture of what it will look like, I have bolted this squareish piece of American Walnut to the chuck face with recessed M6 bolts and I have to wait 24 hours for the Super Strength Araldite to dry, the other piece will be the chuck itself but I can't glue that on until tomorrow, I will likely wait two days after that to put the Lathe shaft into my VL175, the shaft will go into the head of the VL175 as the only eay I could think of to make this lathe chuck and get it perfect is to attach the blank timber to the s/s chuck face and turn it by holding the shaft of the lathe itself as it will all be centered then. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

118, 119.

So I have turned a tenon onto the plate and a round mortise into the block, this was the only way I could think of to get the bolts set in. One of the bolt heads was in the way so I used an angle grinder to knock that back. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

120.

All glued up with super strength araldite, I will wait two days before I turn the chuck. 
N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

121.

This is part of the cue making so I have added it, I am laminating up these two 16mm strips of Rosewood and between the two of them then there is a .06 veneer of Rock Maple, these two pieces were hanging around for a while and as I wanted to use them up and I wanted to make some 30mm round stock then I glued them up, the veneer will show up as near white so that would clearly reveal a bend were in not very straight, so I clamped it against the 50mm box bar, dry it is very straight, well they all are as I made four of them. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

122. 123, 124.

The chuck is all finished on the outside and after a long search I found my 35mm Tungsten Tipped Forstner bit, I thought I would never find it so I have cut the chuck to length and drilled it out. N


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

125, 126. 

I have made a recess for a hose clamp, that clamp will be how I tighten the fingers. I have also finished it off inside and out, I have to make a jig to cut the fingers on the table saw. When that is done then the chuck is finished. N


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## dick in ia (Jul 23, 2007)

Neville, What is left to do on your lathe before you can start turning??? or are you ready to go by now?
I have followed your progress with interest and am looking forward to seeing pictures of your first turning. Have you come up with a steady rest or how will you keep the cue from chattering while turning?
I have had some problems with chattering while making canes if I don't position the router quite right. 
No matter what happens in the end product, the process of making something new from scratch is not only a great challenge but also lead to a little frustration. The learning process that we go through and the enjoyment of construction makes it all worth while.

