An interesting lathe project

Hello all,

I'm nearly finished with my latest project on the lathe, and figured it might be interesting enough to share the idea.

For our third anniversary, I wanted to make my wife a jewelry box- but to be quite honest, I'm tired of regular retangular boxes, and wanted to try something on the lathe. I had a plank of 5/4 butternut laying in the shop, and decided to make a segemented turning. She is a big movie buff, and likes (among other genres) fantasy films with barbarians and castles, so I decided to go with a castle tower for the design.

One thing I haven't seen, but thought might be interesting, is a turning that incorporates slide-out drawers- so I made one.

The basic procedure was to make nine octagonal segemented rings from the butternut- seven of the same diameter, and two which were larger, and overlapped the other seven by about 50%. Glued up all the rings individually, and then glued two sets of two rings together to make the drawer cases and fronts. After those were dry, I cut along the joint lines at the first and fourth joints with my bandsaw to separate the drawer fronts from the cases. (drawer fronts = three segements, case = 5 segements [it makes sense here to note that the rings were offset like a regular segmented turning, so the bottom rings had a couple of segements cut in half]) I then trimmed the height of the drawer fronts by approximately 1/8", and set them aside. I also trimmed the inside of the overlapping rings with the bandsaw to leave a square internal space with 45deg. corners in the back (for the drawers, as I wasn't going to be hollowing the inside)

Next thing to figure out was the "floor" between each drawer and on the top. Easy enough to cut octagons and fill in the two larger rings for the top and bottom and the first and fourth smaller rings in the stack. So far, so good.

I marked all the rings for easy alignment, and then did the glue-up. A little mistake here, but not too bad- to keep the drawer fronts on while turning, I used a shim and two drops of pva glue on the top and bottom of each drawer front to keep them in place so they could be turned with the rest of the piece. Not easy to knock out later, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Stuck a sacrifical block on the bottom, then turned the piece between centers to near final sanding. Turned a foot for the chuck in the sacrificial block, mounted the balanced piece, and cleaned up the top- making a relatively thin wall between the "floor" of the top and the top edge of the top ring. Used the tool rest and the index to mark eight archer's slots, and then parted it off. I had to cut the drawers out with a handsaw (the glue was bonded too well to just knock them out) and cut out the slots in the top as well.

Some judicious sanding of the inside, and it's time to make the drawers (my next task- for tomorrow night) Should be fairly simple, and it's looking pretty good. Only a couple of stupid moments- gluing the drawer fronts back in the way I did (a couple of small dowels would sure be easier to cut out) and deciding not to hollow the interior. You can't see it once the drawers are in, but it's a little messy- In retrospect, I don't figure it would have been any tougher to make discs to use as "floors" and fit them in after turning- and it may have made the drawer fronts easier to remove.

Easier that I thought it'd be, though- and the segemented nature of the turning makes it look like it's built out of bricks. I didn't see anything like this with a couple of google searches, so I figured it must be an uncommon project, and might be fun for someone else to try out. I know some pics would probably help show the process better, but we have rotten luck with cameras, and the last two I've had are dead- hence the long verbal post.

Reply to
Prometheus
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Sounds like an interesting project, one that I regret not having thought of first. But you know what they say about one picture and a thousand words...

Seriously though, I have owned two cheap HP cameras. Both, while not the most high tech and feature laden, have performed as advertised for many years. (I've found that the more crap, the faster it breaks.) One is going on 6 and the other about 3. The oldest was immersed in water for a while when SHMBO fell into a 4' deep eddy hole carved into a rock in a California river with it in her pocket. Yea, I know... I disassembled and dried it out, replaced a cap and repaired an eroded trace on the flash board, and it is still working 3 years later.

Would like to see it when you get it finished.

Greg G.

Reply to
Greg G

Reply to
Max63

I'll take that under advisement- the last one was a Poloroid, but it died after two uses. Just wouldn't turn on any longer, and it had been sitting on the desk for longer than the return period. I might look at the HPs, though- I just don't want to blow another $100-200 for something that doesn't work.

Reply to
Prometheus

I hear ya. I'm becoming quite the Luddite in my "age of enlightenment." I've seen far too many camcorders bought as Christmas gifts die sitting on closet shelves as dozens of SMD electrolytics spew their chemicals all over the PCB, etching it beyond repair.

I'm of the belief that we no longer buy electronic items, we lease them for a very short period of time. Then toss them into a landfill when they die, and stand in line to pony up for a another replacement.

Needless to say, I own little that is "new". I was foolish enough to believe that WW equipment would be a relief from such nonsense...

And now this - From the VFD manual:

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  1. If the AC motor drive is stored for more than 3 months, the temperature should not be higher than 30 °C. Storage longer than one year is not recommended, it could result in the degradation of the electrolytic capacitors.

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While not exactly a new phenomenon, I have a cabinet full of older electrolytics from the 80's that are still good. Even when the large values degrade, careful application of voltage at low currents will "heal" them. The tiny SMD types are self-destructing within a year or so - even with a charge stored. Their ESR drops to the point they are useless, and that assumes they don't leak corrosive liquid over everything first.

Just Lovely...

Greg G.

Reply to
Greg G

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