Am i asking for trouble - Rosette cutter in 1/2hp DP?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I need to make some 3" Rosettes.
Eagle America has a 3" two blade cutter on sale for $49.00.
They make no mention though of the drill press requirement.

I have a GMC 1/2 HP bench top drill press.
Right now, run out is pretty bad.
I've been reading up on how to adjust run out, so I'd be willing to go through whatever it takes in that respect.

Am I asking for trouble trying to use the GMC?

FWIW - the material I have in mind to use will be poplar.

[Rod Sheridan]

Rich, will the bench top press have a low enough spindle speed?

Runout will be a problem for appearance of the completed rosette.

I made rosettes in my lathe, at about 220 RPM.

regards, Rod.

[Larry Edgerton]

I had trouble with my first drill press, a small tiawanese 1/2 hp. I just couldn't get it to cut crisp. I used the same cutter in my old Walker-Turner and it was the drill press. They came out perfect with the heavy drill press.

Results may vary.......

[Kirk Poore]

I don't think 1/2 hp will be the problem. I used a big rosette cutter on my old DP, and the problem was the sturdiness of the press. For a cutter that big you really have to clamp it down tight. And if your DP has any looseness in the quill, or in the connections between the head and column or table and column, you're going to get a lot of vibration. On my old Taiwanese DP I could get acceptable results only with great care and very light cuts. My Powermatic 1200 does much better because it's so big and tight that the vibrations are almost non-existant--when the wood is tightly clamped down.

As for spindle speed, slow is good but really slow may make the cutter grab the wood more. I'd experiment. I think I use mine at around 400 rpm and get good results.

Kirk

[Robert Parrish]

Rich, Check out MLCS they are closing out their cutters. I just bought the cutter head and 7 cutters. They haven't arrived yet so can't comment on the quality. They recommend running at 300 rpm.

[Chip Lindley]

Hi Rich! Runout will be your problem. Finding the cause of runout is your other problem. Most obvious is the spindle nose, or the chuck. Other causes could be slop in the mating parts of the quill. First, try a quality chuck and see if runout disappears to very small tolerances! Your small DP may, or may not have adjustments to take up slack in the quill. IF the slop remains, your DP is basically unusable, and dumping it to trade up may be your next step, before any quality rosette-making!

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Well, I'm happy to report that things turned out ok.
Not great, but ok.
I picked up a 2 2/2" Rosette cutter on closeout at Hartville Hardware last week and just got around to trying it yesterday.

I used a scrap of 3/4" B/C Plywood to test it out.

The DP worked fine as long as I went slow.

I did have some burning which I attribute to running the DP a little on the fast side.
My GMC drill press is a major hassle to change speeds on.
Anyone ever sees one offered for sale, tell the seller that if they give you $10.00, you'll haul it away for them.

I also had some chipping, which I attribute to the ply & some of the gaps.

Runout was minimal, much to my surprise. I guess the 1/2" shaft of the cutter helped in that regard.
I'll pick up a piece of poplar from the borg to give it a try.

It looks like I'm good to go though, once I slow down the speed & do a little tweaking on the chuck.

[Don Eddard]

Sounds like you should be good to go with the poplar. The plywood is much more difficult to cut cleanly IME.

[Larry Edgerton]

If you can bolt your drill press to the floor it will help immensely. You can use 3/8 drop in anchors in concrete if it is in a garage.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Larry,
I could,,, but bending over to work with it would get old in a hurry ;).
(It's a benchtop)

Then again - anytime I can use a hammer drill is something I consider a good time :D
I might just drag out the hammer drill and drill/pound a few holes in the garage floor & bolt it down for the fun of it :D :D

[Larry Edgerton]

Hello Larry,
I could,,, but bending over to work with it would get old in a hurry ;).
(It's a benchtop)

Then again - anytime I can use a hammer drill is something I consider a good time :D
I might just drag out the hammer drill and drill/pound a few holes in the garage floor & bolt it down for the fun of it :D :D

LMAO! Silly Me........