Dick


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Dick I am happy to see that you are well, there seems to have been some misunderstanding about your health and I am sorry for any part I played, happy that it was just a misunderstanding. In regards to the lathe. Photo 111 shows the central hub of the hand wheel, inside that hub is a sleeve that adapts the hub ID to the 10mm s/s head stock shaft, now that the chuck is finished then I can fit it and the shaft and chuck into the bearings and drill this hub through the Hub/sleeve and shaft and fit a pin, this will fix the hub to the shaft, that done then I can fit up all the motor, hand wheel, drive belt, all into its permanent place, the tail stock end is finished. I have had to wait to fit the rear fence, its all made but I wanted to wait until the shaft and the chuck were in place before I fit the rear fence as it covers the chuck by 50%, this rear fence is on threaded rod so it can be adjusted at both ends forward and backwards, this is after all a tapering lathe and not the Spiral Router Lathe you have made. I will be cutting from the side and not from the top, cutting from the top would have made the Lathe far harder to makes as the shaft would have had to be adjustable up and down so cutting from the side just means that the rear fence has to be adjustable. I have said many times that a Router Lathe can only do what its designed to do, this lathe could do fluting but I won't take it that far as it does have a purpose, Cue Making. I will still make that Spiral Router Lathe as I still am caught up in spiral flutes however that Lathe still has to wait. As a first step in making a cue I have to turn down a cue blank by cutting off 40% of the thickness as waste and letting that blank rest for 8 weeks or so, I expect that this cutting will get done in the next two weeks and I have 18x40mm square blanks 63inches long ready to cut as soon as the Lathe is ready, so the Lathe is virtually finished, in regard to tapering. That part of the lathe's function is very close to being finished and I will show a video of it running when that happens. There is anouther function of this lathe, tapered, indexed cutting when the cue blank does not spin, I am sure that the concept will work as Routers are my thing, I have not made these jigs, they are still in my head but they will work, I will make them in that 8 week window while the blanks rest. The RPM of the Lathe is far too fast so I will have it run slow when these cuts are done, when will it run, soon. N.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Dick I did not answer your comment about chattering, I know that cues parts are made up to 1000 long and they don't need a steady rest, 1000mm is 39.5 inches but I have blanks that are 63inches, I am sure that I can do what others do as I am very experienced with Router cutting so if others can do it I can and I chose the sewing machine parts as it is a variable speed motor that can turn very slowly, very slow will be my cutting speed. I also think that the cue blanks may well get pushed away from the cutter a little bit, that's if the cutter is not very sharp or I cut too deep, what I am sure about is that the cue blank will not bend at the thick end, it will not bend at all along the thick half but it could bend where the cue starts to get thinner, at the ferule end it gets down to 10mm, I did have long discussions with the machinist as he also thought that the cutter may push it away and that I may well be cutting an irregular spiral as I went down, he suggested a following bearing be made that supported the blank at the rear and after the cut however that would be very hard to do as the cue is tapered so the gap from the edge of the cutter to the rest on the other side of the work piece is 31mm at the thick end and only 10mm at the thin end so that 21mm variation wold be a factor, there is a more simple solution, that I build a steady rest that supports the blank at the point that it could bend in the middle of the thinnest part, maybe a bit further down towards the thin end, if it does bend that is, and that this steady rest has its own over sized platform that the bearing sits and rests on, this over size area may only be 1mm higher than the finished line and it cold not be cut down while the steady was in use, I would just have to hop over that spot while the rest of the cut was done and then when all that was done and OK, then take away the rest and lightly trim down the over size part, for what I am doing then that small part could be done by hand plane. This will give it rear support at its weakest point, it it needs it, it may be that I only need a small steady rest for the last few cuts, the final trim, time will tell. In regard to chattering, when ever I get that then its normally that the cutter is blunt or being overloaded, I think myself that if the cutter is very sharp, that's very very, and that the cut is not too hard, then the cut should just happen OK, as the cue making is a commercial project then the cost of keeping the cutters very sharp is just part of doing them. Chattering could also be from vibration, if a harmonic vibration did start then chattering could come from that. I agree with all that you said, I will have to solve some problems when I see them occur and as I go. I am not doing spiral cuts that penetrate the item, I am only cutting lightly from the edge so I don't see that I will have any big problem, were I cutting a spiral flute down the shaft then that may well be a different story. I have a half made indexed lathe so that problem may well happen lather this year with this other Router Lathe. N


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

The harmonic chatter is what I would be concerned about N. If you've ever seen video footage of the bridge failing over the Tacoma Narrows in Washington State in 1940 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) that was due to the engineers failing to take into account the period of harmonic vibration in the span and it tore itself apart. I would be prepared with some type of steady rest.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> The harmonic chatter is what I would be concerned about N. If you've ever seen video footage of the bridge failing over the Tacoma Narrows in Washington State in 1940 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) that was due to the engineers failing to take into account the period of harmonic vibration in the span and it tore itself apart. I would be prepared with some type of steady rest.


I remember seeing that video years ago. It's amazing how a structure like that was able to move so violently before breaking up.

I kinda doubt that Neville's billiard cues will end up being quite so catastrophic, but I'm thinking that he might need several steady rests along with very slow turning speeds to get the job done.

I think Neville probably has a handle on that.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

cocobolo1 said:


> I remember seeing that video years ago. It's amazing how a structure like that was able to move so violently before breaking up.
> 
> I kinda doubt that Neville's billiard cues will end up being quite so catastrophic, but I'm thinking that he might need several steady rests along with very slow turning speeds to get the job done.
> 
> I think Neville probably has a handle on that.


