My homemade hollowing rig.

[Sparky Paessler]

Some of you expressed an interest in see my homemade hollowing rig so I took some pictures of it tonight. The tool handle is made up of 3/4" aluminum and the tool shaft is 3/4" steel. The laser rod is 3/4" tubing. Secondary tool rest is scrap aluminum I had but could be made of wood just as easy. The cutter holder is a piece of 1 1/4" aluminum shaft I sliced off on the mitersaw. I then drilled a close fitting hole in a scrap piece of wood and pressed it in. I used the table saw to cut the slot for the cutter and then removed it from the piece of wood. The cutter is from harbor freight and the laser pointer from ebay.

Enjoy and thanks

[Harry Pye]

That is a really nice rig. One question, is the secondary rest lined up with the center of the spindle? I was never interested in deep hollowing but this makes me want to try it.

[Sparky Paessler]

Harry

I have it a little above center so that the cutter is tilted down just a little. I started out with it level but found that it cuts smoother with it raised some.

[Glenn Hodges]

Thanks for the picture, why buy one when you can make one like this? We know how well it works because we have see the results.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice, Sparky. Very similar to the Jamison version that I use. Question...do you find the aluminum to be "stiff" enough when working hard-chattery material during hollowing??

[Sparky Paessler]

Jim

So far it has worked well but all I have worked with is Cherry and Pear. If it does start chattering I just ease up and take a lighter cut. Would have liked to make it out of steel but the aluminum was free and easy to machine. I might upgrade to a steel handle later if I have problems. I don't know if there are different grades of aluminum but this came out of an industrial application.

[Charles McKinley]

OOOOOOOO!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

That is very nice Sparky!!!!! Thank you for the ideas and knowing it can be done for much less than the comercial setups. I love seeing lathe tooling that people have made.

I think I will be trying hollowing sooner than I thought.

Thank you,