Router Bit Cutter for copy device

[Mark Thibodeau]

Hi All..........

I have (2) Minimax T124s. One has a traveling steady and one does not. The one without has a lot of vibration when turning long pcs. The machine is almost useless with out the rest, which Minimax wants an arm & leg for.
I once saw a T124 with a router attached to the cutter arm. The router bit goes done the stock following the template profile just as the cutter knife does. I would image it would be best to have the lathe spin as slow as possible??
My question........Have any of you guys tried this and what would be the best bit to use in the router?
Thanks for the help in advance-Mark

[roger oldre]

here is a video fo some thin pieces 12 inches long 5/8 diameter on the large end and 1/2 on the small end wth a 3/8 x 1" long dowell on the small diameter end. I just used a 1/2" diameter straight bit in the router and ran them about 1000 rpm. the finish was good off the machine. material was Oak. I did 100 of them from board to box in a little over two hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P12E08byJ6k

[Mark Thibodeau]

Thanks Roger,
It seems as though your router bit puts very little pressure/stress on pc. Causing less vibration??
I was wondering if I try to turn a pc. with small details.......I would probably have to angle the bit towards the pc. and use a bit with a small tip or something that tampers to a point. Like the fixed cutter.

[roger oldre]

the smaller the diameter of the tip the lower the surface speed. I have used a skill saw in place of the cutting tool at times. on occasion I used a blade that was sharpened with a very acute angle on the teeth so it could do fine detail but for thin turnings it was difficult to tune out harmonic vibration. I have also set up tooling similar to single pass but for very detailed tin work by fixing an bearing to the longitudinal Travers but avoiding the crosfeed. this way the center can be set concentric with the mounting on the lathe and maintained in position. then a cutter is mounted directly preceding the bearing the roughs the material to a diameter just ever so slightly smaller than the bearing ID. the tailstock or headstock mount has to be lengthened so that the work can be mounted and started with the bearing and cutter off the work. once the work is started the cutter is advanced laterally into the work which is sized by the preceding cutter to the bearing ID and the work can progress to the opposite end of the work. at times it is necessary to steady the work after being cut with a roller or by hand to prevent whipping. the cutting is done as close as possible to the opposing side of the bearing to reduce inaccuracy from deflection.

here is a video of a commercially made lathe. my set up was a little on the crude side in comparison. LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krLhg2VVHSQ&feature=player_detailpage

[Mark Thibodeau]

You bring up some really good points Roger.......The saw sounds interesting, but scary! I would love to see that in action!I actually have a Hydraulic Copier similar to the T-5 in the video. Both my Hydraulic and one of my manual copiers are set up with a cutter that proceeds the steady and sizes the dowel to fit through it. Then a cutter that closely follows to shape profile. As you mentioned. The set up I once saw had a router mounted to the arm that follows the steady in place of the cutter knife. Wish I had taken a picture of it now!
Doesn't sound as if you think this would work on a copier with out a steady?? At least in one pass? Maybe if I try to slow speed down as much as possible and make multiple passes. Sounds like I need to do some trial and error. Thanks for giving me some things to consider-Mark