copy help

A profile gauge? Tom

Here's one that's pretty close to exactly what you'd like:

Do a ADVANCED Google Search with the exact term "Profile Gauge" and include that it MUST contain Woodworking.

You'll catch a load of them. The above was merely the first and happened to be spot on.

"Norvin" wrote: (clip) Any suggestion to steer my in the right direction. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I used to use the ones with sliding wires, all lined up, but the best I have ever used is made with plastic "fingers." They slide smoothly, don't get bent or pushed out of line. Mine came from Harbor Freight. Woodcraft sells the same thing for twice the money.

Draw yourself a half-pattern on 1/4" birch plywood. Take your measurements with a ruler and calipers. Record the width and diameter of each of the elements (cove, bead, taper, shoulder, etc.) Use this half-pattern to turn your legs. It's not as intimidating as it might first sound. The first leg is the hardest.

I think you will find this approach works much better than the profile gauge. It's meant for duplicating short pieces of molding and the like.

Barry

"Barry N. Turner" wrote: Draw yourself a half-pattern on 1/4" birch plywood. Take your measurements with a ruler and calipers. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Of course, you are right, Barry. It is important to work from a set a measurements. It is also good to have a picture or profile, so the appearance of the copy is right. Remember, though, that it does not have to be dead accurate. Chances are the reproduction you are making will never be compared directly with the original. Even slight differences from leg to leg on the same table are usually not detectable to the naked eye.

On my lathe, I have a laser light, pointed straight down, and supported on a set of adjustable links, so I can aim it wherever I want. If I were doing your project, I would make the first leg to my satisfaction, and then set the laser to a significant transition point on the leg. Then, I would insert each of the other three legs, and create that point on each, without allowing the laser to move. I would then put back the completed leg, move the laser to another feature point, and go through the routine again on the other three. In a short time you will have all the recognizable edges, coves and beads outlined. It is then just a matter of fairing in the curves in between. It is good to supplement this process with a pair of calipers, to improve accuracy.

I picked up mine from my local Ace Hardware - pretty sure it was under $10. I called it a profile gauge or similar but had to resort to describing the thing to the manager before he lit up and led me to the aisle, pointing to the exact product I was looking for, stating, "Oh, you mean one of these." (BTW, it's kept near the framing squares, levels, drawing compasses and other various marking & measuring doodads, hickies and mabobs.)

As an alternative to a profile gauge, take a picture of it and print it, B&W on graph paper. If you print to the 100% size you can use the prints as a backgground to the spindle and turn to match. All you'll need is calipers to make sure the diameter is right.

Dave in Fairfax

Norvin

The way I would do this is to draw the profile on a piece of cardboard, cut it out with an exacto knife, and then measure with a ruler and calipers, as others have said, then write these measurements on the pattern.

I prefer cardboard the consistency of boxes for Priority mail. I'd take a piece of cardboard wider than your table leg and thumbtack it to a piece of plywood, clamp this to your table leg with half of the cardboard off the side of the leg. I take a thin block of wood the same length as the width of the table leg, and a little wider than the deepest recess, tape a pencil to one edge, so the lead is just past the bottom. Now holding the bottom of the block of wood on the cardboard, slowly move it along with the edge opposite the pencil touching your table leg. You can do this with a compass but I find making a marking gauge with a piece of wood easier to control. It's not near as hard as it sounds. After you cut it out with an exacto knife, you can try it to the table leg to get a good fit. I then hang it above and behind my lathe so I can see it while I'm working, I can take it down for marking my pieces, and I can use it to try my pieces at the end.

Don

Thanks to all for the various answers, think I will try several of them and see which ones I have less error with and get the best results. Again, thanks to all for the input Norvin

Leo, I took your suggestion and went with Harbor Freight. I know that you meant well, and I should have known better, BUT I will never use Harbor Freight again. After I ordered it, they charged my credit card on Aug 23. I gave them a couple days to get the part in the UPS system so I could track and be home that day. As of today, the 30th, I still have no part and when I called, they told me that the part was shipped by common carrier to Ill., and then will be shipped by UPS back to me in Minnesota. As you know, a common carrier will pickup and dropoff any number of times between stops. I think I would have prefer to pay a little more and get a lot more service. Hopefully all those that may read this will be a little more informed before making a decision. Thanks for the suggestion of the plastic fingers, I was considering the metal ones, but you have a very good point.

Be aware that UPS uses common carriers to save their costs. They don't have a full truck so they add it to another to make it full...

I have had equipment sent from very high up on the business pecking order to me and they put it to a terminal in East Texas by express and then a local route company that visits smaller towns and filled his truck. It is becoming to be a fact of business the shippers are not much better off than some of the airlines. Tipsy. The post office is stepping up and taking some of the load and in some or many respects it is cheaper. I got two amazon shipments by USPS this week and a third by UPS. UPS got the smaller package.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Norv>

Martin, What I am upset about is the fact that HF charged my card, shipped the little part to Ill and then transferred it to UPS for delivery back to Minnesota. When I see my card charged, I expect to see some activity on a shipping notice. If they use UPS, I know that within 5 working days, I will have the part. Their catalog says that most items are shipped UPS unless they are too big so I don't understand why my little "profile gauge", maybe 10-12 oz would have to be shipped on a big truck. I guess that I just didn't get a good feeling with HF and the girl on the phone sure didn't help matters. I have ordered quite a bit of supplies from various companies and have never had this kind of service.

Mart> Be aware that UPS uses common carriers to save their costs. They don't > have a full

Norvin, I suspect that Leo bought his plastic fingers from a local H.F. store.

Nevermind being upset about the poor delivery, I'm amazed that you survived the plaintive words and music of "your call is important to us" to ever place your order.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter