Kelton hollower and Monster compatible?

[Dan Forman]

Has anyone tried to use the Kelton hollowing bars with the Monster system?

I just received a 5/8" Kelton hollower bar which I intended to use with my Monster articulated system. I was surprised to find out that it doesn't fit. The bar is about .003" too large to fit in the Monster, which is dead on at .625". So I'm wondering if my Kelton bar is an oddity, or whether they approximate the inch measurements and turn to a metric standard. I didn't realize that they were a New Zealand company until just now looking at their site when looking for a phone number.

I suppose that I could take it down a bit on the belt sander, but I"m leery of doing that. I do like the idea of having a one piece hollower that I don't have to account for the extra diameter of bar verses bit, which can get in the way.

Thanks,

Dan

[Dale Bright]

Dan,

I had a similar issue with my Monster. I ordered a swan neck bar from Randy and it would not fit into the articulated arm. It was the arm, not the sawn neck bar. I put some fine sand paper around a dowel and worked until I got it to fit (around 15 - 20 minutes of sanding and checking). I also had a Oneway 5/8" adapter for some other tools that would not fit. Randy told me the hole might have been under sized a bit and to use the dowel and fine sand paper.

Dale

[David E Keller]

I'd hit the bar with a little fine grit paper... Should take long to remove 3 thousandths of an inch.

[Dan Forman]

I sent an email to Kelton tools once I realized that it it was only early afternoon there, and got a call back from Kel himself! He confirmed that the bar is metric, 16mm, and suggested hitting it very lightly with the belt sander while rotating the bar, which is what I'll do. Everything on the Monster is dead on, so don't want to mess with that. Kel said he was glad that I brought that to his attention, and he will switch to imperial measurements for the US market. He was very pleasant fellow indeed, and we chatted about a number of things completely unrelated to turning too. Bottom line for him is that he wants all of his customers to be satisfied.

Dan

[Glenn Roberts]

Dan, did Kel happen to mention that his latest hollowing rig uses an ER32 collet system. with 1mm clamping range capacity for each collet, so there are no problems with different sized shafts, no grub screws to damage shafts and heaps quicker to change between tools. You can also adjust the length of the tool within the handle of the rig. It is this type of 'good design' that makes his tools so useful.

Glenn

[Reed Gray]

I bought some adapters sleeves from Craft Supplies (I think) for my Kelton Hollowing tools when I got them because I wanted them in a home made captured system, which had a 3/4 inch plus (bored out so you could put a 3/4 inch bar in, so a few thousandths over sized). The 5/8 tools work fine in the Monster, but the 3/4 would tend to chatter.

robo hippy

[Jon McElwain]

I had a similar experience with Thompson tools a while back. None of the flat stock tools fit in standard handles. Dougs reply:

"That's a catch 22 to leave the tang square or turn the tang round which I think would weaken it. The way it has to be done is knock the corners off on a grinder it doesn't take much. One day I'll sell them handled but it won't happen for a while." From this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?122132-Toolhandles-Thompson-tools).

Anyway, another vote from the maker on knocking the corners off to make them fit the handles.

[Dan Forman]

Dan, did Kel happen to mention that his latest hollowing rig uses an ER32 collet system. with 1mm clamping range capacity for each collet, so there are no problems with different sized shafts, no grub screws to damage shafts and heaps quicker to change between tools. You can also adjust the length of the tool within the handle of the rig. It is this type of 'good design' that makes his tools so useful.

Glenn

No, he didn't mention that, but sounds like a great idea.

Dan

[Dan Forman]

I bought some adapters sleeves from Craft Supplies (I think) for my Kelton Hollowing tools when I got them because I wanted them in a home made captured system, which had a 3/4 inch plus (bored out so you could put a 3/4 inch bar in, so a few thousandths over sized). The 5/8 tools work fine in the Monster, but the 3/4 would tend to chatter.

robo hippy

I'm assuming you still had to alter the Kelton 5/8 bar for it to fit in the Monster? Not sure what you mean by "the 3/4" tend to chatter" - in your home made rig?