Chuck I have seen that video and it is astonishing to see it come down, Soldiers walk in 'broken step' when they cross bridges due to this problem. Dick's lathe can cut spiral flutes and grooves that pass though the work piece and past 50% in, I would have to use the Lathe myself to see how deep the cut could be done to avoid overload of the cutter, cutters can only take so much load and then after that is reached then they will vibrate and break. I have wondered if Dicks Lathe can cut a groove over half way in in one pass and not load up the cutter too much and that it wold depend on the hardness of the wood so as he is making canes then that wood would be hard, Hickory like, the cut could be done in two goes or done with a 70/80% sized cutter to hog out the waste and then a change to the full cutter for the last pass but even then that pass may have to be in two goes, that would be more work but it would take load of the cutter. For a few reason I will machine a 30mm round tenon on the end of the thick part of the stock and it will be in the waste area that goes onto the chuck and a 20mm round tenon on the end of the ferule end. I will do this when I do the 40% off waste cut so that will happen soon, however there is no reason why I could not machine a round midsection area, also 20mm, about the middle of what will be the thinnest part of the cue but it would also have to be at a point where the cue was later cut to be less than 20mm, whatever it is and where ever it gets done then if that part of the cue is tapered at 12mm then just has to be slightly larger than the finished tapered size at that point, at slow rotation and with the cue blank still at 40mm square then doing this then should mean that this round area is central to the center line of the cue and that at 40mm then the cue blank will not sag, all my jigs for the indexed cuts will work off the central line so I have thought about that a lot. anyway this central area could be a perfect place to run a pair of bearing, one under and one to the rear, these bearings would make a valley that the 20mm steady part would run/rest on and that would 100% stop the cutter pushing the cue away and it would also be a damper in regard to vibration, all that I would have to do is have the profile guide that runs on the rear fence just hop over this area when all the cuts get done, over several passes the cue itself would get down to finished size and the whole time the 20mm mid section would run in that bearing valley so fully supported, you don't even have to take the bearings away to do the last cut in that area, just take what ever blocks the cut at the steady section away and then do that small trim so Keith is correct, I have a plan, if I need it. N


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Just being cautious. When I was studying physics at university in my youth we were given a lab experiment to do where we had tubes with water in them that had a hose attached to a reservoir so that we could easily and quickly adjust the length of the water in the column. We also had air hoses and a siren disc and the experiment was to play around and see what frequency combinations we could get with the siren discs and varying the length of the water column. During the experiment I happened to hit a resonant harmonic and the floor under my feet began to vibrate. We're talking about a multistory concrete building that took up about a quarter of a city block. I didn't leave it there for long as I knew the story from my father about crossing bridges as he served in WW2. Shortly after that we had professors from the far end of the building coming to the lab telling us to never do that again. They said the noise at the other end was so intense that they couldn't give their lectures. I'm not sure anyone who hasn't experienced it can realize just how powerful that harmonic can be. It's similar in principle to a laser where each wave gets reflected in perfect harmony with the wave(s) before it.


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## dogcatcher (Aug 25, 2012)

That is one heck of an engineering contraption.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Just being cautious. When I was studying physics at university in my youth we were given a lab experiment to do where we had tubes with water in them that had a hose attached to a reservoir so that we could easily and quickly adjust the length of the water in the column. We also had air hoses and a siren disc and the experiment was to play around and see what frequency combinations we could get with the siren discs and varying the length of the water column. During the experiment I happened to hit a resonant harmonic and the floor under my feet began to vibrate. We're talking about a multistory concrete building that took up about a quarter of a city block. I didn't leave it there for long as I knew the story from my father about crossing bridges as he served in WW2. Shortly after that we had professors from the far end of the building coming to the lab telling us to never do that again. They said the noise at the other end was so intense that they couldn't give their lectures. I'm not sure anyone who hasn't experienced it can realize just how powerful that harmonic can be. It's similar in principle to a laser where each wave gets reflected in perfect harmony with the wave(s) before it.


And to play with water you had to go to university? What will they be teaching next I wonder? >


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

dogcatcher said:


> That is one heck of an engineering contraption.


Marvin I am very happy with how it has progressed, I am busy and I have to make a living so I can't work on it as much as I want to,that's annoying as its getting close to running. I will be back on it now for the next few days so soon I should have a video of the Lathe running with wood between the two shafts. Dicks Lathe in his Router Turning thread is a very neat construction, This one is built to do specific things and I am very confident it will work exactly as I expect. This is a commercial project so not a hobby lathe. I think that doing the construction and posting it the way I have should help the thinking of anyone else who wanted to make a similar device. This is not the only solution, its just the one I have devised. N


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