Monster Hollowing tips survey

[Roger Chandler]

AT the suggestion of Faust Reggario, I am posting the following question, and hope that all the experienced monster hollowing rig owners will tell the following and "WHY" you do it the way you do.

When you select a cutter tip for your application, which tip do you use, when, and for what reason. [grain orientation,etc]

The Monster rig comes with a 3/16" tip, a 1/4" tip that go in the straight boring bar. It also comes with a round tip that holds a 3/16 tip at different angles set by the user, and it comes with a round carbide tip [similar to the hunter carbide cutters] also an angled boring bar tip with a 45 degree angle. and when/why do you use it/them ?

How do you position the laser for the tip you use and for what cuts? Any additional information that you feel is applicable; please include with your response.

[Jim Burr]

Hey Roger! I was taught to use my Monster by a guy that's been on the WoW several times last year, really got a solid 2 days of lessons. For the 3/8" I position the laser 1/4 to 3/8" in between the cutting surface and corner closest to the wood...the most promenent corner. 1/8" cutter I postion about the same, just because it's usually used on shoulders. The ring cutter I use for finishing cuts and the laser goes 1/4" off of the most promenent tangent of the cutter. I seldom go thinner than 1/4"...why go thinner?

[Dale Bright]

Roger,

I have so many cutters and tips that I use, I will have to get them all together and take a pic. I will doing some hollow form work this evening so I will try to post a pic then. A lot of my cutters / scrapers are made from planer blades.

Dale

[Roger Chandler]

Roger,

I have so many cutters and tips that I use, I will have to get them all together and take a pic. I will doing some hollow form work this evening so I will try to post a pic then. A lot of my cutters / scrapers are made from planer blades.

Dale

Thanks Dale.........I appreciate your willingness to help and show how you do it! It will be great to see what you do on that Mayo monster you got!

[David E Keller]

I'm not an expert on much of anything, but I've been playing with my monster rig for better than 6 months. The larger HSS cutter will remove more wood than the smaller cutter, but it also creates more torque/resistance. The deeper you go, the smaller the cutter for a given sized boring bar. I tend to use the smaller straight cutter for everything I can reach with it. I get under shoulders with the fixed 45 degree cutter or the adjustable smaller cutter(before I lost mine). I clean everything up with a freshly sharpened scraper using my swan neck bar and straight bars. Occasionally, I mount one of the bars in a regular handle(also from Randy) and fine tune things by hand. I don't do anything differently based on grain orientation except the direction of the cut... Downhill is always easier when possible.

As for the laser, I tend to set it on the edge where I'm cutting rather than a fixed distance off the edge... It just makes more sense to me that way. I can site down on the piece and see my wall thickness based on the distance between the dot and the outside of the form. I don't use the laser for bulk waste removal, but I turn it on when determining my wall thickness and sometimes while scraping my finishing cuts.

[Jon Nuckles]

Roger, does this mean your rig has arrived? If so, congratulations. I just ordered the articulating setup a couple of days ago and appreciate your asking these questions.

[Dale Bright]

Here is a pic of the cutters I use, some much more than others. The large one top right is from the Oneway system and is 1/4" thick. I only use that one on a 1" boring bar that I can adapt to the Monster.

The large piece with all of the holes is a cut up planer blade that 3 of the scrapers were made from.

The second pic is of the 4th scraper from the right, top row, mounted on the Monster Swan Neck bar.

Dale

[Dale Bright]

Here is a pic of some bars and hollowers that I use both handheld and in the Monster Articulated system. The 3 on the right are McNaughton 3/4" that I use mainly for roughing and hogging out the wood. The next 2 are John Jordan 1/2" for more finess or smaller forms with small openings. Next are the 5/8" Oneway bars that have the cutter / scrapers mounted on the bottom. On the far left is a 5/8" bar with an articulating cutter holder that is made by a turner in Virgina Beach.

Dale

[John Keeton]

The large piece with all of the holes is a cut up planer blade that 3 of the scrapers were made from.
DaleDale, I know Jeff Nicol makes some cutters from table saw blades, but how do you get holes in the HSS planer blades - or, are they HSS? That sounds like the best approach if it can be done.

[Dale Bright]

Dale, I know Jeff Nicol makes some cutters from table saw blades, but how do you get holes in the HSS planer blades - or, are they HSS? That sounds like the best approach if it can be done.

John, they are HSS and you need a very expensive carbide drill bit. A friend of mine has some very heavy duty grinders with some specialized wheels that I used for the initial cutting and shaping. Another friend uses a high quality cut off wheel on a Dremel tool for the initial shaping.

Jeff Nichol could add a lot to this thread. The ground drill bit in the first pic is one of his.

Dale

[Reed Gray]

I use the McNaughton hollowers as my primary roughing tool. Just prefer them to the adjustable tip things. I seem to get more chatter when I use the 3/4 inch ones, but almost none with the 5/8 inch ones. My guess it that the lever arm with a long bar is a bit much. I use the carbide disc for finish cuts.

robo hippy

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

How about the swan neck bar from Randy. Does it accomplish the same purpose as the articulating head that holds the 3/16" cutter or do most of you use it to hold scrapers. I'm not even sure you folks with the articulating rigs even use that particular bar.
faust

[John Keeton]

Faust, I have not used mine yet, but I can see where it might come in handy. Keep in mind, however, that I have only hollowed half dozen or so forms at this point - with the Monster, I should say.

[David E Keller]

Faust, I use the swan quite a bit, but I've only used it to hold scrapers. I've had good luck with it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Faust I use my swan neck a lot especially with the scrapers. I have some of Jamisons carbide scrapers that work well.

Roger I use the 1/4" bit for hogging wood and when I get to the point of truing up the sides on the inside I use the 3/16" bit. I have a 3 x 5 card that I put under the cutter and have it marked in 1/8" increments. I then set my laser to whatever wall thickness I want.

[Roger Chandler]

Faust I use my swan neck a lot especially with the scrapers. I have some of Jamisons carbide scrapers that work well.

Roger I use the 1/4" bit for hogging wood and when I get to the point of truing up the sides on the inside I use the 3/16" bit. I have a 3 x 5 card that I put under the cutter and have it marked in 1/8" increments. I then set my laser to whatever wall thickness I want.

Thanks again Bernie......I like your index card idea, I could see how it would make adjusting the laser quick and easy. Also, you do use the cutters the way I had imagined, so I will try your way and John's way to see which works best for me. I appreciate you responding to this!

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Roger,
Can I take the thread a bit further. Let's all hollow out the same form. It will be a Southwestern inspired shape that is 8" in diameter and the proportionate length. You've seen these from Steve who does them beautifully. I suppose we all drill a center hole and hollow in sections working from widening the drilled center then begin cutting out the upper half and working our way down. Let's figure a large opening of 2". What bit to you use for widening the drill hole and working the areas you can reach with the straight bar and what angle attachment do you use for the rough hollowing under the shoulders. Then do you use a different angled tool to smooth and finish the upper portion of the HF. I think that would take us almost through the job except for the bottom. And--- do you use different tips if you are doing an end grain HF compared to a cross grain piece. I left out a lot of ?. Don't be picking on my punctuations. Thanks.
faust

[Roger Chandler]

Roger,
Can I take the thread a bit further. Let's all hollow out the same form. It will be a Southwestern inspired shape that is 8" in diameter and the proportionate length. You've seen these from Steve who does them beautifully. I suppose we all drill a center hole and hollow in sections working from widening the drilled center then begin cutting out the upper half and working our way down. Let's figure a large opening of 2". What bit to you use for widening the drill hole and working the areas you can reach with the straight bar and what angle attachment do you use for the rough hollowing under the shoulders. Then do you use a different angled tool to smooth and finish the upper portion of the HF. I think that would take us almost through the job except for the bottom. And--- do you use different tips if you are doing an end grain HF compared to a cross grain piece. I left out a lot of ?. Don't be picking on my punctuations. Thanks.
faust


Faust,

I have done a couple of hollow forms, my most recent with Ellsworth hand held tools: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?158525-Osage-Orange-Hollow-Form&highlight=osage+orange+hollow+form

I have also done a few vases that required hollowing. I think the 3/16' or 1/4" tip either one would work fine, based upon my experience with the hand held tools with the same cutters, only it will be an easier and smoother process with the Monster rig.

I would say the scraper tip tool [purchased separately] would be a good finishing tool to get rid of the ridges left by the cutting bars, just like Dr. Keller was pointing out. As far as the bottom, depending on how narrow the foot is compared to the outside wall, then either the strait cutter tip, or the adjustable tip with the cutter bar would do the trick, from what I can see.

Hope this helps.

[Justin Stephen]

Like a couple of others here, I also purchased a Monster this week. I went ahead and picked up the additional scraper head as well. My hollowing experience is all with Trent Bosch hand tools and I used his scraper to refine the inside surface with great success so I wanted to repeat the experience. Plus, having an oval scraper allows you to position it so that you can scrape pretty much back towards yourself just inside the hole pretty easily. This can be pretty handy on some forms.

Also, +1 for Randy at Monster. I chatted with him for about 10 minutes the other day to finalize my decision and he was very helpful and patient indeed.

[Wally Dickerman]

The Stewart armbrace hollowing system uses a round swivel tip with a 3/16 in. cutter. I have been using this system for many years so the swivel tip is a natural for me in the upper portion of a HF. I do that with my Monster also. The advantage in using a swivel tip is that it can be positioned to present the cutter at the best possible angle to do the job. I change the angle as I advance into the vessel.

Randy sent me a straight cutter using the 3/16 in. bit. I think that I prefer that to the 1/4 in. bit. Maybe that's just because I've used the 3/16 for so long in the Stewart tool. The smaller one is a bit more aggressive

I haven't had the Monster for very long so I'm still experimenting with it.

Wally