# A successful experiment



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Recently on this and other forums bottle balancers have been shown so I thought that I would give it a go. Several methods of making them were shown on the Internet, most required drilling the hole at an angle and to this end I made a jig. Whilst this worked, drilling such a deep hole, which it is when the board is at an angle, was laborious and created lots of heat on the Forstner bit so I made some experiments and came up with this successful one which could be duplicated in a very short time. Because it was an experiment, no photographs were taken during the experiments.


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## steveo (Sep 10, 2004)

harrysin said:


> Recently on this and other forums bottle balancers have been shown so I thought that I would give it a go. Several methods of making them were shown on the Internet, most required drilling the hole at an angle and to this end I made a jig. Whilst this worked, drilling such a deep hole, which it is when the board is at an angle, was laborious and created lots of heat on the Forstner bit so I made some experiments and came up with this successful one which could be duplicated in a very short time. Because it was an experiment, no photographs were taken during the experiments.


Is that a glass coffee table this aledged woodworker has? !! Oh my goodness ! I thought we would find a big irregular interesting wood slab table of sorts etc.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

My shed is MY kingdom Steve and the inside of our home Is my wife's, isn't that the norm?


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Did you paint the pretty flowers Harry? They give me a special feeling. (He said in his best Fred Rogers voice)


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## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

Nice one Harry!


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## Wildwood (Aug 14, 2010)

Harry, I make mine by drilling the hole perpendicular to the surface, and not at an angle, and then the bottle inserts at a downward angle, (which is beneficial for preventing cork dry-out) but I must say I like the horizontal look of the bottle.
Just a comment - I find that mine works well for a full bottle, and also for a completely empty bottle, but not for a partly filled bottle, due to center of gravity shift - does yours work equally well for a full bottle?


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Cool looking project, I love the physics behind it. Unfortunately my wine comes in a box....


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

The hole in this final one is drilled perpendicular Rob but it has a 45° chamfer on both sides. Unfortunately I'm not in the mood to drink the remaining Napolian brandy so at this stage I can't answer your question at this time!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

kp91 said:


> Cool looking project, I love the physics behind it. Unfortunately my wine comes in a box....


That sounds like the Australian invention that we call a cask Doug. Just today we through out an unopened cask of Lambrusca with a use by date of 2004! Also a partly used cask of Tawney port with a use by date of 2006! As you will have gathered, we are not really wine drinkers.


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Harry, some Scotch bottles and some brandy bottles work, too.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Nice Harry. Also curious about the origin of the flower


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Like so many other things in life (especially work) the Armstrong Concept works especially well for beer bottle holders.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

harrysin said:


> The hole in this final one is drilled perpendicular Rob but it has a 45° chamfer on both sides. Unfortunately I'm not in the mood to drink the remaining Napolian brandy so at this stage I can't answer your question at this time!


That both-sides 45deg chamfer idea is VERY clever Harry, I'm going to try it in the next day or two. Sorry if you've copyright on it, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, don't they? :agree: I love little project ideas that find uses for off-cuts, this is certainly one of those.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

harrysin said:


> The hole in this final one is drilled perpendicular Rob but it has a 45° chamfer on both sides. Unfortunately I'm not in the mood to drink the remaining Napolian brandy so at this stage I can't answer your question at this time!


Okay, Harry, waiting on a pattern, mister... lol and can you please elaborate for me the 45° chamfer? There's always room for improvement on my balancer, and willing to admit it. Also, did I read that you made a jig, so you did this on the table, rather than free hand? I was under the impression you were working on a pattern that would work for free hand routing?

BTW - love the balancer. Very nice. Is the artwork free hand or a pre-fab?


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

OutoftheWoodwork said:


> Okay, Harry, waiting on a pattern, mister... lol and can you please elaborate for me the 45° chamfer? There's always room for improvement on my balancer, and willing to admit it. Also, did I read that you made a jig, so you did this on the table, rather than free hand? I was under the impression you were working on a pattern that would work for free hand routing?
> 
> BTW - love the balancer. Very nice. Is the artwork free hand or a pre-fab?


These shots that I've just taken should answer all the questions. I made the jig which was based on one made by my good friend Jim Jakosh on another forum, and whilst it worked, I found it hard going and a lot of heat was produced by the bit. I did quite a bit of experimenting and for the final one shown used an off-cut of Melamine coated MDF with a final measurement of 4" by 9.5". a 40mm hole was drilled with it's centre 2" from the top. The angle at the bottom was 35°. Using a 45° bit in the table, I routed a chamfer on both sides. Because it now balanced a bottle perfectly, I thought that I'd pretty it up a little and so, again on the table, I routed around the front edge. For the top, I placed a paint tin and drew around it then cut off the corners with the RAS followed by sanding to the line on the disk sander.The rose was a transfer that kids use as tattoos and the pack as shown with two sheets, cost I think $2.00. Normally when I use these transfers they come out perfect, but on this occasion I thought that I was being clever by applying it whilst the lacquer was still tacky, a BAD idea, the rose is pretty yukky.
As I said at the beginning of the thread, I didn't take progress shots because it was a first time experiment.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

As always, you make everything look so easy, Harry..........VBG.

