Certainly impressive.
I think 3D printing is the best hope for us medium-term.
- Joe
"Only" GBP 2,800 which, actually, I don't think is too bad...
http://www.rolanddg.co.uk/products/rapid...mdx-20_15/
I know what my sons' school paid for their 60W A2 laser cutter - about GBP 15K - and that's only 2D, though it has a rather expensive laser instead of a milling head and Z-axis drive.
One of the guys here at work is setting up a sideline business in 3D printing. Commercially, that's a lot of money, and I'm not sure a RepRap
http://www.reprap.org/wiki/RepRap is up to knobs (though it might be) as it prints in ABS....
The interesting thing about the video was that it re-used Catalin culled from old kitchen utensils (knife handles). Certainly at the top end of 'homebrew'!
When I first saw 3-D printing, I thought it was an April Fool spoof.
It would be no good letting me loose on one - if I told it to make a knob it would probably make a kitchen knife handle instead! I am not worthy.
Its fabulous and I too would like one... reckon I could master that where as lathe work is not for me. But I would have a problem putting a hole in the bottom and a brasss bush for the shaft ... so guess thats "dial a friend" with a lathe. Then there is drilling and tapping a grub screw hole but I could manage that.
Guess moulding will be around for sometime yet!
Gary
Hi,
Many thanks David for adding this most interesting video. I've seen a big CNC router in action before at Central Woodworking here in Huddersfield. Central used to sell these routers costing I think around £10K over twelve years ago but I think these only did 2D work and the company went out of business.
It would be fun to have a go at making a similar knob using my lathe and drill press. The drill press would bore the hole for the metal insert bush the bush having been turned on the lathe and bored through.
Next would be to drill and tap for the grub screw. The usual knob spindle diameter is 1/4" so now a short length of 1/4" rod could be secured into the blank by means of the grub screw and the blank mounted in the three jaw on the lathe and roughed down.
A drilling template made from steel could be made up and with an indexing arrangement the flutes could be added using the drill press. A bit more thought would be required to finish the knob in rounding over the edges of the flutes but I reckon a good copy could be produced on basic machinery.
I don't wish to detract from the versatility of these 3D CNC machines as the technology is wonderful but I'm merely thinking aloud how I would perhaps go about producing such knobs with my own equipment.
I love these sort of projects; the materials cost very little but many happy hours can be spent tinkering around whilst resolving the problems. Other materials can also be used such as alternative ivory.
It is such projects that has decided me into buying the Jubilee lathe which I hope to spend quite a bit of time on this winter; once the lathe is upgraded which I'm currently doing then I'm interested in adding an "overhead" this being a remote belt drive to power tooling allowing all manner of patterns and shapes to be added to turned work which is indexed between centers. Patterns like "barley twists" can be added with a router in fact such a machine used to be sold years ago which I believe was called a router crafter; it might still be on sale?
I've been addicted to lathes since the age of 15; so after 50 years I doubt a cure will be found. Rob and Joe are also now two more victims of lathe addiction; sorry guys there still is no known cure. (David has had his lathe for a long while so is already an hopeless case as is Big Al).
How do you manage to resist the urge to dash out and buy a lathe Gary; you would have endless fun if you did and with a bit of practice you would amaze yourself; take Joe as an example; Joe is turning top class pens like a professional and I'm sure Joe is now fully addicted to lathe work. We are all lost causes.
Kind regards, Col.
At the mo Colin I would rather stick with restoring radios, its nice and warm in my Den where as the only place, assuming I made room, for a lathe would be the garage. I was out there yesterday drilling holes for a back panel, with your excellent jig, and it was darned cold; very glad to get back indoors. Could wear more clothes I suppose... Heating is hardly worth the electricity as with no insulation it only warms the back.
I was never good on a lathe even as an apprentice, of course we all change and I have a lot more sticking power now so could probably get the hang of it. But I cant think of many things I would want to make... pens though take up a lot less room than radios.
It would be good to find somewhere with a CNC machine as above or bigger that would copy knobs to order from suitable plastic stock. Plastic of the right colour and with better colour stability than moulded stuff. I guess I want Bakelite, that was one of the earliest plastics and still cant be beat. I have an Ekco AC97 with cream repro knobs, that were wonderful when I got them but soon darkened. It was a shame as they were a spot on colour match at first. I now keep a cloth over the radio unless being played and they dont seem to be getting any worse so it can only be the affect of UV.
