I want to make a sumitsubo (Japanese marking-out ink line)
One component is the wheel, used as a reel to store the line
Any advice on how to turn such a beast? Particularly for the best way for a novice to hold it and the sequence of operations to turn it. I'm planning on using offcuts of some lovely burr elm I was working today.
Thanks for any advice.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Are you willing to give up the beveled edges? If so, you could hold it in a chuck.
You could use a piece of wood about twice as thick as the sumitsubo reel, holding it on a faceplate, in a chuck, or a jam chuck, or whatever suits you. Turn as much of the shape as possible from one side, and then part it off. Reverse it into a jam chuck and clean up the other side. You can hold it in the jam chuck with a live center planted into the center hole.
I usually produce wheels for toys on a mandrel - and this doesn't look too different.
Produce an oversize disk on the bandsaw, then drill the centre to be a push fit on a suitable mandrel. If you don't have a suitable diameter MT mandrel (pen mandrels tend to be too long, but some are adjustable) then something can often be mocked up with a suitable bolt mounted in a jacobs chuck. Use light cuts. If you want the wheel piercing, that's another matter - probably drilling and shaping afterwards (scrollsaw?) is best.
Before I had a lathe, I produced dozens of (very simple) toy wheels with just a nut and bolt and a bench-mounted power drill. Not as fancy as any I do now on the lathe, but most are still in service and look OK.
Doesn't work (for me) with bigger stuff - too much leverage at the outer diameters - but usually works fine for small items.
John
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If the wood is cheap and plentiful (say, firewood, always a good choice for turning stock you can be flexible with) you can screw a hunk to a faceplate or grab it in a chuck. The faceplate is cheaper. Said hunk of wood is considerably longer than the finished wheel width. You could probably also go between centers. Use parting tool to define the sides o the wheel and the groove. If between centers, cut away waste on both sides to expose most of the faces for finish turning, if on faceplate or in chuck you'll have started the one face at the exposed end, and just need to gain access to the backside. Clean up as much as possible, then part off and either remount in a jam chuck (piece of wood mounted on faceplate, with a recess turned in the face which the front side of this just "jams" into to hold it), or clean up by hand (off the lathe) with sandpaper and planes/chisels.
If the wood is precious, you want to get more creative when holding to get more wheels with less shavings. A chuck is generally the easiest method.
The spokes, if you want them (I can't see any function to them) will be a carving project having nothing to do with the lathe, as will the radial lines.
Faceplate with a facing of basswood, hot glue the piece of desired thickness to it, or use the Kraft paper and PVA glue method. You faces are flat prior to carving, so all you really have to do in the turning is: 1) make the faces parallel 2) make it circular 3) part the groove in the center. As soon as you have parallel faces, use a blunt nose on your live center to help keep the hold.
Bore on the lathe if you have a MT chuck, otherwise, mark and dimple center and use the DP.
I've made pulleys (sheaves) for mechanical advantage demos that way.
Andy.. the picture is a little blurry, but it appears to have a hole through the center?
If so, I'd use a pen mandrel or a bolt in a drill chuck to hold it..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
This burr elm has cost me >$100 / cube foot. Apart from some real mahogany it's the most expensive timber I think I've ever bought! Certainly more than twice what I've ever paid for timber from that particular dealer.
To answer a couple of points, my main concern is the deep groove that forms the line store. It's easy turning, but it will need a good stable hold in the lathe. I'm reluctant to mandrel it because they're not generally through-holed. Modern ones use a blind insert nut on a threaded axle from just one side. Although I could use a through-axle I'd have to make another sort of lock to keep the wheel fixed on the axle and it is useful to be able to remove it for line changes.
I'm inclining towards fastening it to a wooden faceplate, either by gluing or by screwing between the future spoke positions. I'll carve the spokes after turning.
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