Another great tutorial.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

harrysin said:


> Normally when I use these transfers they come out perfect, but on this occasion I thought that I was being clever by applying it whilst the lacquer was still tacky, a BAD idea, the rose is pretty yukky.
> As I said at the beginning of the thread, I didn't take progress shots because it was a first time experiment.


Thank you, Harry, it did help. (Remember I'm blonde *and* polish) lol As for the chamfer, they didn't help, because I didn't know what a chamfer was lol I finally googled it, and like that idea a lot!

When you use those transfers, do you put another coat over top to protect the artwork? Never thought of using the tattoos, but leary that they would rub off. Love the idea, but leary, just the same...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

OutoftheWoodwork said:


> Thank you, Harry, it did help. (Remember I'm blonde *and* polish) lol As for the chamfer, they didn't help, because I didn't know what a chamfer was lol I finally googled it, and like that idea a lot!
> 
> When you use those transfers, do you put another coat over top to protect the artwork? Never thought of using the tattoos, but leary that they would rub off. Love the idea, but leary, just the same...


In years past I used decals, real transfers but they were only available here from one company and were quite expensive. Typically one the size of the rose that I used would be about $4.00 or $5.00. This company stopped selling them a few years ago so once I had used up my stock I looked around for something to replace them and these kids tattoos are what I found. Applied to a dry surface they take a coat of lacquer without any problems.
Out of curiosity, this afternoon I tried a range of different bottles and they all balanced OK. If there is some interest I could make another one complete with a full photo-shoot.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

I'm interested, but I can't do it on the table, Harry... gotta find a way to do this free hand... tried it with Mike, and it just wasn't happenin lol (Not yet)


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Now you need to recalculate the bottom angle for one that is 5' tall and hook up an IV drip to a bottle of bourbon.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Barb, that type of chamfering bit can be used free hand.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

Harry - I just made one of these, a 40 deg angle held a wine bottle reasonably level-looking for me, and held it mid-way along the neck in the chamfers. I tried angles from 32 to 45 before I got it right.
I looked at the EagleLake drawing here, can anybody see anything wrong with that drawing?

Thanks again Harry for the idea. I might make one tomorrow from some nice wood.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

_I looked at the EagleLake drawing here, can anybody see anything wrong with that drawing?_

There is nothing wrong with the drawing on page 1. I think page 2 should be before page 1. Then just turn the holder over before you set it on the table. ????


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

JCJCJC said:


> Harry - I just made one of these, a 40 deg angle held a wine bottle reasonably level-looking for me, and held it mid-way along the neck in the chamfers. I tried angles from 32 to 45 before I got it right.
> I looked at the EagleLake drawing here, can anybody see anything wrong with that drawing?
> 
> Thanks again Harry for the idea. I might make one tomorrow from some nice wood.


It sure is similar to mine, which came about by pure experiment, no maths were used in it's creation! It doesn't look like it will work as shown, either the bottom mitre is the wrong way or the hole is mitered on the wrong side.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

OutoftheWoodwork said:


> I'm interested, but I can't do it on the table, Harry... gotta find a way to do this free hand... tried it with Mike, and it just wasn't happenin lol (Not yet)


It's rather late to go into the shed now, it's 10.00pm but tomorrow I'll drill a hole in a piece of scrap and show how easy it is to rout the chamfers with router hand held.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

harrysin said:


> It sure is similar to mine, which came about by pure experiment, no maths were used in it's creation! It doesn't look like it will work as shown, either the bottom mitre is the wrong way or the hole is mitered on the wrong side.



Yep, the hole is at the wrong end. Apart from that...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

harrysin said:


> In years past I used decals, real transfers but they were only available here from one company and were quite expensive. Typically one the size of the rose that I used would be about $4.00 or $5.00. This company stopped selling them a few years ago so once I had used up my stock I looked around for something to replace them and these kids tattoos are what I found. Applied to a dry surface they take a coat of lacquer without any problems.
> Out of curiosity, this afternoon I tried a range of different bottles and they all balanced OK. If there is some interest I could make another one complete with a full photo-shoot.


 Ok Barb., in an effort to prove that I'm not the terrible man that you once suggested, I made another balancer today using the router hand held and am about to post a new thread showing each step. I'll also include a pdf.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

harrysin said:


> Ok Barb., in an effort to prove that I'm not the terrible man that you once suggested, I made another balancer today using the router hand held and am about to post a new thread showing each step. I'll also include a pdf.


LOL Harry, :laugh: I didn't say you were a terrible man... I said you were an instigator stiring up trouble, who needed to accept others preferences  But, we are all entitled to our opinions, and you know what they say about those: (And I always add that if you're a married woman, you have two lol)

As for the post, I saw it, and I thank you for the tutorial. :thank_you2: Soon as I can, I plan on trying it, and applying it to other shapes, as well... just leary of going back to Beastie to work; don't feel safe, and don't really wanna put any more tools in him for fear of having them taken. If I get another break-in, my insurance company will cancel me for sure!


Barbie


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