Alan Zenreich
03-03-2011, 7:16 PM
The long awaited package finally arrived today (order placed New Years Eve).
Assembly was simple, and the machining is first rate (though the base has kind of homely welds, but that's just cosmetic).
A few weeks ago I started a small buckeye burl hollow form using handheld Nano Revolution tools, but decided to put it aside and do the final hollowing when the Monster came in.
So today I mounted the angled cutter from the Nano tool in place of the stock Monster cutters. Everything looks good, and of course my first hollowing attempt with the rig will be making the walls about 1/10" thick, so precision is the name of the game.
I spoke to Randy today, as my first inclination for small projects like this is to use a shorter boring bar, which would move the articulated arm closer to the headstock and shorten the laser arm. I don't know if this would be a good tweak or not, but it's something to think about. He doesn't make shorter bars, but it wouldn't be a big deal for me to turn one on my mini-metal lathe.
Also for small items, it might be useful to have something to more precisely position the laser. Perhaps something closer to the Don Derry laser mount that uses screws to move the light.
In any event, I'll play with the stock rig and see how it goes. So far, I'm having fun playing with the new toys.
Yes, I know... no photos, didn't happen... so here are a few from today.
Assembly was simple, and the machining is first rate (though the base has kind of homely welds, but that's just cosmetic).
A few weeks ago I started a small buckeye burl hollow form using handheld Nano Revolution tools, but decided to put it aside and do the final hollowing when the Monster came in.
So today I mounted the angled cutter from the Nano tool in place of the stock Monster cutters. Everything looks good, and of course my first hollowing attempt with the rig will be making the walls about 1/10" thick, so precision is the name of the game.
I spoke to Randy today, as my first inclination for small projects like this is to use a shorter boring bar, which would move the articulated arm closer to the headstock and shorten the laser arm. I don't know if this would be a good tweak or not, but it's something to think about. He doesn't make shorter bars, but it wouldn't be a big deal for me to turn one on my mini-metal lathe.
Also for small items, it might be useful to have something to more precisely position the laser. Perhaps something closer to the Don Derry laser mount that uses screws to move the light.
In any event, I'll play with the stock rig and see how it goes. So far, I'm having fun playing with the new toys.
Yes, I know... no photos, didn't happen... so here are a few from today.