Will a VEGA Duplicator help me with these

[Perry Holbrook]

I do very little turning. I've got a Jet mini lathe that I use mainly for making forms for some of my other work. Anyway, I came up with these 3 little turned boxes over the weekend that I'm taking to a wholesale show in Philly this week. They are about 3 1/2" tall max.

If I get a good response, I'll need to set up for production. Will the VEGA duplicator be able to help me with this?

Perry

BTW, the tops are fused glass that I make.

[Jim Becker]

I would be concerned with the quality of cut you will get with the duplicator on these, Perry, especially with the laminations. If the Vega (the one designed for the Mini) can skew the cutter and you keep it sharp, it may work out. You'll still need to hollow using another method, however.

Personally, I find turning multiples faster manually as you can get going pretty fast...but I also don't make things by the "many dozens", either.

Hope the show does well for you. Give me a buzz if you get some free time.

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Perry

You can take this for what it is worth, but duplicating the shapes you have there are going to be the least of your worries. They are not complicated, and you shouldn't really have trouble turning them by hand and by eye with some practice and maybe a few fixed templates.

What would concern me most would be taking a product to a wholesale show when you don't have the production process worked out. I am not saying you need to have all the bugs ironed out with time studies, etc, but if you do not have a reasonable idea of how long it is going to take you to make them, you are asking for a whole pile of trouble. Just imagine selling 500 for $20.00 each and getting home only to find out they are going to cost you $30.00 each to manufacture. :eek:

Just by looking at them you have blank preparation, turing to shape, hollowing, and finishing. I would speculate that blank prep is going to be the biggest time consumer here, and they rest will probably add up to less time altogether than that. I could be wrong. It has been known to happen. :p

With practice you should be able to get the outside shaping down to a few minutes free hand. Use a caliper or template to zero in on the neck and other critical dimensions, and you will have it nailed.

Good luck with it.

Bill

[Perry Holbrook]

Thanks for the concern Bill. Since I've never posted on the turners forum, and rarely post on any of the others, you don't know much about me and my work. I'm a full time mixed media craft artist, with work in over 50 galleries coast to coast. I sell other small boxes by the dozens.

When I prototyped these it looked like I should be able to knock these out in 15 to 20 minutes total time manually. I've never used a duplicator and was just wondering if it could speed that up a little.

By the way, these look more complicated than they really are. The blank that will produce 6 pieces takes about 15 minutes working time. I drill a 1 1/2" hole 1 3/8" deep in one end which just fits over the tailstock. Then shape the outside, sand and finish with 2 coats of lacquer. Flock the inside and ship.

They'll retail less than $50 so I can't let them take more than 20 minutes to make. Wood material cost is about 50 cents the total glass cost is about $2. I think I can make the numbers work, but if a duplicator will make it more efficient a $300 investment would pay off pretty soon.



Perry