Gary
Hi,
Thanks Gary; I fully agree with you regarding keeping warm and the high cost of heating. Every year when our short spell of warm weather arrives I always have a list of jobs that need doing on the outside of the bungalow or in the gardens; it never falls in that by the time I've gone through this list the cold bad weather returns meaning jobs I would like to do rather than have to do sees me in the frozen garage.
This year though I've been fighting back; my workshop is coming along nicely; it now boasts much better lighting and with a nice big central heating radiator it warms up quickly. Compressed air is laid on via a new SIP compressor affording nail gun facility. Music is supplied through a new Sony mini Hi-Fi playing up to 200 of my favourite sixties songs on one disc. I'm slowly arranging all my hand and power tools and have bought a monster router at 2,100W which I'm keen to play with because over the last 30 years I've never liked routers and could never settle with one rather like you with lathes; recently I've made friends with my small B&D 1,100W router and find it very useful. My lathes have been in the garage where three still remain but I've just installed a rather nice Union Jubilee woodturning lathe in the workshop and am currently upgrading it to suit me; hopefully this lathe will get plenty of use just for fun as I will be able to work on it in comfort; dust extraction needs sorting for the workshop but I might end up buying one of the powered helmets; I looked at air scrubbers for ceiling mounting but was scared off by stories of filters causing legionnaires disease. I'm fully retired but always seem to be working flat out just to keep up.
I'm pleased you are finding the drilling jig useful Gary; I copied the hole pattern from a Philco Peoples set back panel and this hole pattern appears to be used on a number of other sets. Making the drilling jig out of steel was the easy part for me; the hard part was to get the hole pattern correct; I had considered adding the pattern onto the forum for others to copy but my CAD skills leave a lot to be desired.
If you are not interested in lathe work Gary then I understand you not owning one but for anyone with a little interest in lathes once one is bought it opens up a whole new world of interest. Many people use a lathe as a sole hobby devoting a great deal of time to it. Those owning metal lathes tend to drift over to model engineering whilst those owning wood lathes produce all manner of items; many years ago I saw pictures of an Holtzapffel ornamental turning lathe which had been sold for a cool £500,000; you won't find one of these in my garage or workshop but I can dream.
My chum David (Yorkie) is heavily involved with his local woodturning group and David produces some wonderful items on his lathe in fact he has delighted Bron and me with gifts of some of them all made to perfection. I've been involved with lathe-work for the last 50 years and have never tired of lathes.
I can look forward to another winter working in the garage because although the workshop is now comfortable many of the projects I want to do involve jobs that can only be done in the garage; two Myford engineering lathes to fully restore and even the upgrade on the Jubilee involves metal fabrication in the garage.
The biggest problem I have in working in the garage is not so much one of comfort because once I get stuck in I can soon warm up with a bit of hack-sawing; the car is always garaged and this needs pulling out usually for it to receive a soaking; before putting the car away it needs drying off otherwise the damp attacks my cast iron machines. I dare not leave the car on the drive in our modern society where criminals are treated with a great deal more respect than victims. A while ago I had a short wooden ladder stolen from the top of our rear garden. About a month ago very near neighbours suffered a drugs bust at 2.30am ending up with police swarming the house for a full day; suspected cannabis; cocaine; mugging and aggravated burglary were some of the reasons for the raid in the local paper. We live in a top class area of Huddersfield and dare not leave a car in the drive or ladder in the garden.
Today is the first day after BST (British Summer Time). What a joke as I'm still waiting for summer to arrive.
Kind regards, Col.
Lathes don't have to be big - I would like a Myford or something serious, but my workshop is full to bursting and has a suspended wooden floor, so I just have a small Hobbymat MD65 with the BFE65 milling head.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/hobbymat/ - not very expensive, well understood and often available for reasonable prices on an auction site near you...
Whilst this may appear to be a rinky-dinky small lathe, it can do pretty much anything (up to a certain size) that much larger lathes can to, with the added advantage that its a table-top machine that can (just about) be lifted and moved by one person.
It's unbelievably useful for those odd small jobs and will turn wood and plastic just as easily as metal. I love it.
One day when I'm rich & famous (HAH !) I'll have a much bigger workshop with a concrete floor and have a decent CNC lathe, but not today
FWIW, I keep moisture out of my workshop by having the house servers in there, so there is a constant low-level movement of air and source of warmth...
